New Delhi: Small traders, who are seen as an important vote bank for the BJP are going to present a paper to finance minister Arun Jaitley and commerce minister Nirmala Sitharaman urging that any hasty decision on allowing FDI in retail e-commerce will prove detrimental to existing retail trade of India.
Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) said on Sunday that the business community will release a white paper on FDI in retail e-commerce in the coming week. CAIT had been opposing FDI in multi brand retail and is also opposing FDI in retail e-commerce.
An agency report last week had said that the government is looking to allow FDI in e-commerce as soon as next month, which will allow global on-line retailers such as Amazon.com Inc to sell their own products.
The report had said that the industry ministry that drafts FDI rules recently met officials from companies including Amazon, Google, eBay Inc, Wal-Mart and Indian retailer Flipkart to finalise the investment guideline
CAIT lamented that during the previous regime no one from the government ever attempted to ascertain the views of the trade and SMEs on this important issue whereas “frantic meetings and consultations were held with various MNCs.”
It hoped that under the new regime such kind of “partial working in the government will come to an end and stakeholders particularly the trade and SMEs shall be consulted.”
“And due weight shall be given to them while taking any decision on this crucial subject which is also connected with employment generation in the country,” added CAIT.
