The Govt is keen to make it mandatory to display ‘country of origin’ of products sold on e-commerce platforms starting Aug 1, but online retailers have pushed back saying the deadline may not be feasible.
On Wednesday, the department for promotion of industry & internal trade (DPIIT) held another meeting on the matter after the initial consultation 2 weeks ago, attended by close to 30 e-commerce players. DPIIT made it clear that it is looking to have ‘country of origin’ available for new listings on e-commerce platforms by Aug 1, & for legacy listings by the end of Sept, 2 officials of e-commerce companies present in the meeting told Mint under the condition of anonymity.
Requesting anonymity a DPIIT official said that “We heard the views of the e-commerce players. A date for implementation of the ‘country or origin’ proposal has not been finalized yet. We will consult with the department of consumer affairs before taking a final call as packaging is their domain".
Bigger players like Amazon & Flipkart requested a timeline of 3 months to execute the proposal. “Amazon stated that it has lakhs of sellers, & it will be difficult to convince them to mention ‘country of origin’ for every product, asking for a timeline of 3 months. Flipkart shared the same sentiment, & said that it needs to train the sellers & rejig its technology platform,” said a representative of online retailer present in the meeting. Two individuals Mint spoke to confirmed that Amazon & Flipkart haven’t reached out to its sellers yet on the request to mention ‘country of origin’ on listings.
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