The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) which created an uproar on the e-commerce issue recently has convened a joint meeting of all offline and online stakeholders of the e-commerce trade on forthcoming 27 January at New Delhi.

To thrash out the issue and make recommendations to the DPIIT of the Ministry of Commerce on e-commerce policy which is currently under the draft stage, we have decided to conduct this meeting, said CAIT National President B.C.Bhartia.

For this, CAIT has today sent invites for the meeting to e-commerce companies including Amazon, Flipkart, Reliance, Tata, Zomato, Swiggy, Big Basket, Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, Instagram, Lens kart, Grofers, Zoom, Make My Trip, Ease My Trip, Big Basket, Pepperfry, eBay, Goibibo, Snapdeal, Book My show, Myntra, Paytm, Mastercard, Visa, American Express, Rupay, Nykaa,  Shopclues, Cleartrip, Naukri.com, Udaan, Healthkart, 1mg, Ola, Uber and few others who are operating their business activities through digital mode.

Along with these, invitations have also been sent to the Federation of Small & Medium Enterprises (FISME), All India Consumer Products Distributors Federation (AICPDF), India Cellular & Electronics Association (ICEA), Retailers Association of India (RAI), Indian Banks Association (IBA), Laghu Udyog Bharti, All India Mobile Retailers Association (AIMRA), National Farmers Federation (NFA), and many others.

Stressing the need for such a meeting, Bhartia said that CAIT is of a considered opinion that all kinds of services provided in India through any digital mode including social commerce must have to be brought under the ambit of e-commerce.

“Sharp differences exist among e-commerce stakeholders about the conduct of online business in the country. Therefore, it is necessary that a broad unanimity must be arrived on basic fundamentals of e-commerce business among the stakeholders to provide input to the DPIIT which is framing the e-commerce policy,” he said.

“We are not averse to e-commerce or any e-commerce company but of the strong view that law of the land and the policies must be complied with both letter & spirit, which cannot be denied by any stakeholder,” added Bhartia.