Assocham warns against over-regulation after Flipkart incident

The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) said the Flipkart incident, for which the company had to apologise to millions of its customers, should not become an excuse for the government to over-regulate e-commerce business, PTI reported.

''The Flipkart incident resulting in inconvenience to enthusiastic customers on the Diwali offer should be taken at the most as one-off case and let it not be used as a ploy or an ammunition to subject the fledgling and hugely promising e-commerce space to regulation over and above the rules of the game which are applicable to normal business,'' Assocham said in a statement.

According to the industry body, the matter should rest, after the company's promoters expressed regrets. ''If at all any regulatory issue is involved, let it be dealt within the existing laws concerning interests of the consumers,'' it added.

''We failed to live up to this promise yesterday (Oct 6) and would like to apologise to every single customer for our failure,'' the Bangalore-based e-commerce major said in a mail to all its registered users after its portal crashed within hours of the opening of the ''Billion Day Sale'' event.

The e-commerce sector held huge promise for the creation of a new market among the aspirational middle-class consumers and any over-regulation would "kill the business in its infancy, denting the entrepreneurial spirit of the promoters, most of whom are young," the body said.