1 mn traders to protest across India against Walmart-Flipkart deal: CAIT

Nearly 1 million traders will protest at about 1,000 places across the country on Monday against US retail giant Walmart's proposed acquisition of 77 per cent stake in home-grown retailer Flipkart in a $ 16-billion deal, traders' body CAIT has said.

Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal alleged that the e-commerce market place has been vitiated to a great extent in past years by several leading e-commerce companies by indulging into all kinds of malpractices including predatory pricing, deep discounting and loss funding.

Khandelwal claimed that at a time when there is no policy for e-commerce, it would be a cake walk for Walmart to circumvent the FDI policy Press Note No 3 of 2016.

He said CAIT has already filed our objections in Competition Commission of India and if need arises it shall challenge the deal in the court of law.
 

However, we expect government to intervene and take suitable action in accordance with various announcements of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to uplift small businesses in the country. This deal will directly affect small traders of the country who will not be able to compete with Walmart, Khandelwal said.

The commerce and industry ministry notifies FDI policies through press notes. Press Note 3, which was released in 2016, enlists guidelines for foreign direct investment in e-commerce sector.

 

It also articulated that no discounting is allowed and that no inventory ownership directly or indirectly is allowed by e-commerce marketplaces.