BANGALORE,: Union Minister of State for Commerce Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday denied reports that the Centre was contemplating a new policy to regulate online retailers. She also clarified that she had not stated anything to the effect that an inquiry into complaints related to online retailer Flipkart’s “Big Billion Day” sale would be considered.
Ms. Sitharaman, who visited the BJP State headquarters in Bangalore after holding a meeting with the stakeholders of the coffee industry, maintained that her earlier statement with respect to the Flipkart issue and online retailers had been wrongly interpreted. “I don’t know from where such statements are coming,” she said.
“When I was asked by media persons about complaints related to Flipkart’s “Big Billion Day” sale, I had responded by saying, “Yes we have received a lot of inputs. Some of those inputs are causing concern. We are looking into them.” But with a certain sense of disappointment, let me say that those three sentences have found three million interpretations.”
When her attention was drawn to the legal and tax issues related to online retailers, she said: “I have no comments to offer, particularly in the wake of my previous comments being terribly mutilated.”
