New Delhi: In what came as a major boost for the E-commerce firms in the fourth phase of lockdown is that they will now be able to resume delivery of non-essential items in all three zones including red, orange and green.
As the fourth phase of nationwide lockdown begins that has been extended till May 31, the Ministry of Home Affairs issued fresh guidelines on Sunday about the business of e-commerce platforms that can resume services in all three zones. However, there is no relaxation for containment zones and no services will be resumed in those areas.
Until now, the e-commerce platforms were only allowed to deliver essential items in red zones and non-essential items in green and orange zones. But as a part of the fresh guidelines issued by the government, now they can deliver both essential and non-essential items in all the three zones except for containment zones which came like a sigh of relief for the e-commerce sector.
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Speaking exclusively to ETV Bharat, Amazon India spokesperson said, "Amazon welcomes the latest notification from Government of India as it enables e-commerce to deliver a wider selection of products while upholding the tenets of safety and social distancing. This will give a fillip to the 6 lakh retailers and MSMEs on our marketplace and help revive economic activity more broadly."
"We are humbled by the opportunity to be an extended partner to the Government as it balances saving lives alongside creating livelihood. We remain committed as always to ensuring the safety of our customers and our employees while creating business and employment opportunity," Amazon spokesperson adds.
"We welcome the efforts by the governments at Center and States in progressively charting out a lockdown exit plan and allowing e-commerce to serve the consumers with their varied product needs in all the classified zones, except containment zones. At the Flipkart Group, our supply chain team continues to play a critical role in helping consumers with all their requirements, as they maintain social distancing and prefer to stay indoors. As a marketplace e-commerce player, we believe that the new guidelines also allow us to boost the MSME community and help them to restore their businesses faster and support livelihood in the country", a Flipkart spokesperson said in a statement.
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"We are working with lakhs of MSMEs and sellers across India to provide them with constant counsel and help with their business readiness. Our seller support team is providing on-ground support to sellers to help them resume operations swiftly and make products available for the consumers in this time of need. We continue to stay committed to following the safety and health procedures at our facilities and for our supply chain and delivery staff, thereby supporting the central and state governments in their battle against the pandemic", the spokesperson added.
Amazon and Flipkart are still not accepting orders in cities like Delhi yet for non-essential items as MHA's latest guidelines say that states/Ut's will take a final call about the business that it wants to open in its cities.
"Post the Government of India's guidelines last evening we are awaiting the advisories from different states. We will continue to work per the directives from the Government and local authorities while serving customers, sellers through our safe supply chain", Flipkart spokesperson further stated.
E-commerce firms have been reeling under staggered business operations for nearly two months after the lockdown began on 25th March 2020.
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