CAIT urges govt to ban festival sales by e-commerce players

Traders' body CAIT on Friday urged the government to ban festival season discount offers by e-commerce companies like Flipkart and Amazon, as it violates FDI norms.

In a letter to Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) said festival sales and deep discounts being offered by various e-commerce companies are against the mandate for foreign direct investment policy.

"...we request you to please immediately look in to the matter and stop these Companies for organising any festival sales or other sales having an element of predatory pricing or deep discounting," the CAIT, which specifically mentioned Flipkart and Amazon in its letter to the minister.

The traders' body also provided "substantial evidence" of e-commerce portals indulging into predatory pricing and deep discounting.

Since they are openly flouting FDI norms, it said, a "blanket ban" on festival sales should be ordered.

It has also demanded an investigation as to how these ...