In a fresh directive, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), today, i.e., Sunday, April 19, 2020, barred the E-Commerce companies from commencing the sale of non-essential items.
Previously, the MHA had said that e-commerce companies can commence sale of non-essentials such as mobile phones, TVs, refrigerators, water purifiers from April 20, 2020. But today, the MHA took a U-turn and revoked its earlier order.
A statement from MHA read, “Supply of non-essential goods by e-commerce companies to remain prohibited during lockdown.”
A tweet from the Spokesperson of MHA read, “#IndiaFightsCorona. Supply of non-essential goods by e-commerce companies to remain prohibited during #Lockdown2 to fight #COVID19.”
Speaking on the occasion, the Secretary-General of Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) – Praveen Khandelwal said, “CAIT demolished a sinister plan of e-commerce companies to trade in non-essential commodities. Accepting the objection of CAIT, the MHA excluded the permission granted earlier and now e-commerce can only trade in essential commodities.”
As of now, the e-commerce companies can only sell essential such as food, pharmaceutical and medical devices.
Speaking on the new guidelines, Amazon India said that the fresh directive will disappoint the consumers. At the same time, it also said it will adhere to the new guidelines.
An Amazon India Spokesperson said, “The new guideline will disappoint not only the consumers whose list of essentials had expanded to work from home and study from home products but also the thousands of small businesses, sellers and manufacturers across the country, who had geared up in the last 48 hours to provide millions of people with safe access to products.”
The Spokesperson further added, “We will continue to follow the guidance and deliver essential products and work closely with all central, state and local authorities for expedited processes to make safe deliveries of priority products possible.”
A Snapdeal spokesperson said, “We will continue to operate in complete compliance with the guidelines issued by the government in this regard.”
Welcoming the MHA’s new directive, the Senior Vice President of Paytm Mall – Srinivas Mothey said, “Safety of fellow Indians is of utmost importance to us and therefore we support the government’s decision in spirit to limiting e-commerce operations to essentials. However, we believe that the ambit of essential goods should be increased.”
Since people are working from home, many of them are in need of mobile phones, laptops and other accessories. In case the lockdown continues, it will be difficult for companies to ensure seamless support from its workers who are working from home.
Meanwhile, the number of cases of Coronavirus (COVID-19) in Maharashtra has reached 3,651. The Chief Minister of Maharashtra – Uddhav Thackrey said that the State Government has demarcated the State in red, orange and green zone. While certain economic activities are allowed in orange and green zone, red zone remains prohibited. Mumbai and Pune have been demarcated as red zone. The door-to-door delivery of newspapers has been banned in these 2 cities.
The Chief Minister of Delhi – Arvind Kejriwal has said that there will be no relaxation on restrictions during lockdown till the review meeting is held on April 27, 2020. Delhi has a total of 1,893 cases. All the 11 Districts in Delhi have been declared as hotspot.
Arvind Kejriwal said, “Keeping in mind the lives of all Delhi residents, we have that there will be no relaxation in lockdown norms from tomorrow. We will sit in a meeting with all experts again on April 27 and review the situation. If need be, the lockdown norms will be relaxed after that.”
The Chief Minister of Punjab – Captain Amarinder Singh has said that no relaxation will be given in Punjab till May 3, 2020. In view of the new academic session, shops dealing in distribution of books to schools and colleges have also been allowed to operate. Taking into account the approaching summer season, the sale of air-conditioners, air-coolers, fans and their repair shops have also been brought under ambit of essential goods or services.
The Chief Minister of Manipur – N. Biren Singh has confirmed that there is no case of COVID-19 in the State after the 2nd suspect tested negative for COVID-19. Kerala will also ease lockdown restrictions in 5 orange zones and 2 green zones. The orange zones include Alappuzha, Thrissur, Palakkad, Thiruvananthapuram and Wayanad. The areas in green zone include Kottayam and Idukki.
As per the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India, there are 16,116 cases of COVID-19 and there have been 519 casualties.
