Amazon, Flipkart, others to add ‘country of origin’ label on online goods

Amazon India, Flipkart and other e-retailers will soon be highlighting Chinese goods sold in India online. Essentially, the e-retailers will be adding a ‘country of origin’ label to the goods sold online in the country.

However, it remains uncertain when the e-commerce companies will start adding the ‘country of origin’ label to their product listings on their respective platforms. E-commerce companies have sought a window of four to five months to comply with the new norms.

According to a report by The Economic Times, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) held a meeting with e-commerce companies including Amazon, Flipkart, Zomato, Swiggy, BigBasket, Reliance Retail, Tata Cliq, Jio Platforms and Grofers on wednesday to discuss the change in product listing.

If the move is indeed implemented, it could hurt the sales of Chinese goods in India, especially as there is an increased sentiment among the people to boycott Chinese goods in light of the military standoff between India and China in the Galwan Valley. The move could also provide a great push for PM Modi’s Aatmanirbhar Bharat initiative.

It is worth noting that the development comes shortly after the government made it mandatory for the sellers listing products on its Government e-marketplace (GeM) to disclose the ‘country of origin’ on the products that they list on the platform.