Real national interest

E-commerce spat reveals deeper faultlines

In widely reported comments to the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) grouping recently, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal indicated that in his opinion some Indian companies were not behaving with the national interest in mind. Such remarks from the commerce and industry minister clearly deserve close scrutiny and discussion. Both their immediate context and provocation, as well as the larger narrative about the government’s relationship with corporate capital, need to be examined. At the first count, Mr Goyal specifically mentioned the Tata group of companies, which he reportedly said had objected to rules framed for e-commerce. The