Restrict business activities only to essential goods: CAIT to e-commerce traders

Traders' body CAIT on Wednesday issued an advisory to traders registered on various e-commerce platforms to restrict their business activities only to essential goods during the lockdown period as per government guidelines.

Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal said that as per the Ministry of Home Affairs guidelines, it is clear that the e-commerce companies can only deliver essential goods.

He said it is "unfortunate that some companies have misinterpreted the guidelines" and told traders to start preparing for delivery of any goods, whether essential or non-essential, from April 21.

He urged traders to desist from trading non-essential goods on any platform otherwise they will have to face the penal provisions under the Disaster Management Act, which has been made part of the guidelines.

The non-essential traders must tread cautiously and put health before business as the coronavirus cases in the country are still in an upward trend and we are in a national lockdown till May 3, Khandelwal said.