CAIT accuses Amazon of circumventing policy

11 Feb '19

1 min read

The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has accused Amazon of circumventing the new e-commerce rules by reducing its stake in Prione Business Services Pvt. Ltd. and thereby, trying to disassociate itself from Cloudtail India Pvt. Ltd—its joint venture with NR Narayana Murthy’s Catamaran Ventures—that was one of the biggest merchants on Amazon India’s platform.

Cloudtail, which launched itself as a seller on Amazon in July 2014, is particularly dominant in electronics and fashion sales, two of the three largest categories for Amazon India. The equity capital has been pumped in jointly by Amazon Asia and Catamaran through an entity called Prione Business Services Pvt. Ltd.

CAIT national president BC Bhartia and secretary general Praveen Khandelwal said that the body would approach the commerce ministry with a demand to clarify that online retailers should not hold direct as well as indirect stake in its vendors.

The intention of the policy will be defeated by Amazon through jugglery of language, of which such global e-commerce players are masters, they feel.

CAIT has written recently to commerce minister Suresh Prabhu calling for his immediate intervention in the matter. (DS)

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