Traders' body to hold meet on draft e-commerce policy on Aug 8

Traders' body CAIT today said it will hold a round table on August 8 to discuss the draft e-commerce policy and recommendations emanating from the discussions will be submitted to Union Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu.

In a statement, the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) said the draft of the e-commerce policy released by the government "has made certain sections uneasy as once the policy is implemented, their agenda of creating a monopoly on Indian e-commerce market will be defeated greatly".

It said invitations have also been extended to e-commerce firms to share their views at the round table.

"It is highly regretted that various sections whose own unholy vested interest will be hit by various proposed provisions of the draft policy seems to be greatly perturbed and making efforts from all corners to dilute the basic fundamentals of the policy which will be never accepted by the trading community," CAIT Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal said.

Welcoming the draft policy, Khandelwal, however, said the body will demand that the government include prohibition of Cash on delivery (COD) in e-commerce transactions and plug the loopholes so that no one can use e-commerce as a passage of dumping the goods in either the e-commerce market or in offline trade, therefore the term "bulk" needs to be defined.

He said that concept of allowing limited inventory to e-commerce players is not acceptable since e commerce is merely a technology platform and inventory always lies with the suppliers registered on the platform.