After Swadeshi Jagran Manch wrote to the Prime Minister slamming the Walmart-Flipkart deal, the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) has referred the complaint to Reserve Bank of India, Enforcement Directorate and Competition Commission of India.
The day Walmart announced that it acquired 77% stake in Flipkart for nearly $16 billion dollars, Swadeshi Jagran Manch, which is an RSS-affiliated outfit lashed out against Walmart’s entry into the Indian market. It alleged that it was ‘circumventing rules for a back-door entry’ into India through the Flipkart acquisition. They wrote to the PM urging him to safeguard the interest of those at the bottom of the pyramid.
According to an Economic Times report, a similar letter was written to DIPP secretary Ramesh Abhishek as well. DIPP, in an office memorandum, said that SJM's complaint was referred to the three regulators along with the Income Tax Department.
"It is requested that the matter may be examined and appropriate action be taken," the DIPP said in the memorandum.
Incidentally, the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), which has been opposing the Walmart-Flipkart deal since ven before it was announced has also filed a complaint against Flipkart with ED alleging that Flipkart is grossly flouting FDI policy of the Government and circumventing the law in its favour so as to grab the market. The CAIT has urged the ED to investigate business module of other ecommerce companies as well alleging that largely everyone is circumventing the law.
In its petition to ED, CAIT alleged that in the guise of operating under a marketplace model, Flipkart is actively engaged in the inventory-based model of e-commerce, something the ecommerce itself admitted in front of a tax authority.
Prior to this, CAIT and another seller association All India Online Vendors Association (AIOVA) also moved CCI against the deal claiming that it will hurt a number of domestic sellers and create an uneven level playing field.