The Confederation of All India Traders, the apex body of trade federations and small-scale sector players in the country, upped their campaign on Saturday against the United Progressive Alliance government's proposal to bring in foreign direct investment in multi-brand retail by another notch. The CAIT announced a nationwide campaign, 'Retail FDI bhagao, apne vatan ko bachao' (Chase out FDI in retail, save our nation) in the national capital on Saturday.
'There is a clear business impact. People are avoiding crowded places and gatherings across cities. This is hitting business, both at traditional and modern trade outlets, during the Holi season, which kicked off from Saturday,' says Praveen Khandelwal, general secretary, Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT).
Shops and markets in Delhi opened on Thursday after a three-day trade bandh against sealing of commercial establishments.
The founding members of The E-Commerce Council of India include Snapdeal, ShopClues, UrbanClap, Shop101, Flyrobe and Fynd, among others.
The FDI notification on multi-brand retail by the government will be valid only if amendments made by the Reserve Bank in the FEMA rules are approved by Parliament, the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has said.
Left parties on Monday decided to extend support to the 'Bharat Bandh' called by Confederation of All India Traders on December 1 to protest the Centre's decision to allow FDI in retail.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is in India this week and is expected to meet top government functionaries, business leaders and SMBs.
'Walmart will source globally and more from China and will dump these cheap goods in India, making our country a dumping yard.'
The nationwide 3-day traders strike against value added tax being implemented by 21 states from April 1 evoked a mixed response on Wednesday with wholesale markets remaining closed in major cities but retailers carrying out business in many places.
Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani might have made news for purchasing the most expensive beach-side villa in Dubai recently, but he is not the only Indian eyeing the city for investment. Since Dubai allowed foreign investors full ownership in specific sectors in June 2021, a horde of Indian companies have moved or expanded into the desert city. The list even includes a kindergarten, an elementary and middle school, and a hotel that has sought 100 per cent ownership.
Partial lockdown measures may impact movement of labour & goods, they say.
The new jobs - created both directly and indirectly - will be across industries, including IT, skill development, content creation, retail, logistics, and manufacturing.
The Confederation of All India Traders on Monday demanded the withdrawal of service tax on traders and threatened to go on a nationwide agitation if the demand was not met.
In a bid to curb harassment of taxpayers, Sitharaman said, a faceless e-assessment scheme was launched in October to eliminate interface between an assessing officer and a taxpayer.
Goyal wondered why an e-commerce market place model, where a firm provides an IT platform for buyers and sellers, was incurring such huge losses adding that it needs to be looked into.
Swadeshi Jagran will be leading the delegation on a multi-city tour, expected to start on September 21. The week-long trip will include meetings with industry bodies and government agencies.
'For all of us at Amazon, it is 'Bharat first'.' 'We are keeping the Indian customer at the centre of what we are doing.'
In two months, as many as 25 complaints have been sent to Enforcement Directorate, Competition Commission of India, Reserve Bank of India and income tax department, beside various state agencies, to thwart the deal.
The proposed investment will be made over a period of five years in our India operations, which includes an R&D facility at Pune and another centre at Vadodara.
Opposing a government-panel proposal to hike FDI limit in multi-brand retail, the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) on Wednesday said such a move will hurt interest of small traders and mostly benefit large corporates.
Jaitley on Monday rejected demands for rollback of the 1% excise duty.
The ban in India would hit Chinese internet companies that were making headway in the world's fastest-growing mobile market.
On Saturday, an online marijuana sale racket was busted by Bhind police in Madhya Pradesh, leading to the arrest of two persons and seizure of 20 kilograms of the contraband, according to an official. The accused were operating the racket through a leading e-commerce firm, which received two-thirds of the profits generated, as per the official.
The government should stick to the recent clarifications released on FDI in multi-brand retail trading and not ease the conditions for foreign retailers.
The government may drop its plan to decriminalise cheque bounce offences after there were requests to continue the existing system, which can potentially make people honour their financial commitments due to fear of prosecution. It would seek directions from a Supreme Court panel formed to expedite the pendency of cheque bounce cases before taking a final call. Last year the Department of Financial Services (DFS) had proposed decriminalising minor offences, which included cheque bouncing, for improving business sentiment and unclogging court processes.
The order follows a complaint filed by Delhi Vyapar Mahasangh which accused the e-commerce firms of anti-competitive practices like preferential listing, exclusive tie-ups and private labels.
The issue is set to be discussed early next week as the commerce department meets with industry bodies to discuss the widening supply gap for key imports.
Amid the protests against leading e-commerce firms, Flipkart and Amazon, shipments through the online route in fact witnessed a double-digit growth every quarter.
The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) will hear e-commerce major Amazon's interim plea on February 14, seeking a stay over the order passed by fair trade regulator CCI that had suspended the over two-year-old approval for its deal with Future Coupons Pvt Ltd (FCPL). A three-member bench on Monday directed to list Amazon's plea on February 14 to pass an interim order and stay the operations of the order passed by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) in December last year till it finally decides the matter. "The registry is directed to list on February 14 for hearing," said the NCLAT bench. The appellate tribunal also directed to list the appeals filed by the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) and All India Consumer Product Distributors Federation on the same date.
In December last year, Amazon invested over Rs 1,700 crore into its payments and wholesale business units in India, while in October it had infused over Rs 4,400 crore (more than USD 600 million) in its various units in India, including marketplace and food retail. Bezos last visited India in 2014 when he presented Amazon's Indian unit with a giant cheque for USD 2 billion. Since then, Amazon has pledged a further USD 3.5 billion to expand in the country and the USD 1 billion investment announced on Wednesday would take the total committed investment to USD 6.5 billion.
The complaint has been received against these online trading entities weeks after an uproar over Flipkart's massive discount sale which had raised concerns of anti-competitive practices.
'The trading community will be a priority for Modi when he forms the next government.'
In its new avatar as the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), it will directly be responsible for 'the welfare of traders and their employees'.
The world's biggest lockdown that shut a majority of the factories and businesses, suspended flights, stopped trains and restricted movement of vehicles and people, may have cost the Indian economy Rs 7-8 lakh crore during the 21-day period, analysts and industry bodies said.
'Farmers will block rail tracks in various places. Markets and transport services will be closed during 'Bharat Bandh'
If the protests have cemented the ties between the peasantry and the traders, the political implications for the BJP might become too serious to be disregarded because its core base was made up of the urban Khatri merchants.
Such campaigns would badly affect players in the traditional retail market.
As Amazon India, Flipkart are forced to shut down 60 categories and push out 45 mn products, a new lobby group comprising sellers is in the making to take up e-com concerns.
Not displaying the mandatory information, including country of origin, on products sold on their platforms in India, draws government's attention.
Sources said the railways is keen to ensure that a purely domestic entity bags the tender and once it was felt that the Chinese JV was a frontrunner for the project, it was scrapped.
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