New Delhi: The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) on Tuesday held a meeting with different stakeholders, including domestic and foreign companies, on the proposed e-commerce policy, an official said.

The meeting was attended by domestic and foreign e-commerce firms besides domestic traders body CAIT (Confederation of All India Traders) and associations related to the MSME sector.

According to sources, issues like lack of level-playing field between online and offline retailers were raised. E-commerce companies, on the other hand, highlighted that they were running various programmes that are enabling lakhs of small businesses to go digital. Queries sent to players like Amazon, Flipkart. Snapdeal and Reliance did not elicit any response.

In a statement. CAIT said the meeting was attended by All India Consumer Products Distributors Federation (Al CPDF), Retailers' Association of India, Laghu Udyog Bharti, and Federation of In Indian Micro and Small & Medium Enterprises (FISME),
Representatives of e-commerce firms, including Amazon and Flipkart. also attended the virtual meeting, which was chaired by DPIIT Additional Secretary Anil Agarwal, along with other senior officials of the ministry.

Confirming his participation in the meeting, CAIT secretary general Praveen Khandelwal said the e-commerce policy should have clear stipulations about trans parent operations of e-commerce platforms, easy accessibility, an adequate grievance redressal system, and non-discriminatory access of marketplace platforms to all stakeholders and value chain.
It should also have stipulations about the avoidance of conflict of interest among marketplace platforms, sellers, and various service providers on the platform.

The meeting holds significance as the department is in the process of formulating the policy.

Source- PTI