The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) which is spearheading a nationwide movement for a boycott of Chinese Products under its campaign titled “Bhartiya Saamaan- Hamara Abhiman†and which has raised the demand with Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal to make it mandatory for e-commerce portals to invariably mention “Country of Origin†against each product sold by them, has applauded the Union Government to make the same applicable on GeM portal of the Govt.
CAIT National President B.C.Bhartia & Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal while complimenting the Union Government for taking such a timely step to promote Make in India & Atamnirbhar Bharat†call of Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that such provision should also be applicable on all e-commerce portals operating in the Country. Since the Government has begun the step with itself, it’s a perfect reflection of “Charity begins at Home†and the Ministry of Commerce should immediately issue a notification to make it mandatory for all e-commerce portals operating their activities in India.
The CAIT raised this demand on 15th June to Commerce Minister. in the wake of the fact that mostly all e-commerce companies are selling Chinese goods in large percentages on their portals and in absence of Country of Origin provision, the customers are unaware about the origin of the Country which certainly influences the choice of the Consumers.
Both Bhartia & Khandelwal said that another important step which the Government has taken to enable a provision for indication of the percentage of local content in products. The Government has also enabled Make in India filter on Gem portal which will facilitate the buyers to choose or buy only those products that meet the minimum 50% local content criteria.
Bhartia & Khandelwal said that now it is the time for the e-commerce portals to include this provision in their respective portals to let the customers know as to which Country’s product they are buying. They further said that since other e-commerce portals are working under the Business to Consumers (B2C) concept, this provision is more required in such e-commerce portals so that the consumers are not deceived.
In this context, the CAIT will once again knock the doors of Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and will urge him that after the Government’s own marketplace portal now it is the turn of other e-commerce players and the Ministry should immediately issue the notification.
