MHA bars supply of non-essential items by e-com companies during lockdown

New Delhi: The Ministry of Home Affairs on Sunday said that the supply of non-essential goods by e-commerce companies will remain prohibited during the Covod-19 lockdown.

“Supply of non-essential goods by e-commerce companies to remain prohibited during Lockdown 2 to fight COVID,” said a spokesperson of the Ministry of Home Affairs.

The government had earlier eased restrictions on the e-commerce companies. The move allowed the e-commerce companies to resume operations before the lockdown ends on May 3. Flipkart had already begun taking new orders for smartphones.  

During the first phase of lockdown, the e-commerce companies had restricted their services to the supply of essential items only.

We have reached out to Flipkart and Amazon for more information.

Xiaomi VP Manu Kumar Jain said the company is studying the latest directive. The company had earlier announced it had resumed orders on Mi.com, Xiaomi’s official e-store.

“Dear All, we have just received an update from the MHA suspending e-commerce for non essential items, affecting our decision about operating http://Mi.com from tomorrow. We are studying this, and will update you soon. We will of course follow all govt. guidelines,” said Jain in a tweet. 

The latest directive from MHA reads:

“In continuation of Ministry of Home Affairs’s Order No. 40-3/2020-DM-I-(A) Dated 15th April, 2020 and 16th April, 2020 and in exercise of the powers, conferred under Section 10 (2) (I) of the Disaster Management Act, the undersigned, in his capacity as Chairperson, National Executive Committee, hereby orders to exclude the following from the consolidated revised guidelines for strict implementation by Ministries/Departments of Government of India, State/Union Territory Governments and State/Union Territory Authorities:

Sub-clause (v) under Clause 14 on Commercial and private establishments

v. E-commerce companies. Vehicles used by e-commerce operators will be allowed to ply with necessary permissions.”