The Enforcement Directorate Thursday conducted searches against some of the “main vendors” operating on platforms of ecommerce giants Amazon and Flipkart as part of a foreign investment “violation” investigation, official sources said.

A total of 19 premises of these “preferred” vendors located in Delhi, Gurugram and Panchkula (Haryana), Hyderabad (Telangana), and Bengaluru (Karnataka) were covered as part of the action, the sources said.

It is learnt that the ED inspected documents and took copies of some from the premises of about six such vendors who were not named.

The sources said a probe has been initiated by the federal agency under the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) after it received several complaints against the two large ecommerce companies, where it is alleged that they were “violating India’s FDI (foreign direct investment) rules by directly or indirectly influencing the sale price of goods or services and not providing level playing field for all the vendors”.

There was no immediate response from the two ecommerce companies.

Meanwhile, the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) welcomed the ED action.

“The CAIT, along with several other trade bodies, has been raising these issues for the past few years. I welcome the Enforcement Directorate’s actions as a step in the right direction,” CAIT Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal said in a statement.

He claimed that the Competition Commission of India (CCI) had also issued “penalty notices” to Amazon and Flipkart, and their “preferred” sellers, for “engaging” in anti-competitive practices that have adversely affected small traders and ‘kirana’ (grocery) stores.

It has been reported in the past that the CCI, which works to ensure fair business practices across sectors in the marketplace, is already looking into alleged anti-competitive ways of ecommerce companies.

The CAIT and mainline mobile retailers’ association AIMRA had also petitioned the CCI sometime back seeking immediate suspension of operations of Flipkart and Amazon as they alleged that the companies engaged in predatory pricing and were burning cash to offer heavy discounts on products.

These practices, in turn, are creating a grey market of mobile phones, causing losses to the exchequer “as players in the grey market evade taxes”, they had said.

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal had recently flagged the same concerns as he had questioned Amazon’s announcement of a $1 billion investment in India, saying the US retailer was not doing any great service to the Indian economy but filling up for the losses it had suffered in the country.

He had said in August that their huge losses in India “smells of predatory pricing”, which is not good for the country as it impacts crores of small retailers.

Goyal said e-commerce companies were eating into the small retailers’ high-value, high-margin products that are the only items through which the mom-and-pop stores survive.

The minister had said that with the fast-growing online retailing in the country, “are we going to cause huge social disruption with this massive growth of ecommerce”.

Khandelwal said that the CAIT has urged the CCI and the ED to protect the businesses of small traders.

“In the new Bharat, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi Ji, no one is above the law. I am hopeful that now the law will take its rightful course and protect the livelihoods of small shopkeepers.

“This government is committed to ensuring that no entity can harm the trading community. In response to multiple complaints filed by the trading community regarding FDI violations and the anti-competitive practices of quick-commerce companies such as Blinkit, Swiggy, and Zepto, we urge both the CCI and the ED to take swift action and prevent any further, irreparable damage to the businesses of small traders,” he said in the statement.

Regulator Irdai has proposed to amend the norms related to ‘regulatory sandbox’ by incorporating principle-based approach and further facilitating the adoption of innovative ideas and new concepts across the insurance value chain.

Regulatory sandbox usually refers to live testing of new products or services in a controlled/test regulatory environment for which regulators may or may not permit certain relaxations.

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) constituted an internal committee to review the Irdai (Regulatory Sandbox) Regulations.

Based on the recommendations of the committee, it has proposed amendments to the regulatory sandbox regulations and seeks comments from the public at large on the proposed amendments.

Issuing an exposure draft on regulatory sandbox regulations, Irdai said the amendment seeks adoption of principle based approach over rule based approach.

The changes to the norms are also aimed to facilitate the introduction of innovative ideas/new concepts across the insurance value chain, Irdai said.

Irdai has invited comments from the stakeholders on ‘Exposure draft – Irdai (Regulatory Sandbox) (Amendment) Regulations, 2024’ by November 25.

Prodigy Finance, a global higher education finance company, has secured financing of up to $310 million with a funding commitment from the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC).

This latest financing, building on the previous partnership with DFC, prioritises social impact with a minimum financing threshold of 30% for women and 50% for individuals from low- and lower-middle-income countries, it said in a statement.

“Together, we are empowering a new generation of global leaders to unlock opportunities that shape a brighter future,” said Prodigy Finance Chief Financial Officer Neha Sethi.

The higher education finance company’s borderless lending model allows students to apply for loans based on their future earning potential rather than their current circumstances or credit history.

Since its founding in 2007, the international student lender has enabled over 43,000 postgraduate master’s students to attend top universities, disbursing over $2.3 billion in funding to students from more than 150 countries.

Sonal Kapoor, Global Chief Commercial Officer of Prodigy Finance, told YourStory that India is its core market and has the largest share of its funding.

According to the Prodigy Finance 2022 Impact Report, students reported that the company’s loan helped them to pursue their dream career (91%), achieve success in their personal life (83%), and at least double their salary (74%).

In September, Prodigy Finance launched a $30 million blended finance programme in collaboration with The Standard Bank of South Africa Limited and Allan & Gill Gray Philanthropies.