Traders decry Walmart-Flipkart deal, want it scrapped

Delhi traders staged a sit-in here on Monday against the proposed acquisition of Indian e-commerce company Flipkart by the international super store giant Walmart.

The traders, protesting under the lobby group Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), denounced the deal arguing that it would create "unfair competition" and demanded that the government scrap it.

They also said a body regulating e-commerce should be established.

"The deal will create an unfair competition and uneven playing field and will indulge in predatory pricing, deep discounts and loss of funding," CAIT Secretary-General Praveen Khandelwal told IANS.

Khandelwal said similar protests were organised at about 1,000 places in several states across the country with over 10 lakh offline and online traders participating in them.

The CAIT said if their demands were not met they would decide on their future course of action at the national convention to be held from July 23-25.

In Delhi, the protest was held in Karol Bagh, a big commercial hub. Similar protests were held in Mumbai, Nagpur, Pune, Surat, Ahmedabad, Bhopal, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Pondicherry, Raipur, Rourkela, Ranchi, Kolkata, Lucknow, Kanpur, Allahabad, Jhansi and in other cities, the CAIT said in a press statement.

--IANS

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