No problem with falsh sales but won’t tolerate cheating, says Piyush Goyal on online discount offers

New Delhi (26/04/2023): Although the country’s foreign direct investment (FDI) policy prohibits marketplaces from selling directly to consumers, the government is not opposed to discount offers and “flash sales” on e-commerce platforms. However, the government will not tolerate “cheating” in this situation, according to Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal.

Goyal pushed for all e-commerce players as well as major corporations like ITC and HUL to join the government-backed Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) platform and proposed setting a deadline for such players to onboard it. He also pledged that the Centre would release an e-commerce policy that addresses such sales.

The minister said, “The other aspect was that marketplaces which are not allowed to do B2C sales as per the FDI policy…what they are doing is – the consumer comes to a platform from where there’s a flash sale, electronically, it goes to the marketplace and the preferred seller gets to sell. That is cheating and we are only trying to stop that cheating through the e-commerce policy that we are coming out with.”

Talking about small businesses owners and vendors Goyal said, “The FDI laws have to be respected. The marketplace has to operate as a marketplace. They can sell other products as their single brand outlet, we have no problem. But you can’t mix the marketplace model with your single-brand retail model. This is very close to my heart and my heart beats for those millions and crores of small retailers for whom I am worried.”

He further mentioned the downfall of small businesses in countries like USA, saying that many Mom and Pop stores were seen “disappear and all shut down”, he also said that the Modi government supports small retailers and will ensure their sustenance.