Big Billion Day Sale: No probe against Flipkart, clarifies Nirmala Sitharaman

Union Commerce and Industries Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Monday that there was no inquiry into complaints against e-commerce giant Flipkart of predatory prices of goods and unfair trade practices during its recent ‘Big Billion Day Sale’.

“I would like to state that no enquiry has been planned or proposed on the e-retailer on the concerns raised by customers on the big billion day sale,” she told reporters after a visit to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) office.

Sitharaman on October 8 in New Delhi had said that the centre would look into the complaints of predatory prices on goods sold by Flipkart after allegations of unfair trade practices were levelled against it during the discount sale on October 6.

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“We have received many inputs. Lot of concerns have been expressed. We will look into it,” she had said.

Today, she said her earlier remarks were misinterpreted. “My earlier three sentence remarks were interpreted in three million ways on the Flipkart issue,” she said.

Sitharaman also declined to comment on the tax issues of another e-retailer Amazon with the Karnataka Government.

Karnataka tax department had sent notices to third party merchants working with Amazon India, directing them to stop storing their products in Amazon’s Bangalore fulfilment centre.

The tax authorities apparently claimed that Amazon should pay the sales tax for all the orders through its fulfilment service since they believe that Amazon owns these goods for all “practical” purposes.

Amazon, however, claimed that it is just a service provider and doesn’t own goods at any point of sale due to which it is not liable to pay this tax.

PTI