MoUs with Amazon by states ‘unfortunate’: Confederation of All India Traders

New Delhi, Dec 6: The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) on Sunday said it is “most unfortunate and regrettable” that several Indian states have entered into memorandum of understandings (MOUs) or agreements with e-commerce giant Amazon for selling products of government agencies.

Such MOUs are strongly contradicting “Aatmanirbhar Bharat” and “Vocal for Local” campaign initiated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the CAIT said.

The traders’ body said it is writing to chief ministers of all states in this regard, and subsequently meeting them.

It will further hold protests across all the states in support of their demands.

“Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Dr Narottam Mishra in past few days had admitted involvement of Amazon in ‘ganja’ supply racket and therefore at the first instance, the MP government should immediately cancel all its ‘MOUs’ with Amazon,” the traders’ body’s National President B.C. Bhartia and Secretary Praveen Khandelwal said in a statement.

The traders’ body urged the Madhya Pradesh government to advise its agencies to “disassociate” themselves from Amazon.

“Amazon is a known global law offender which has been penalised in different countries for its malpractices in business and is continuously violating Indian laws & rules and also facing investigation by the Enforcement Directorate and Competition Commission of India,” the statement said.

States such as Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Punjab, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu Telangana, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh Uttarakhand, West Bengal have made various agreements with the global e-commerce firm, it claimed.