CCI should suspend e-commerce giants for wasting money: CAIT and AIMRA

NEW DELHI: Trade association CAIT and major mobile retailers’ association AIMRA urged the Competition Commission of India (CCI) to immediately stop operations of e-commerce companies due to the involvement of giants like Flipkart and Amazon Predatory pricing as they burn through money offering deep discounts on products.
These practices, in turn, create a gray market of mobile phones, leading to losses for the state treasury “as actors in the gray market evade taxes,” it said on Tuesday.
The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) and the All India Mobile Retailers’ Association (AIMRA) have collaborated to list their demands on the impact of e-commerce giants Amazon and Flipkart on India’s retail ecosystem.
AIMRA founder and chairman Kailash Lakhyani demanded CCI to suspend Chinese mobile phone companies OnePlus, iQOO and Poco for alleged collusion with e-commerce players.
The white paper alleged violations of foreign direct investment (FDI) guidelines and other regulatory frameworks by Flipkart and Amazon.
BJP MP and CAIT general secretary Praveen Khandelwal said, “They (Flipkart and Amazon) are heavily indulging in price gouging, deep discountsLoss financing etc. Whatever investments they bring with them will be used to burn cash and finance losses incurred while doing business in India.”
Speaking at the AIMRA summit, Khandelwal said, “It looks like there is a cartel between e-commerce players, brands and banks. They are working hand in hand to conquer the market through various means, but the big retailers will not allow this. “We are not against e-commerce, but we want a level playing field and fair business operations.”
It was unanimously demanded: “CCI should immediately stop the operations of Amazon and Flipkart and their associated companies that are helping these two companies capture the market.”
However, the e-commerce giants did not respond to these allegations.
“Customers are not able to purchase mobile phones at heavily discounted prices as these are purchased on the gray market. These (grey market purchases) can be easily tracked with the help of IMEI…It is also a loss for the government as gray market participants evade taxes,” he said.
Lakhyani also added that the operations of these Chinese brands like OnePlus, Poco and iQOO are conducting commercial activities in India without any contribution to the Indian economy and therefore should be suspended for at least one to two years.