Piyush Goyal faces heat from criticism of companies including Tata Group

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NEW DELHI: Trade Minister Piyush Goyal faced criticism on social media on Saturday for his remarks that many large domestic companies had neglected national interests and that the Tata Group’s $ 106 billion objections to changes in proposed policies for electronic commerce had upset him. At an event hosted by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on Thursday, Goyal criticized Tata and said more generally that local businesses should not focus only on profits or think about circumventing local laws, according to the media and a source who attended the event. The comments caught public attention and fueled debate on social media after The Hindu newspaper reported on Saturday that the government asked the CII to block videos with Goyal’s comments. Two links to those videos of Goyal’s speech shared with reporters were now marked as private and blocked. ICN and Goyal’s office did not respond to a request for comment. “The kind of language used against the captains of the industry and calling their work against the best interests of the nation is shameful… CII should demand an apology instead of helping it by removing the video,” said Priyanka Chaturvedi, lawmaker and leader of the opposition. A spokeswoman for India’s main opposition party in Congress, Supriya Shrinate, said on Twitter that Goyal’s comments were “outrageous.” Goyal’s comments on Tata came after Reuters reported last month that the conglomerate was among the most vocal, telling the government at a meeting in July that proposed e-commerce rules will have a major impact on its business. and prohibit its joint venture partners like Starbucks from selling merchandise on Tata’s merchant sites. During the CII event, Goyal said Tata’s objection to the rules hurt him, claiming he passed this position on to Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran, the source said. Tata declined to comment on Saturday. Goyal has also repeatedly criticized Amazon and Walmart’s Flipkart for allegedly circumventing foreign investment rules for e-commerce. This week, he also invoked the “Leave India” movement in parliament as he welcomed a court order that allowed an antitrust investigation of the two companies to continue. The Confederation of All Indian Traders, however, welcomed Goyal’s stance on Saturday, saying it was “very unfortunate” that Tata opposed the government’s rules on electronic commerce. The 153-year-old Tata Group has big e-commerce plans and is considering launching an app that will integrate several of its top brands, but the proposed policy changes have scared it off, Reuters reported.

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