Traders seek ban on e-portals for huge festive sale

Ludhiana: The Ludhiana unit of the Confederation of All-India Traders (CAIT) on Monday opened a front against online e-commerce portals for the upcoming festival sale in which they have announced huge price drop for various products.
The association has urged union finance minister Nirmala Seetharaman to ensure ban on such festival sales which endanger livelihood of small retailers and traders as the online e-commerce portals go to an extent of selling products below the costing.
Harkesh Mittal, state president of the CAIT, said: “This is unfortunate that big e-commerce portals come out with schemes like festival sales in which they sell products on rock bottom prices and sometimes even below their costing due to various schemes and incentives. This practice is against the business ethics and should be stopped immediately.”
Mittal said: “These portals are also openly flouting the norms because as per the law they are not authorized to sell products as they are not the owners. The government should immediately take an action and stop such illegal business activities which destroy the livelihood of lakhs of small-time businessmen who are struggling to earn even one-time meal.”