'Country of origin' of products: e-tailers agree in principle, seek time to make tech changes

Representative image

The hour and a half long meeting which was attended by Amazon, Flipkart besides a dozen other e-tailers and the government representative concluded with a decision on displaying the country of origin of products.

However, e-commerce companies said they would need some time to make the necessary technological changes needed to cater to this requirement. It was, therefore, decided that they would meet again in 7-10 days to discuss the modalities.

The e-tailers demanded inclusion of some sellers in these meetings as they are the ones who list their products on e-commerce sites. So, the onus to display the origin will fall upon them.

The meeting which took place via video conference was chaired by Joint Secretary Ravinder from The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade.

The move comes at a time when anti-China sentiment runs high in the country after 20 Indian soldiers were killed in a clash with Chinese troops in Ladakh’s Galwan Valley along the Line of Actual Control.

Recently, even the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) urged Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal to make it mandatory for every ecommerce portal to mention the country of origin of each product sold on their platforms.

Most ecommerce companies were selling Chinese goods and consumers was not aware of it. Sharing information on the country of origin would help them make an informed decision, it said.

The government has already mandated its own online marketplace, GeM, to enter the country of origin while registering new products.

Amazon and Flipkart did not immediately respond to emails.