Flipkart, one of the most popular e-commerce platforms in India, has suspended its services in view of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic that has seen the government impose near-complete lockdown across the country in a bid to stave off the contagion.

Flipkart's move comes after Amazon said it will not take any new orders for non-essential items.

Many e-commerce companies are taking a call to suspend deliveries and pick-ups as they face increasing pressure on-ground from police and local authorities.

This, despite the central government reiterating to states that e-commerce operations should be exempted form prohibitory orders. This has led to a backlog of lakhs of unfulfilled online orders on these platforms.

Flipkart users on both its website and mobile application are now greeted with a message announcing temporary suspension of services.

The message read: “Hello fellow Indians, We are temporarily suspending our services. Your needs have always been our priority, and our promise is that we will be back to serve you as soon as possible.”

The page also carries a link to the government of India advisory on COVID-19.

Amazon India on Tuesday said it will only fulfil orders for critical products such as household staples, packaged food, healthcare, hygiene, etc.

The company said it will temporarily stop taking orders for other items, and is also asking customers to cancel pending orders for low priority items while offering refunds.

"These changes are in effect from 24th March 2020, and we will update when we resume normal operations," Amazon India said in a blog post.

A source at Flipkart said deliveries of essentials will resume only after states give clearance to delivery boys to make deliveries.

The police and local authorities have been forcing shut downs of warehouses, stopping delivery partners and even roughing them up. In fact, in some areas such as Haryana, delivery personnel were also arrested for breaking the curfew. The movement of trucks with essentials is also being stopped at some borders as several states have sealed borders, further impacting the business of e-commerce platforms.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a televised address to the nation on Tuesday night imposed lockdown across the country until April 15. The lockdown began Tuesday midnight. Following the announcement all services deemed inessential stand prohibited.

All e-commerce players in the country are expected to be adversely affected by the stringent measures imposed by the government as it grapples with the coronavirus pandemic.

More than 500 people have been infected with coronavirus in India, with ten casualties so far. Globally, the death toll has exceeded 18,000 and those infected with the contagion number upwards of 400,000.

Flipkart is one of the most popular online retail platforms in the country along with Amazon. Started by two IIT-Delhi alumni Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal (unrelated) in 2007, the company was acquired by the American retail giant Walmart in 2018 in multi-billion dollar deal.

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First Published:Mar 25, 2020 8:55 AM IST