The e-commerce companies believe the government is using this exercise to take an unauthorised look into their financials, shareholding and operations.
Future Retail's (FRL's) independent directors have written a second letter to the Competition Commission of India (CCI), stating American e-commerce major Amazon never intended to invest in Future Coupons (FCPL) and the representations made by the US e-commerce player were completely opposite and contradictory to their own internal correspondences as submitted before courts. The directors also wrote to CCI that Amazon has obtained approval by making deliberate misrepresentations. By actively misleading the CCI and the regulator, it has to revoke the approval granted for Amazon's investment in FCPL.
Even if it wants to censor what you read, watch, or consume, the amount of content online is so huge that it is physically impossible for any government to do it, notes Vanita Kohli-Khandekar.
'In a special gesture, UAE President and Ruler of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, accompanied by senior members of the Royal Family, was at Abu Dhabi airport for the interaction with PM'
Capital dumping is being used by foreign e-commerce firms to subsidise and engage in predatory pricing, oil-to-telecom conglomerate Reliance Industries (RIL) has told the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) in an internal document. The document alleges that this is leading to massive unemployment and financial distress among small merchants and kirana stores. It consists of various recommendations and proposed changes that deal with Press Note 2 of 2018 (PN 2), which RIL wanted Assocham to present to the government, according to sources.
The government, in February, had released the draft national e-commerce policy proposing setting up a legal and technological framework for restrictions on cross-border data flow and also laid out conditions for businesses regarding collection or processing of sensitive data locally and storing it abroad.
A few days after the government made the crucial policy announcement, Tony Fernandes, chief executive officer of Air Asia, the largest low-cost carrier in Southeast Asia, said he would visit India this month.
Traders' body CAIT on Wednesday accused e-commerce major Amazon of indulging in serious contraventions of FDI policy and Foreign Exchange Management Act. The body also blamed the online firm for not seeking the government's approval for conducting multi-brand retail activities in India.
The government has decided to spend big on infrastructure across a wide variety of sectors to give a greater impetus to the economy which is recovering from the impact of Covid-19, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Monday.
'I think we will be able able to inspire confidence in the minds of prospective investors,' says Mukherjee.
The government on Friday came out with a new press note stipulating that foreign direct investment in micro and small enterprises (MSE) will be governed by sectoral caps and other regulations instead of the earlier 24 per cent ceiling on the foreign equity holding.
According to experts, this will have major impact on new investments by Chinese players in companies, such as Paytm, Ola, BigBasket, Byju's, Dream11, MakeMyTrip, and Swiggy, when they go for follow-up funding. Chinese investors, such as Alibaba, Tencent, and Xiaomi, are active in the Indian start-up space, and have collectively invested billions of dollars.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday asserted that the government will remove all hurdles to attract more foreign investments.
Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh also asked the RBI to make public details of FDI inflows from Cayman islands since demonetisation.
While the new norms are part of the draft policy's guidelines to fight counterfeit and fake products on platforms, they might end up helping brands and e-commerce firms sign exclusive sale deals.
Apart from a stake buy, some other options on the table include a merger of the entertainment businesses of Sony and Network18 Media.
American businesses are lobbying with political parties here to build a consensus on stalled economic reforms such as liberalisation of foreign direct investment (FDI) in sectors like multi-brand retail, aviation and insurance, and for expeditious introduction of a Goods and Services Tax (GST).
Trinamool Congress chief and West Bengal Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday announced her decision to withdraw from the Congress-led ruling United Progressive Alliance.
Intermediaries, TPAs will also benefit, but investments will be under 26% FDI cap
Infusion of additional capital can fuel the growth of these companies, help them in further geographical expansion to more tier II and tier III cities and also cater to the requirements of rural markets.
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Amidst debate over control of Jet Airways post UAE's Etihad buying stake, the RBI on Thursday notified FDI guidelines defining control of a company, saying that a firm will be said to be controlled by non-residents if they have powers to appoint majority of the directors.
A day after his ministry rebuked Twitter for not complying with its orders to take down inflammatory content, Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said social media platforms cannot give differential treatment while handling problems on Capitol Hill and the Red Fort.
The Reserve Bank said overseas direct investments by Indian companies, including Bharti Airtel, totalled $2.37 billion in February, up about 30.25 per cent year-on-year.
The Reserve Bank said overseas investors, including FPIs and NRIs, can invest up to 26 per cent in insurance and allied activities through the automatic route.
These companies struck joint ventures with foreign partners before the government relaxed FDI sectoral limits by issuing Press Notes 2 and 4 in February this year, and had approached FIPB for approvals later. FIPB sent a note to this effect to the RBI a month ago, advising the central bank to deal with such cases.
Any foreign investment in excess of 24 per cent in an industrial unit, which manufactures items reserved for micro and small enterprises, will require prior approval of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board, according to Press Note 6 issued by the government.
In its report tabled in Parliament, the national auditor said the Dassault Aviation and the MBDA proposed in September 2015 to discharge 30 per cent of their offset obligations by offering high technology to the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), but the two firms are yet to do it.
Sitharaman, who is not known to reply to comments made on her Twitter handle, instantly choose to respond to drug-maker Biocon chairman Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw's criticism of lack of fiscal measures to support growth.
The ban on import of 101 items is a big step towards an Atma Nirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India). This list of negative items contains not only small items but weapon systems of high and critical technology. More such items will be added to this list shortly which will save crores of rupees in imports, the defence minister said.
Budget session will begin on February 23 and conclude on May 8
At the heart of the issue is the way e-commerce is defined in the current draft policy.
Private labels remain big business for e-commerce marketplaces. They comprise almost 15 per cent of the total business of such firms.
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