A day after The Free Press Journal reported that Amazon India continues to sell Pakistan-manufactured products even after the trade ban, the commerce ministry has asked the central consumer protection authority to take action in the matter.
Products made in Pakistan are still available for sale on the online e-commerce platform Amazon in India despite a ban clamped by the ministry of commerce and industry (MoCI). The FPJ had accessed the US online platform’s website and found that several products made in Pakistan are freely available. The ministry is scrutinising Amazon India and its global chief executive officer after a complaint was filed to external affairs minister S Jaishankar by Maharashtra vice president of BJP’s Uttar Bharatiya Morcha Nilotpal Mrinal.
While the foreign trade division had directed the director general of foreign trade to examine the allegations, the department of promotion of industry and internal trade under the same ministry has also asked the chief commissioner of the central consumer protection authority after the complaint was also filed to commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal. The chief commissioner has been asked to take necessary action against the complaint.
Talking to The Free Press Journal, Mrinal said, “Even after multiple actions have been initiated by the ministry, Amazon continues to sell these products like it does not care about the Indian government, law and public sentiments. These products do not have cosmetic license registration which means that no custom duty has been paid while importing them. At this point the ministry should get an FIR registered against Amazon and its CEO.”
Mrinal, who has a cosmetics business, had purchased two Pakistan-manufactured cosmetic products from the e-commerce platform, including a make-up kit and beauty cream, and shared the purchase invoices along with the complaint. When The FPJ checked Amazon’s website, it was found to be selling merchandise with Pakistani flags as well as products manufactured in Pakistan, including makeup base, foundation, eyeliner, kajal and lipstick among others from Pakistani brands like Farah and Hashmi.
While most of these products are marked as Pakistan-manufactured in the details of the country of origin, many of the products suspected to be manufactured in the neighbouring country did not reveal the country of origin details. These products still continue to be available on sale on Amazon India’s website as well as application even after the Indian government banned trade and imports from Pakistan.
