Commerce ministry should support conned customers: Kamal

The commerce ministry will have to take the primary responsibility to support the customers who were conned by some rogue e-commerce firms, said Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal yesterday.

He made the comments when asked whether the government would bear the responsibility to return money to the customers who had been deceived by some e-commerce firms in recent times.

Kamal said, "When these types of firms are set up, they obtain the clearance from concerned agencies. In this case, the clearance came from the commerce ministry."

"They [the commerce ministry] have to take the responsibility primarily. At the same time, other agencies involved should take the responsibility collectively," he told reporters after a meeting of the cabinet committee on public purchase.

Some e-commerce firms are facing legal actions for their contentious business model as they took payments from customers in advance but delayed the delivery of products for weeks or months on the back of unprecedented discounts.

The gap between their assets and liabilities has widened to the point where they might not be able to supply the products to online shoppers. Many e-commerce firms also owe to sellers.

According to Kamal, the ordinary people were deceived by this group of firms in various forms on numerous occasions.

"It had been done manually in the past. Now it is carried out digitally.

How many sides could be controlled? Still, the government must accept the responsibility to this effect."

The finance minister was also asked about the latest cut in the rates of the national savings scheme.

On Tuesday, the government brought down the interest rate on the savings tools for the amount above Tk 15 lakh -- a move that may help it reduce the interest rate burden but hurt the middle-income group dependent on the returns to make a living.

The new rates are applicable for fresh investments.

"It will not affect small savers. It has been done in keeping with the prevailing rates of various deposit products," Kamal said, referring to the savings products of banks.

The government has introduced savings schemes for pensioners and marginal groups. But many well-off people have rushed to these tools as the interest rate is comparatively high.

At present, national savings certificates offer a return of as high as 11 per cent, whereas the weighted average rate on deposits at banks was 4.13 per cent in June.

The minister said the latest changes weren't aimed at discouraging investment. 

"At the same time, we don't want anyone to come and invest Tk 1 crore. Our target is to allow people to invest in the range of Tk 10 lakh to Tk 15 lakh."

The rate might be revised upwards in the future as well, Kamal said.

Yesterday, the cabinet committee on economic affairs approved a proposal to purchase more than 11 crore syringes from JMI Syringes & Medical Devices Ltd to administer coronavirus vaccines. 

The meeting gave the nod to buy the syringes and an adequate amount of auto-disable needles in the future to inoculate 13.82 crore people, the finance ministry said in a press release.