New Delhi: RSS-affiliate Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM) on Saturday urged the Government to not enter into any agreement on e-commerce at the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) negotiations starting on Sunday, arguing that such a move would benefit global e- tailers at the cost of domestic retailers. "We are hearing from some reports that the e-commerce chapter is expected to be concluded during this round of negotiations in RCEP. This is a matter of great concern for all Indians," SJM co-convenor Ashwani Mahajan said in a letter to Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.
The RCEP is a proposed free trade agreement (FTA) between 16 member states, including India. The proposals in RCEP include removal of tariffs on e- trading, which will severely impact retailers as well as customs duty revenues and therefore government spending. "Introduction of e-commerce chapter will immensely benefit big foreign e-commerce giants like Chinese Alibaba and US Amazon, at the cost of small domestic retailers," he said. The SJM also alleged that China was pushing interests of 'Alibaba' for duty free access of its manufactured goods into the Indian market using the e-commerce route and similarly American giant e-corporations were also advancing their demands through RCEP member-nation Japan. "These rules seek to free up all regulation on their activity through provisions such as free data flows, no disclosure of source code and so on," Mahajan said.
India should takecare public and private data of its citizens and not hand them over to such corporations, he said while emphasising that agreeing to e-commerce rules in RCEP will be a tactical mistake and undermine India's stand in the World Trade Organisation. "We therefore request both of you that neither the IT Ministry nor the Commerce Ministry agree to any commitments in RCEP on ecommerce," the SJM said in the letter.