Govt refuses to budge on FDI compliance by e-commerce companies

According to the notification by the finance ministry, e-commerce companies have to obtain statutory auditor report by September-end for the preceding financial year

Despite protests by e-marketplaces against the mandatory reporting norms, the government has reiterated that companies like Amazon and Flipkart will have to submit audited reports by September 30 every year. This is to confirm that these firms are in compliance with foreign direct investment (FDI) rules.

Until now, it was only a norm specified by the Centre. This has now been formalised and included in the amended Foreign Exchange Management (Non-Debt Instruments) Rules, 2019, issued on Thursday.  However, the latest changes to the rules exempt companies from submitting audited report to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), as had been mandated