INTERVIEW with Mr. BEJON MISRA, INTERNATIONAL CONSUMER POLICY EXPERT ON DIRECT SELLING BUSINESS IN INDIA to The Tribune .......... 1. What is your take on the current scenario of Direct Sellingindustry? Consumer Organisations are against any kind of arbitrary action taken by the Law Enforcement authorities like the Police, which deny the right of the consumer to access quality products and services at the most affordable price. I personally strongly condemn the police action on the wrong interpretation of the provisions of the of Price Chitand Money Circulation (Banning) Act 1978, which was formulated for protecting depositors of money in fraudulent chit funds and moneycirculation schemes and not meant to be used for direct selling business. I find that instead of prosecuting the culprits for carrying fraudulent business in money circulation and Chit Funds, the Police is more keen to take action against genuine companies sell quality products to the consumers. This Law has nothing to do with genuine Direct Selling companies. As I know, Amway had obtained the necessary approvals from the ForeignInvestment Promotion Board (FIPB) before setting foot in India in 1999. More than 7 crores consumers and distributors are dependent on the use of such products sold by these companies, which also provides livelihood to many of them as they are directly engaged in the business. Consumers are now unable to access the products and services because of the harassment and closure of offices of these genuine companies. Consumer organisations are planning a massive national campaign to mobilize support and educate the consumers about the irresponsible manner by which the State Governments are functioning to encourage the culprits to flourish and genuine business to close, in case Government fails to take immediate steps to stop such arbitrary Police action and come out with an exclusive law to regulate the direct selling business as seen in other countries. 2. Why is it important for the Government of India to have anexclusive legislation for Direct Selling industry? The Government of India should immediately come out with an exclusive legislation in order to differentiate between genuine Direct SellingIndustry (DSI) companies from the fraudulent organisations who arenothing short of money-circulation, pyramid, and Ponzi schemesfunctioning within the garb of DSI companies. I have written to our Hon’ble Prime Minister and all the State Governments to stop the police from unnecessarily harassing andintervening into the day-to-day operations of these genuine Direct Selling companies and denying the consumers to access quality products at an affordable price. This is seen by the genuine MLM and DSI companiesas a threat to their business and harassment to the consumers bydenying themaccess to quality products and services at the mostaffordable price.We have to bring the law as soon as possible to protect theconsumers, distributors and the companies who are working in theinterest of the nation and its citizen-consumer. 3. What do you plan to do as a consumer body to prevent such issues? We are planning a joint forum of consumers, distributors and direct-sellingcompanies to come together to get an exclusive legislation to regulate the direct selling business in the interest of all the stakeholders similar to the laws existing in other countries likeMalaysia, Singapore, United Kingdom, United States of America andother countries across the world who have already established DSIbusiness with comprehensive law legitimizing the industry. It is to be noted that the recession in most of these countries were greatlyovercome by the DSI business in those countries. It is alsoworthwhile to note that in India too, a large part of the unemployment problem is addressed already by this industry which hasmore than 7 crores active networkers engaged currently with majorityof them being women. 4. Why is the delay in formulating a legal framework for DirectSelling industry in India inspite of various industries been lobbyingwith the Government for an early action to resolve the issues? The inter-ministerial committee that was formed last year has beenworking at various levels to define the Direct Selling sector butstill there is no clarity to differentiate between Direct Selling andPonzi schemes. Legitimate DS companies, needs to get recognised as they have themselves demanded operationalclarification and clear distinction at the Central level and urgedthe Government to bring amendment in the Prize, Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning)Act. Till date, the government has not been able to distinguish andclarify the kind of activities which do not attract the provisions of the Prize,Chit and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act (PCMCSA), 1978 andhow to bring a directive in this regard to protect the consumers, distributors and the companies to provide options of choice to access quality products and services at the most affordable price. The delay is not only harassment to the consumer but also brings doubts in the mind of the citizens on the motive of governance and law enforcement mechanism.
Posted on: Thu, 27 Jun 2013 10:32:12 +0000
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