New Delhi: Flipkart may be in trouble with reports of an enquiry by the Enforcement Directorate on the “Big Billion Day†sale of Oct 6.
Following complaints from traders against the online retail giant the agency is “discreetly inquiring into” whether the company has flouted any retail rules during the single-day sale.
“There is no proof of anything wrong yet, we are investigating complaints,” an official said. Some reports say the ED may impose a penalty of Rs 1,000 crore on the e-commerce giant.
Earlier this week, traders’ bodies had asked the government to take steps to monitor and regulate online businesses, alleging unfair competition and lack of a level-playing field.
The steep discounts offered by flipkart on various products, raised concerns among traders that such campaigns would badly affect players in the traditional retail market.
Flipkart said 1.5 million people shopped at its portal and five lakh mobile handsets, clothes and shoes and 25,000 TV sets were sold within hours.
It also claimed that products worth over Rs 600 crore were sold in just 10 hours. The shopping spree resulted in the website crashing for hours, which sparked anger on social media.
The Enforcement Directorate is also looking into the suspected violation of the Foreign Exchange Management Act or FEMA by Flipkart in an earlier, unrelated case.