CAIT requests PM Modi for fresh Press Note to block alleged FDI escape routes by e-commerce companies

Ease of Doing Enterprise for MSMEs: Merchants’ physique Confederation of All India Merchants (CAIT) on Sunday sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “fast intervention” to streamline e-commerce guidelines and insurance policies to “save the home commerce from the clutches of malpractices of massive e-commerce firms.” In a letter addressed to PM Modi, the federation alleged an unholy nexus between banks and e-commerce firms to violate the legal guidelines. It additionally accused marketplaces within the e-commerce sector, which is dominated by Amazon and Flipkart, for “brazenly violating the FDI coverage, regulation and Guidelines with none worry of regulation by indulging into predatory pricing, deep discounting, loss funding, controlling stock, sale of branded merchandise solely on their respective portals that are particularly restricted Press Notice 2 of FDI coverage of the Authorities.”

Press Notice 2 issued by the Division for Promotion of Trade and Inside Commerce (DPIIT) in December 2018 had famous that e-commerce marketplaces “is not going to mandate any vendor to promote any product solely on its platform solely.” CAIT mentioned that e-commerce firms have discovered varied escape routes in Press Notice No.2 of the FDI Coverage and therefore, requested PM Modi for “a recent Press notice blocking all escape routes and abolishing all such provisions which will immediate these firms to violate the principles or insurance policies.” It additionally urged for having a regulatory authority to manage and monitor the e-commerce enterprise together with an e-commerce coverage prescribing outlined parameters for e-commerce enterprise for structured progress of e-commerce vertical within the nation.

The DPIIT had in December final yr requested the Reserve Financial institution of India and Enforcement Directorate to take mandatory motion following CAIT’s allegations with respect to FDI and FEMA violations by Amazon and Flipkart. Nevertheless, “no such investigation has been initiated by RBI or ED on the matter,” MoS Commerce and Trade Som Parkash had mentioned in a written reply to a query within the Rajya Sabha final week.

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CAIT additionally urged PM Modi for ease in GST complexities. The federation, which represents 8.5 crore merchants, mentioned that over 950 amendments made by the GST Council prior to now 4 years have made “GST as a extra sophisticated tax system and the merchants are topic to about 60 sorts of compliances.” The letter learn that the precept of pure justice has been drastically violated by means of such amendments the place the merchants have been denied any form of present trigger discover or alternative of listening to earlier than taking any penal motion.

CAIT instructed the formation of a ‘particular working group’ on the Central degree consisting of senior officers and representatives of CAIT and impartial tax specialists to evaluation the GST Tax construction and make suggestions to the federal government for making it a ‘Good & Easy Tax’.  It additionally requested for a ‘District GST working Group’ of senior tax officers and representatives of CAIT in every district to watch clean GST implementation and taking steps for the widening of tax base and income augmentation in respective districts.