Russian marketplaces circumvent competition, primarily in terms of taxation - Sberbank CEO Gref
MOSCOW. Nov 18 (Interfax) - The problem of unequal competition between fintech companies and traditional banks is rooted in tax arbitration, Sberbank CEO Herman Gref said.
"Marketplaces are still not regulated in our country. It seems to me now that we must concentrate on placing them in a normal competitive environment. This is the task of the state. Because today, they are outside of competition - first and foremost, tax competition," Gref said at the Focus on the Client conference organized by the Central Bank of Russia.
He said that marketplaces were operating at a loss at the expense of the state.
"According to our estimates, marketplaces paid 1.5 trillion rubles less taxes than they should have this year. So all the discounts that they offer are at our expense. Moreover, I do not care a bit about the physical chain, but I find it unpleasant when marketplaces unfairly take a market share away from physical chains through non-market competitive conditions created by the state. This needs to be stopped," Gref said.
He said that marketplaces should demonstrate their effectiveness in a competitive environment, where they will cease to make the same profits and will not be able to keep raising prices drastically, as they are beginning to do now.
The merged Wildberries & Russ, RWB LLC, in turn, said that the tax burden on marketplace revenue is higher than that for offline retail chains. "How are the authors of the application supposed to pay taxes on discounts, that is, on income that the marketplaces did not actually receive? A discount is a direct benefit to the consumer, allowing them to save on goods, not revenue for the marketplace," the press service of RWB LLC said in response to Gref's statement.
"Discounts are provided by the marketplace as part of a loyalty program with the bank and do not affect the seller's income in any way. Discounts render products more attractive to buyers, contribute to increased sales and revenue for manufacturers, and therefore, their tax base," RWB LLC said.
