Local traders, small sellers, retailers and SMBs got together to organise a day-long virtual summit Asmbhav (meaning impossible) on Thursday to coincide with Amazon India’s second edition of Smbhav, its summit for sellers, in order to protest against the “real agenda of foreign retailers posing as marketplaces,” by circumventing Indian laws.
Asmbhav Summit was organised by PRAHAR (public response against helplessness and action for redressal), AIOVA (All India Online Vendors Association, AICPDF ( All India Consumers Products Distributors Federation), AIMRA (All India Mobile Retailers Association), FAIDA (Federation of All India Distributors Associations) and FDTA (FMCG Distributor and Traders Association). These associations collectively represent over 6 lakh small sellers. The event saw small traders share the challenges they face while selling on e-commerce marketplaces run by MNC players and expects to create awareness around policy loopholes which they claim are being exploited by these e-commerce firms.