MNC e-commerce giants violating FDI norms: CAIT

New Delhi: India's largest traders' association CAIT on Tuesday said few multinational e-commerce giants with a heavy arsenal of funding are attempting to flout foreign investment guidelines for the sector and demanded strict enforcement action.

Releasing a whitepaper on the e-commerce policy, the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) said e-commerce entities have "structured their relationship as marketplace with sellers in a such a way that they are in a position to control either seller on their platform or the inventory and also escape the scrutiny of the enforcement agencies."

"Under the guise of such control or ownership over sellers, the issue also permeates from being a mere FDI policy violation to also being an anti-competitive conduct," it said. "The mitigating measures and strict action for enforcement of the law in letter and spirit are of paramount importance." Otherwise, the FDI policy on e-commerce will fail in its objective of catering to the interests of domestic manufacturers, traders, sellers, MSMEs, start-ups and creation of level-playing field in retail, it added.