'What is our commitment towards India, we need to introspect that': Goyal to Indian industry

Commerce Minister's comments at CII meet stir a hornet's nest

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal's speech at CII's plenary session on Thursday stirred a hornet's nest due to his comment on Tata Sons' recent stand on e-commerce.

The Tata Sons has, Reuters reported, raised concerns over the proposed Consumer Protection Rules for e-commerce.

The government's tough new e-commerce rules announced on June 21 were aimed at strengthening protection for consumers.

The new rules limit flash sales and platforms to have a stake in sellers, bars misleading advertisements, and mandating a complaints system, among other proposals.

Goyal said at the annual meet of the Confederation of India Industry that industry should not look for ways to circumvent government policies like foreign direct investment norms.

"When I see Tata Sons that they are objecting for some consumer benefit laws or regulations that I am bringing in, then frankly it hurts...," he said, adding "me, myself, my company, we need to move forward from that", news agency PTI reported.

He also urged domestic firms to use made in India goods, even if they are a bit expensive, and show some willingness to support MSMEs and pay their dues timely.

"What is our commitment towards India, we need to introspect that," he said, adding there is a need to increase synergy between industry chambers.

The Hindu newspaper reported on Friday that after the minister’s remarks causing a kerfuffle in the government, the CII was asked to pull down the video from its YouTube channel. An edited version was uploaded on Thursday night but this was also blocked by Friday evening.

“Kya aapke jaisi company, ek do aapne shaayad koi videshi company kharid li… Uska importance zyaada ho gaya, desh hith kam ho gaya? (A company like yours, maybe you bought one or two foreign companies, now their importance is greater than national interest?” Goyal said at the CII event, apparently in reference to the Tata group, according to The Hindu report. Banmali Agrawala, president, infrastructure, defence and aerospace at Tata Sons, was present at the virtual meeting on Thursday.

The minister also suggested that industry chamber CII can take the lead in creation of a fund with Rs 10,000 crore corpus to provide domestic startups early stage funding, as foreign companies are buying out startups at cheaper rates.

"They should all...Tatas, Ambanis, Bajajs and Birlas, all of you should be pitching in. Even if you pitch with Rs 100 crore, Rs 200 crore, Rs 500 crore each, the country's startups will get a huge a support...

"Please help in creation of value for our startups, and you will get profit in that also.... even if one out of 10 companies does well...and I would go to the extent of saying that if 1 or 2 or 4 or 10 cases.. go bad, this much you can sacrifice for the country...I seek your apology if somebody did not like my words," he said, reported PTI.

Scroll.in website reported Saturday that some Opposition leaders have criticised Goyal’s remarks.