India, Nov. 14 -- Reportedly, on October 7, 2024, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) raided the offices of half a dozen sellers operating on the e-commerce platforms of Amazon and Walmart-owned Flipkart for alleged violations of Foreign Investment norms and Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The intent behind the searches was to gather evidence on complaints that these sellers have been importing products from China but routing them through other locations to avoid paying higher import duties and longer time in getting the consignment cleared at the ports (that would be the case if the products were imported directly from China involving higher import tariff and more security-related checks).

The agency also wanted to verify if the...