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On Friday, the Interior Ministry announced a two-week extension of the blockade, but said there would be some relaxation for the orange and green zones. Under the latest rules, e-commerce activities in the red zones, which cover large cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Pune and Hyderabad, are only allowed for essential goods during the third phase of the blockade.
A senior industry executive, who declined to be named, said that while there are guidelines from the Center for e-commerce companies for the third phase of the blockade, only a few states, including Karnataka, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, have notified your guidelines. far.
This lack of clarity from other states could pose difficulties for e-commerce companies to resume full operations, the person said.
Another challenge for e-commerce companies that follow the market model (such as Amazon India, Flipkart, and Snapdeal) is that many of their vendors are located or have warehouses in red zones. The guidelines of the Ministry of the Interior, issued a few days ago, are not clear on the operations of these sellers of non-essential products on the market, which are in red zones. Therefore, they depend on how local authorities issue their guidelines, the person said.
E-commerce platforms and many consumer organizations have also been asking the government to expand the essential goods list to include items like laptops, cell phones, and chargers, as well as summer clothing to ensure people don’t have to leave their stores. households in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The person said that adding these categories will help clients, especially in the red zones, to continue working and studying from home and practicing social distancing.
Another industry executive said that e-commerce platforms have engaged with vendor-partners to prepare them for the resumption of services.
The seller, if it is in the orange and green zone, will be able to see the locations it can serve, while the customer will see the products that can be delivered depending on their location, while other items may carry indicators that say the item cannot be delivered.
Srinivas Mothey, senior vice president at Paytm Mall, said the company has already had conversations with its suppliers, logistics partners and, most importantly, with the offline merchant base and that everyone is ready to connect.
“We would be live with key categories of consumer demand such as consumer electronics, laptops, home and fashion. These verticals and catalogs would be open to our customers in addition to continuous essentials. We would be taking new orders for non-essential items from Monday, May 4, and deliver to all green and orange areas, “he added.
Mothey said that most of its sellers in nonessential categories have confirmed their readiness by updating their inventory and will begin publishing May 4 and the rest will follow suit over the next week as zonal restrictions are eased.
“We have extended its processing times to pack and ship products by 2-3 days buffer, relaxed SLA (service level agreements) and order processing penalty conditions. We are in the process of updating inventory and cataloging their SKUs (stock keeping units) on the platform. Our logistics partners are in contact with them and will begin the delivery process as soon as we start receiving orders, “he added.
Walmart-owned Flipkart welcomed the Center’s move to allow e-commerce companies to offer nonessential products in the orange and green zones and said it is working with thousands of vendors and micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). across India and helping them prepare their businesses to resume operations.
A spokesperson for Amazon India has said that millions of small and medium-sized businesses and merchants will be able to boost their businesses and livelihoods across their workforce after the relaxations coming on May 4.
Emphasizing that the company will focus on maintaining the “sanctity of new guidelines around red zones”, Amazon India has also urged the government to consider the positive role that e-commerce can play in getting customers all the products priorities they need in the red zones as well as to enable stronger financial support for small businesses and to prioritize security.
In the first phase of the national closure between March 24 and April 14, the government had only allowed the delivery of essential goods through e-commerce platforms. On April 16, the Home Office issued new guidelines for the current blockade, allowing for e-commerce deliveries and truck movement, but on April 19 it amended its order to allow online commerce companies to deliver essential items only until May 3.
Interestingly, the merchant agency CAIT had argued that e-commerce companies were misinterpreting the May 1 MHA guidelines and “twisted them in their favor to mislead different governments and state authorities and create unnecessary confusion.”
CAIT has sent a communication to Defense Minister Rajnath Singh (also GoM President at COVID-19) urging the MHA to clarify the matter. He has also written to the Minister of the Interior, Amit Shah, and to the Minister of Commerce, Piyush Goyal.
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