Traders welcome Govt move to tighten norms for e-commerce cos

Traders' body CAIT Wednesday welcomed the government's move to tighten norms for sale of products by e-commerce firms but demanded introduction of an e-commerce policy and regulator to monitor the sector.

"It is a big achievement after a long struggle. If it is implemented in proper spirit, mal-practices and predatory pricing policy and deep discounting of e-commerce players will be a matter of past," Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal said.

The government Wednesday took a host of steps and barred e-commerce firms from selling products of the companies in which they have equity stakes or management control.

The commerce and industry ministry also prohibited e-commerce companies from entering into an agreement for exclusive sale of products.

Khandelwal said measures announced by the government should be implemented with retrospective effect from April 1, 2018.

"An entity having equity participation by e-commerce marketplace entity or its group companies, or having control on its inventory by e-commerce marketplace entity or its group companies, will not be permitted to sell its products on the platform run by such marketplace entity," the ministry said.