…As India tightens e-commerce rules, likely to hit Amazon, Flipkart***
The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETfund) Executive
Secretary, Dr Abdullahi Baffa-Bichi on Wednesday flagged off another off the
cuff assertion in Kano, as he predicted that Nigeria would become the 14th
best economy in the world, by 2050.
Dr Abdullahi Baffa-Bichi who stated this during an interactive session with
members of the Buhari Support Political Group, “One 2 Tell 10’’, anchored his
assertion that, indices of growth and development are manifesting, following
the sound and excellent economic policy introduced by the administration of
President Muhammadu Buhari.
He noted that a report released by an established global economic expert, PWC,
had also predicted that Nigeria would be the 14th biggest economy in the world
in 2050.
Baffa-Bichi disclosed that the report, titled ‘The World in 2050’, which was
released recently, attributed this to the current economic revolution
introduced by the Buhari administration.
He said the Nigeria’s economy is now on a sound footing as evident by the
stability in the business and investment environment.
The TETfund boss commended Buhari for his good economic policies and
initiatives which were responsible for the country to get out of recession
within just two years.
According to him, this feat was certified by the major financial players in the
world such as IMF and World Bank.
“If not for the prudent management of resources instilled by the
administration, Nigeria would have been in a serious economic crisis”, he said.
According to Baffa-Bichi, who is the Director-General of the “One 2 Tell 10’’
movement, explained that getting out of recession was by no means a great
achievement.
He expressed optimism that Nigerians would soon be among the best economies in
the world if these policies are sustained.
He therefore said such achievement alone should make Nigerian electorate to
renew their mandate to the government.
Baffa-Bichi further commended the group for their steadfastness and commitment
towards ensuring the success of the APC administration.
He urged them to redouble efforts in their campaign for the re-election of
Buhari and the APC at all levels in the 2019 general elections.
“Nigerians are now wiser and they have seen the good works of President Buhari,
giving him another chance in 2019 will certainly go a long way to further
secure our country and launch her among the comity of advanced nations.
“On assumption of office, Buhari had three major programmes which are ensuring
security, fighting corruption and economic recovery.
“We are all living witnesses today that our country is enjoying peace with the
taming of the activities of insurgents and pipeline vandals.
“While efforts are on top gear to quenching the activities of bandits in other
parts of the country. Economically, Nigeria is now on a sound footing while
corruption has been reduced to the barest minimum.”
He pointed out that agricultural activities have been growing, following the
availability of farm inputs at affordable prices; unlike in the past where
fertiliser and other incentives were out of reach.
The Chairman of the “One 2 Tell 10’’ Buhari support group, Mr Yuguda
Abdulazeez, had earlier assured that the group was all out to ensure the
success of Buhari and all APC candidates in the 2019 elections.
Meanwhile, India will ban e-commerce companies such as
Amazon.com and Walmart-owned Flipkart Group from selling products from
companies in which they have an equity interest.
In a statement, the government also said that the companies
will be prevented from entering into exclusive agreements with sellers. The new
rules will be applicable from February 1.
“An entity having equity participation by e-commerce
marketplace entity or its group companies, or having control on its inventory
by e-commerce marketplace entity or its group companies, will not be permitted
to sell its products on the platform run by such marketplace entity,” the
commerce ministry said in a statement.
E-commerce companies can make bulk purchases through their
wholesale units or other group companies that in turn sell the products to
select sellers, such as their affiliates or other companies with which they
have agreements.
Those sellers can then sell the products to other companies
or direct to consumers, often at attractively low prices.
The new regulations follow complaints from Indian retailers
and traders, who say the giant e-commerce companies are using their control
over inventory.
They are also, using control through exclusive sales
agreements, to create an unfair marketplace that allows them to sell some
products at very low prices.
The All India Online Vendors Association (AIOVA) in October
filed a petition with the anti-trust body Competition Commission of India (CCI)
alleging that Amazon favours merchants that it partly owns, such as Cloudtail
and Appario.
The lobby group filed a similar petition against Flipkart in
May, alleging violation of competition rules through preferential treatment for
select sellers.
Wednesday’s notification also said that the cash back that
customers get as an incentive while online shopping should not be based on
whether the product was purchased from an affiliate of the platform or not.
The new rules said that services provided to vendors on an
e-commerce platform and by that entity’s affiliates should be done at arm’s length
and in a fair and non-discriminatory manner.
New rules will appease small traders and farmers who fear
that U.S. companies are making a back door entry into India’s retail market and
could squeeze out small corner shops that dominate Indian retailing.
The Confederation of All India Traders in a statement said
that if the order is implemented in full then malpractices, predatory pricing
policies and deep discounting by e-commerce players will no longer occur.
CAIT secretary general Praveen Khandelwal said the new rules
will put an embargo on the tactics adopted by the global players to control and
dominate retail trade in India through e-commerce.
In May, CAIT had raised objections to Walmart’s $16 billion
acquisition of Flipkart saying the deal would create unfair competition and
result in predatory pricing.
The new regulations build on existing rules under which
foreign investors can acquire 100 percent of e-commerce companies, with the
exception of a model based on inventory from which they are barred.
Amazon India said it is currently evaluating the new rules,
while Flipkart did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
