NEW DELHI: All e-commerce companies must abide by the law of the land and not use muscle or money force to hurt Indian interests as many of these big online firms have come to India and “very” The laws of the country have been openly flouted. more than one way, Business and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal Said on Saturday.
He said the practices followed by these companies are against the interest of consumers and the government has recently come out with draft rules for e-commerce companies or marketplace model, which is applicable to all entities including Indian ones.
These rules are to protect consumer interests, he said in a webinar.
“The Indian market is huge and we welcome all players to come and participate. But obviously we have to make them work within the rules and laws of the country. Unfortunately, many of these big e-commerce companies come to India. and very frankly flouted the laws of the land in more ways than one,” the minister said.
“I have had many affiliations with these big companies, especially US companies, I have little idea of their ability to finance large amounts of money in the early stages to try to capture the Indian market or bigger. I can see a bit of arrogance. To the detriment of Indian market share especially some products of our mom and pop stores,” he said.
Goyal said it was “very” unfair that just because they are large and have large pools of low-cost capital, they should be allowed to get away with hurting domestic interests or domestic consumer interests.
“Therefore, I think it would be good that all companies follow the law of the land and not use muscle or money power to hurt Indian interests,” he said.
Recalling one of his comments on the announcement of an e-commerce giant to invest USD 1 billion in India, Goyal Said that the company is doing that funding because they have incurred losses in the last two years.
In January 2020, the minister said that Jeff Bezosfirm of heroine The investment was not doing the country any favors and questioned how the online retailing major could incur such a huge loss, but for its predatory pricing.
He said he would have to invest it because the company used that money to do predatory pricing, perhaps to subsidize certain products and capture large swathes of the market, to the detriment of smaller mom and pop stores. They said.
“…and when the questions about it are closed, they keep on delaying the information and when people complain to the CCI (Competition Commission of India), they immediately start platform buying in the law courts of India. give.
“If these companies have nothing to hide and if they are doing business honestly, why don’t they respond to the CCI?” he questioned.
He said the fact that they are trying to avoid probably only shows that they are probably engaging in predatory pricing, they are trying to influence market behavior, their algorithms influence consumer choice. And these are not allowed in India, he said.
“So very clearly, their erratic practices are the cause of their trouble, if any, they should have submitted to the requirements of Indian law,” Goyal said.
He also noted that many countries such as the US are working on anti-trust laws for e-commerce and that the UK Competition and Markets Authority has begun to investigate big technology in primarily US forms, “now clearly The world is waking up to the realities of these. Big tech and big e-commerce companies”.
“In India we have about 60 million mom and pop stores spread across the country… Today it may not sound alarming. One can say how these companies will affect villages, how they will reach everywhere, but money power The strengths of technology and their long-term sustainability pose a risk to the nearly 100 million people who are connected in some form or the other through small retail stores across the country.”
When these big companies talk about providing a million jobs or maybe supporting 100,000 Indian small manufacturers, “I think very easily (they) forget to even say what the job loss will be due to their influence, ” They said.
He said the practices followed by these companies are against the interest of consumers and the government has recently come out with draft rules for e-commerce companies or marketplace model, which is applicable to all entities including Indian ones.
These rules are to protect consumer interests, he said in a webinar.
“The Indian market is huge and we welcome all players to come and participate. But obviously we have to make them work within the rules and laws of the country. Unfortunately, many of these big e-commerce companies come to India. and very frankly flouted the laws of the land in more ways than one,” the minister said.
“I have had many affiliations with these big companies, especially US companies, I have little idea of their ability to finance large amounts of money in the early stages to try to capture the Indian market or bigger. I can see a bit of arrogance. To the detriment of Indian market share especially some products of our mom and pop stores,” he said.
Goyal said it was “very” unfair that just because they are large and have large pools of low-cost capital, they should be allowed to get away with hurting domestic interests or domestic consumer interests.
“Therefore, I think it would be good that all companies follow the law of the land and not use muscle or money power to hurt Indian interests,” he said.
Recalling one of his comments on the announcement of an e-commerce giant to invest USD 1 billion in India, Goyal Said that the company is doing that funding because they have incurred losses in the last two years.
In January 2020, the minister said that Jeff Bezosfirm of heroine The investment was not doing the country any favors and questioned how the online retailing major could incur such a huge loss, but for its predatory pricing.
He said he would have to invest it because the company used that money to do predatory pricing, perhaps to subsidize certain products and capture large swathes of the market, to the detriment of smaller mom and pop stores. They said.
“…and when the questions about it are closed, they keep on delaying the information and when people complain to the CCI (Competition Commission of India), they immediately start platform buying in the law courts of India. give.
“If these companies have nothing to hide and if they are doing business honestly, why don’t they respond to the CCI?” he questioned.
He said the fact that they are trying to avoid probably only shows that they are probably engaging in predatory pricing, they are trying to influence market behavior, their algorithms influence consumer choice. And these are not allowed in India, he said.
“So very clearly, their erratic practices are the cause of their trouble, if any, they should have submitted to the requirements of Indian law,” Goyal said.
He also noted that many countries such as the US are working on anti-trust laws for e-commerce and that the UK Competition and Markets Authority has begun to investigate big technology in primarily US forms, “now clearly The world is waking up to the realities of these. Big tech and big e-commerce companies”.
“In India we have about 60 million mom and pop stores spread across the country… Today it may not sound alarming. One can say how these companies will affect villages, how they will reach everywhere, but money power The strengths of technology and their long-term sustainability pose a risk to the nearly 100 million people who are connected in some form or the other through small retail stores across the country.”
When these big companies talk about providing a million jobs or maybe supporting 100,000 Indian small manufacturers, “I think very easily (they) forget to even say what the job loss will be due to their influence, ” They said.
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