Maharashtra Lockdown: Flipkart, Amazon suspend orders for non-essential items in Maharashtra

Leading online retail platforms including Flipkart, Amazon and Reliance JioMart have suspended orders for non-essential products in Maharashtra under new state government guidelines allowing delivery of only essential goods via e-commerce.

The e-commerce industry is appealing to the Maharashtra government and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) through bodies including Nasscom, FICCI and CII to demand the lifting of the order issued by the state on Tuesday.

The Maharashtra government announced a nationwide lockdown from April 14 at 8:00 p.m. to May 1 at 7:00 a.m. in its latest guidelines. While e-commerce has been included in the essential services category, these businesses are likely to “supply” only essential goods and services.”

“Letters are being sent to the Maharashtra Government and Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) asking that restrictions do not differentiate between essential and non-essential goods and services because people who are stuck at home need access to everything.” said one person aware of the development.

“These statements from FICCI, CII and Nasscom will essentially say that after an initial period of trying to only allow the sale of necessities via e-commerce, the MHA allowed the sale of everything last May. and that should be followed even now,” said the person quoted above, on condition of anonymity.

Other executives at e-commerce companies said companies are not taking orders for products other than groceries, personal care and hygiene products because they are not allowed to ship those products until May 1.

A quick search of platforms including Flipkart, Amazon, Reliance’s JioMart and Myntra revealed that orders for non-essential items were disabled for PIN codes in Maharashtra. A notice on Amazon’s website reads: “In light of the latest government guidelines, we are only taking orders for essential products. Deliveries may take longer than normal.”

On Flipkart, listings in most categories except Grocery were tagged “out of stock”. JioMart in Maharashtra does not display any products other than groceries, while in other parts of the country it still took orders for fashion and jewelry.

“Even the government of Madhya Pradesh has allowed the sale of non-essential goods in the state after industry opposition,” said an executive at a leading e-commerce marketplace. “Just because some associations are making noise, the government of Maharashtra cannot impose these arbitrary restrictions on us.”

“We are not requiring offline stores selling essentials to remain closed. They should be allowed to function but only use the infrastructure available to them for home delivery,” the person added.

ET has learned that representatives of FICCI and CII had a meeting with the CEO of the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) at 12pm on Wednesday where they urged the state to remove the distinction between essential and non-essential products that creates problems during on-site implementation.

The Maharashtra government last week ordered that all workers in the supply chain of e-commerce companies should either be vaccinated or carry negative RT-PCR certificates from April 11. After being tested, the results of their tests were delayed, causing the government to extend the deadline for carrying out negative Covid-19 tests by another five days.

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