Putting an end to speculations about Flipkart’s alleged fraud in the ‘Big Billion Sale’, the Enforcement Directorate on Thursday said it has not issued any notice to the e-tailer. “Show Cause Notice not issued by ED to Flipkart. ED not inquiring into ‘Big Billion Sale’, the ED has tweeted.

There were reports on the Government agency probing into the massive discount sale the country’s largest ecommerce marketplace offered during the Big Billion Day on October 6. Many consumers had complained about allegedly marked-up prices and unavailability of goods.

The Bangalore-based firm apologised to its consumers stating the website’s server failed following unprecedented traffic. According to reports, ED was likely to impose a penalty of ₹1,000 crore on the company for allegedly violating rules during this sale.

The public outrage, coupled with complaints from physical retailers and traders led by Future Group’s founder Kishore Biyani, was so intense that even Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had intervened in the matter. The Confederation of All India Traders last week had demanded a probe into the business model and trade practices of e-commerce companies to understand how they managed to give discounts up to 80 per cent and alleged predatory pricing practices.

Flipkart has maintained that the company is in complete compliance with the laws of the land and will cooperate with authorities when required.

There were also reports that the ED was probing into the online marketplace model to ascertain whether there was any violation of FDI norms.

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