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Showing posts from April, 2016

Alibaba plans direct entry to India. Do Flipkart and Amazon need to worry ?

G ood news for consumers especially for those who are ordering from Alibaba (China) and wait for their products to arrive after 45 days . Many of Indian online consumers order directly from Alibaba as the cost advantage is huge (almost as low as 20% - 30% of the price you get it from Flipkart and Amazon) .  They get their products from Aliexpress (Alibaba logistics arm) after 45 days. " We buy electronics items quite frequently from Alibaba and the prices are very low compare to Indian online retailers", said a frequent buyer from India. Many traders get their product directly from Alibaba after paying import duty and still it is quite cheap. They sell these products on Indian marketplace like Flipkart and Amazon.  If you see the math, it is quite simple . Flipkart and Amazon charge approximately 20% commission from the sellers. Sellers add his markup price on top of delivery charges , transaction charges plus market place commission, import duty from China, sel

Gujarat Government Imposed Taxes for Ecommerce

In a recent development , Gujarat govt has decided to impose taxes on ecommerce companies for the goods entering to the state. Though the tax slab and the amount hasn't been decided.  This came as an amendment of the current bill passed in the Gujarat state assembly.  The bill amended the present Act of 2001 that did not cover ecommerce transactions. As per the government the previous bill affected the local traders as the goods on ecommerce websites  were sold at a much cheaper price as no taxes were levied on these goods. While presenting the bill , state Finance Minister Saurabh Patel said , " Due to the recent development in the field of online purchase, web-based software applications or through tele-shopping platforms, which does not attract any tax under the present Act, local businesses were adversely affected. " As per the bill, the word importer as specified in the present Act, now also covers those who bring or facilitate to bring any specified