Reliance Industries Has Called to Tighten the Marketplace Rules

In a closed-door meeting with the government of India, Reliance Industries has emphasized putting in stricter regulations that ensure non-discriminatory treatments for all ecommerce sellers on marketplace websites, revealed in the report.

Being one of the largest retailers in the e-commerce segment, Reliance lined up a big push in the ecommerce space. It has more than 12,000 stores with wide segment operations, Reliance is still way behind its competitors Amazon and Walmart’s Flipkart. 

According to news sources, the company has called out to implement tighter marketplace e-commerce operations regulations to treat all sellers equally. Although the company hasn’t named any company in particular, the remarks are seen in the light of the putting greater regulatory vigilance for arch-rivals, including Amazon and Flipkart, where both are foreign-invested entities.

The sources revealed that the Amazon executive had taken note of concerns raised by the retail trading community. However, Amazon and Flipkart declined to comment on the matter.

Earlier, India’s small retailers have alleged that the U.S. platforms got preferential treatment to select big sellers with discreet financial or business interests. The US-based companies denied commenting on the matter, citing that they only run marketplaces connecting customers with independent sellers.

Traditional retailers expressed their concerns in the meeting held with the government, which was called by India’s industry promotion department and was supported by a senior Reliance executive.

The sources also revealed that the market websites must act independently. They should be unbiased with the sellers, indicating officials should incorporate such provisions into policy change for the booming sector.

A spokesperson for the industry promotion department too declined to respond to comment.

Local vs. Global

Reliance Industries, headed by a billionaire, Mukesh Ambani, indicates a growing rivalry in the country’s spanning ecommerce space. It is especially aggravated by foreign players such as Amazon and Flipkart in the race to win the hearts of millions of Indian customers. The widespread use of the Indian ecommerce space has opened a chase to become the leading ecommerce platform in the country as well.

As a local player, Reliance assures to sell its products to many consumers directly on its website or apps instead of the tighter rules and regulations levied to protect the local retailer base.

As per the sources from an ecommerce executive attending the meeting, "It seems Reliance is forcing the government hard (on regulations) so that they can lead the race in ecommerce.”

Last year, a prominent news agency reported that Amazon had been named the favored select sellers in India, which put them in the category to bypass foreign investment law of the country. The U.S. company also carried out a systematic campaign of creating knockoff goods and rigging search results to thrive its product lines and much more.

On the other hand, Amazon confirmed that it does not give preferential treatment to any seller or does anything to manipulate searches while serving the nation by complying with all Indian laws.

The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) said it had requested the officials to establish an e-commerce regulator to hear the pleas and grievances of retailers in the meeting.