The Centre on Wednesday barred e-commerce firms like Flipkart and Amazon from selling products of companies in which they are stakeholders. The Ministry of Commerce and Industry also said that no e-commerce firm can oblige any seller to sell a particular product on its platform only.
The revised Foreign Direct Investment policy for e-commerce said that entities in the sector will not directly or indirectly influence the sale price of goods or services, and shall provide a level playing field for all vendors on the platform. Any services they offer to vendors on the platform should be at arm’s length only and non-discriminatory, the government press release added.
The e-commerce entities should also provide “fair and non-discriminatory” cashback to customers in case such a need arises, the press release said.
The ministry said that the new guidelines will come into force from February 1, 2019. The e-commerce companies will have to submit a certificate along with the report of a statutory auditor to the Reserve Bank of India confirming that these guidelines have been complied with, by September 30 each year.
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