A delegation of the Indian Direct Selling Association (IDSA) intends to meet the State Home Secretary and senior police officers here on Wednesday to discuss the situation arising out of raids on Amway India offices and warehouses.
“We will seek to apprise the authorities of the problems the company has been grappling with ever since and the decision to shut down its offices and warehouses,” the Amway India Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Mr William S. Pinckney, said.
‘FRAME POLICIES'
Speaking to newspersons here on Monday, he said the Central and State Governments should frame policies and guidelines to monitor the activities of the direct selling agencies.
Mr Pinckney said that almost all major countries have formulated such guidelines. The direct selling industry, which took roots here in the 1990s and is now doing business to the tune of Rs 4,120 crore, needs to be subjected to regulatory norms.
Amway has been operating in the country since 1998, but cannot be likened to the money chain business model. Had it been a money chain model, it would have been forced to fold up long ago, Mr Pinckney said.
The company has received all approvals and permissions from the Union Government and has invested more than Rs 151 crore in the country. It pays its business owners only for sale of products and not for recruiting people.
The company paid Rs 494 crore as commission and bonus to distributors in the country and Kerala is one among the top ten States where it has a prominent presence.
The complaints on which action has been initiated here related to unsold products in 2002 and 2003.
EXPEDITED SETTLEMENT
Asked why the company had not resorted to legal recourse, Mr Pinckney said that he had instead taken a decision to go for a political solution for expedited settlement of the issue.
He dismissed allegations that the company's operations in Andhra Pradesh have been closed as baseless.
He also termed as unfounded insinuations that revenue earned from the country is used to pay off overseas distributors.