The biggest deal is struck in e-commerce. It will take a lot of time to find out whether the deal has brought good or bad for India. In an instant view, one can say, it was a good deal. But for India, this may not be a good deal. After all one of India’s so-called homegrown company has been sold to the American giant. Now the whole retail market except some small players is controlled by the American companies. Two commerce rivals of a foreign company are making money out of our country. Flipkart which has grown to become such a large giant cannot even maintain the home dominance while struggling with another foreign e-commerce company. Large companies like ours are not visioned. Home investors should be given priorities with attractive policies. Are we by any chance throwing ourselves into the foreign hands. Formerly we fought for freedom and now we are fighting to sell it. Flipkart is not in the strategic sector, but it is the leading e-commerce player in India, having swathes of data about Indian customers. Given the growing dependency on data these days, as it is said that data is the new oil, ideally govt should provide capital for growth of such promising companies in potentially high growth sectors. But as we know whatever comes under the ambit of the govt loses its charm, it’s better for these companies to get the necessary capital from foreign investors.
Nikhil CKS Maniam
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
