Traders may see 50% fall in festive sales, govt should check e-commerce: CAIT NCR

Traders in Noida are fearing a decline of up to 50 per cent in sales during the Diwali festive season due to "unethical business" of e-commerce firms, and the government should intervene to check these companies, Sushil Kumar Jain, convener of the Delhi-NCR unit of CAIT said.

 

With only a week left in Diwali, markets across Noida are deserted and "now traders have lost hope of festive sales," Jain said.

 

He claimed that "unscrupulous business" of e-commerce companies was the main reason for the slowdown as they are giving huge discounts on various products.

 

"This has attracted customers coming to the markets. Recently, in the festival sale put up by Amazon and Flipkart, both companies have sold (goods worth) around Rs 19,000 crore in just four days, which makes it clear that a large part of the business in the market is (with) online companies," he added.

 

"There is a decline of almost 60 per cent in the business of mobile sector only, 35 per cent in FMCG and consumer durable, 35 per cent in electronics goods, 30 per cent in electrical appliances, 25 per cent in garment, 20 per cent in footwear, 35 per cent in gift items, 25 per cent in furnishing goods, 25 per cent in decorative items, 15 per cent in building hardware, 30 per cent in kitchen equipment, 30 per cent in computer and computer goods," Jain, who is also the president of Sector 18 market association and president of the district unit of Udyog Vyapar mandal, said.

 

The data is based on sampling done from feedback of 7 crore traders associated with the Confederation of All India Traders across India, Jain said.

 

"If the market goes on like this for another week, then on this Diwali festival, due to the e-commerce companies, there will be a drop of about 50 to 60 per cent in the total business of the traders, which is very worrying," he claimed.

 

"If the government does not curb online sales and does not put money in the market, then the business situation will be very bad," he added.