Piyush Goyal asks traders to bring violations in law to notice of govt

Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal on Monday asked the traders community to prepare themselves and present their complaints against the large online retailers to the government so that justice can be done.

Goyal’s statement came a few hours after the Supreme Court did not accept the pleas of Amazon and Flipkart against a probe by the competition commission of India (CCI). The apex court said that challenging the enquiry is like wanting a notice before the registration of an FIR under the criminal law and asked the e-commerce giants to submit themselves to the probe by CCI.

Last year, CCI had ordered a probe against Flipkart and Amazon for alleged malpractices, including deep discounting and tie-ups with preferred sellers on their platforms, following which both the companies had moved the high court seeking quashing of the probe order. 

The government will protect traders and small entrepreneurs and is also working towards simplifying legal metrology rules and creating a single-window online system to stop harassment of traders and enable ease of doing business, Goyal said at the National Traders’ Day.

“India is becoming a global platform for goods and services and asked traders to become Atmanirbhar on all fronts of commerce and trade,” he said adding that trade is not an exchange of goods but is an exchange of culture, goodwill and trust also. “The key to it is quality and productivity,” he said.