The Secretary General of CAIT, Praveen Khandelwal, has called for urgent action by the government to address the increasing malpractices of certain e-commerce and quick commerce companies in India. He expressed concern over the unfair practices of foreign-funded e-commerce entities that are distorting the retail trade ecosystem and disadvantaging the country’s over nine crore traders. These practices include predatory pricing, deep discounting, and preferential treatment to select sellers, posing a threat to small and medium traders.
Khandelwal emphasized the importance of maintaining a level playing field between offline and online trade for the balanced growth of the economy. He stressed the necessity of implementing a comprehensive National E-commerce Policy and enforcing stringent regulatory frameworks to protect the interests of domestic trade. He also welcomed the passage of the Jan Vishwas Bill 2.0, highlighting the government’s commitment to trust-based governance and ease of doing business under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership.
Advocating for institutional reforms, Khandelwal proposed the establishment of a ‘National Retail Development Council’ to ensure structured representation of the trading community in policymaking. He underscored the significance of stakeholders’ active participation in formulating trade policies to achieve more practical and effective governance.
