E-commerce company Evaly said it owed around Tk 206 crore to merchants. 

It also said it would clear customers liability involving Tk 311 crore through regular business and drawing investments by five months.

On Thursday, the company came up with the plan in its final reply to a commerce ministry show-cause notice.

"Evaly said the repayment would be made from the profit of the business and expected investment," said Hafizur Rahman, additional secretary of the commerce ministry, yesterday.

Asked if it was possible for the company to settle the customers' liability, he said the matter would be discussed in a meeting later.

The ministry will hold a meeting on the Evaly issues with a committee formed to check the e-commerce issues within the next one week to take necessary action.

"We may seek more information, but it depends on the committee's opinion," Rahman said.

Rahman said Evaly had wanted to meet with commerce ministry officials, but the ministry declined following advice from its lawyer.

The additional secretary said protection of the interests of all parties was vital, and it was also expected that the committee would try to guard the interests of customers and merchants.

In the reply, Evaly said it was doing business through contractual agreements with the merchants, who shared 15-20 per cent of the profits with the e-commerce platform from the sales.

"Credit facility is a normal process in every business, and Evaly has credit facility agreements with all suppliers," it said, claiming that its liability of Tk 206 crore to merchants as of mid-July was normal and acceptable.

Merchants, however, neither filed cases against Evaly nor complained to the ministry.

Merchants might have thought that if Evaly high-ups were sent to jail, they might not get their money back, Rahman said.

After a probe report of the Bangladesh Bank submitted to the commerce ministry a few months ago, the ministry, on July 19, asked Evaly to explain by August 1 how it would settle the current liabilities to customers and merchants.

The BB report said Evaly's total liability was Tk 407.18 crore against Tk 65.17 crore assets as of March 14.

On August 19, the firm said its total liability stood at Tk 543 crore as of mid-July.

It showed Tk 105 crore as tangible assets and Tk 438 crore in intangible assets, including a brand value of Tk 422 crore.

It owed around Tk 311 crore to 2.8 lakh customers.

The commerce ministry also wrote to the Anti-Corruption Commission and the home ministry to investigate whether Evaly had siphoned off money.

Evaly started its business in 2018 with a controversial model, offering unprecedented discounts by taking advance payments and making deliveries months later.

Following its footsteps, many platforms have mushroomed during the pandemic.

Now platforms such as Evaly, Dhamaka and E-orange are not delivering products to thousands of customers against orders worth hundreds of crores of taka.

Two E-Orange high-ups were sent to jail as they were trying to flee from the country despite an embargo on their international travel, according to Rahman.