CAIT seeks PM's intervention in Walmart-Flipkart deal

Traders' body CAIT, which has been opposing Walmart's acquisition of Flipkart, Friday said it has sought intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi into the matter.

The body submitted a memorandum and a Traders Charter to the prime minister urging for his intervention for stoppage of Walmart-Flipkart deal as it violates FDI Policy Press Note No.3 of 2016 of the government, CAIT said in a statement.

"CAIT has urged the prime minister to constitute a high-level committee under the chairmanship of any senior minister of the government comprising senior officials and trade representatives," it added.

Walmart has maintained that the USD 16 billion deal to acquire home-grown retail major Flipkart is in line with the government's foreign direct investment (FDI) policy.

CAIT, however, claimed that the Walmart-Flipkart "combination may cause an appreciable adverse effect on competition as there will be an uneven level playing field and adoption of predatory pricing, deep discounting and loss funding will wipe out small businesses and small domestic manufacturing".

Besides, CAIT claimed that the commercial markets across the country remained closed on Friday in response to its call for a Bandh against the Walmart-Flipkart deal and FDI in retail.

The traders' body led a demonstration here against the deal, retail FDI and sealing in Delhi.

"The markets wore a deserted look & no commercial activity took place. About 7 crore business establishments all over the Country participated in the Bandh. About 8 lakh chemists across the Country also remained closed participating in the Bandh," CAIT claimed in the statement.

It said there was a loss of business to the tune of Rs 15,000 crore resulting into a revenue loss of about Rs 3,000 crore to the government on account of the nation-wide bandh.