Not Against Ecommerce Sites, Want Them To Operate Fairly: Goyal

SUMMARY

Piyush Goyal said that the Centre only wants fair competition between online and offline businesses

This comes a day after Goyal said that billion-dollar investments in India by ecommerce giants like Amazon were aimed at offsetting losses rather than supporting the Indian economy

The commerce minister had also said that the ecommerce growth in India could lead to loss of employment in traditional retail businesses

A day after raising concerns over predatory pricing employed by ecommerce platforms, union commerce minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday (August 22) clarified that the government is not against online marketplaces but wants them to operate fairly

Speaking at an event in Mumbai, Goyal reportedly said that the Centre only wants fair competition between online and offline businesses.

“We are very clear that we want to invite FDI (foreign direct investment), we want to invite technology, we want to have the best of the world, and we are not against online at all,” Hindustan Times quoted Goyal as saying.

Earlier on Wednesday, Goyal said that billion-dollar investments in India by ecommerce giants like Amazon were aimed at offsetting losses rather than supporting the Indian economy.

He further said that the “rapid growth” of the ecommerce sector was more a matter of “concern” than pride. He added the surge could lead to loss of employment in traditional retail businesses as ecommerce platforms were eating into the market share of small retailers by offering high-margin products like consumer electronics and apparel at discounted rates.

Goyal also warned of “huge social disruption” due to the rapid growth of the ecommerce sector, expressing worry that half of India’s market could become part of the ecommerce network within a decade. Given this pace, Goyal emphasised that online businesses need to ensure a “fair chance” of competing.

However, this is not the first time that Amazon has landed in a soup in India. In the past, industry body CAIT has multiple times urged the Centre to probe the ecommerce giant for alleged anti-competitive tactics.

In 2021, a news report said that Amazon deliberately copied products and rigged search results to promote its own brands. Afterwards, the competition commission of India (CCI) launched a probe into the matter, which was eventually dropped in 2022.

That said, India’s ecommerce sector continues to grow in size on the back of growing internet penetration due to affordable smartphones and internet. As per an Inc42 report, the Indian ecommerce sector is projected to reach a market size of $400 Bn by 2030.