(Repeats for wider distribution)
By Aditya Kalra
NEW DELHI, Feb 18 (Reuters) – A leading group of Indianretailers on Wednesday urged the government to ban the localoperations of Amazon.com Inc, after Reuters reportedthe U.S. e-commerce giant has for years given preferentialtreatment to a small group of sellers on its India platform andused them to circumvent the country’s strict foreign investmentregulations.
The Reuters report https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/amazon-india-operation,based on internal Amazon documents dated between 2012 and 2019,provided an inside look at the cat-and-mouse game Amazon hasplayed with India’s government, adjusting its corporatestructures each time the government imposed new restrictionsaimed at protecting small traders.
In a statement, the Confederation of All India Traders(CAIT), which says it represents 80 million retail stores inIndia, said “the shocking revelations” in the Reuters story are”sufficient enough to immediately ban operations of Amazon inIndia.”
The group called on Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal to takeimmediate note of this “important and burning issue and orderfor a ban on operations of Amazon in India.”
Amazon did not respond to a request for comment on thetrader group’s statement. But shortly after CAIT issued its callfor the ban, Amazon retweeted the Reuters report, criticizing itas “unsubstantiated, incomplete, factually incorrect,” withoutgoing into specifics. It added that “Amazon remains compliantwith Indian laws.”
“In last several years, there have been (a) number ofchanges in regulations; Amazon has on each occasion taken rapidaction to ensure compliance. The story therefore seems to haveoutdated information and doesn’t show any non-compliance,”Amazon said on its Amazon India News Twitter account.
A spokesman for India’s Ministry of Commerce and Industrydid not respond when contacted outside regular business hours.
To read the full Reuters report on the Amazon strategy,click https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/amazon-india-operation/
The Amazon documents revealed the e-commerce company helpeda small number of sellers in India prosper, gave them discountson fees, and helped one cut special deals with big techmanufacturers such as Apple Inc. The company exercisedsignificant control over the inventory of some of the biggestsellers on Amazon.in, the documents showed. Government rulesannounced in 2016 required that an e-commerce platform should”not exercise ownership” over sellers’ inventory. Amazon pledgesthat all sellers operate independently on its platform.
Amazon has been facing increasing scrutiny by Indianregulators, and the detailed look inside its strategy coulddeepen the risks for the company in one of its key growthmarkets. Indian retailers, who are a crucial part of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi’s support base, have long alleged thatAmazon’s platform largely benefits a few big sellers and thatthe e-commerce company engages in predatory pricing that harmstheir businesses.
In a written response to the Reuters story which waspublished on Wednesday, Amazon said it “does not givepreferential treatment to any seller on its marketplace,” andthat it “treats all sellers in a fair, transparent, andnon-discriminatory manner, with each seller responsible forindependently determining prices and managing their inventory.”
The Indian retailer group on Wednesday said the Reutersreport “vindicates the stand and arguments” it made in recentyears. “The CAIT will raise this issue in a bigger way,” thegroup said.
(Reporting by Aditya Kalra in New DelhiEditing by Matthew Lewis)
Add Comment