Reliance Retail tells govt e-commerce players bypassing foreign investment norms

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Retail on Thursday told the government that complex legal structures have been used by some firms to bypass the country’s e-commerce rules which from the very beginning do not allow foreign capital in the inventory-based model.

At a meeting called by the commerce ministry on allegations that foreign online retailers created complex structures to bypass foreign investment rules and damage small traders, Amazon urged the government not to issue any clarification until investigations into its business practices had been concluded, sources said.

At the meeting, Reliance Retail’s representatives said the Indian e-commerce policy does not allow foreign capital in the inventory-based model and foreign investment is allowed only in pure technical infrastructure/ platform that facilitates the meeting of buyer with sellers.