Weekly News Wrap: Indian minister under fire over remarks on Tata; Alibaba responds to sexual assault charges at manager

And French retailer Carrefour launches sale of its Taiwan business.

From Reuters

India's commerce minister faced heat on social media for his remarks that many big domestic businesses had overlooked national interests and that $106b Tata Group's objections to proposed policy changes for e-commerce had upset him.

At an event organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Minister Piyush Goyal criticised Tata and said local businesses should not just focus on profits or think of bypassing local laws, according to media reports and a source who attended the event.

The comments caught public attention and stoked a debate on social media after The Hindu newspaper reported that the government had asked the CII to block videos with Goyal's comments.

Two links to those videos on Goyal's speech shared with journalists were now marked private and blocked. The CII and Goyal's office did not respond to a request for comment.

Read more here.

From CNBC

Alibaba has introduced a series of measures designed to prevent sexual harassment and assault. The move comes after a female employee accused her supervisor, Wang Chengwen, and a client of Alibaba of sexual assault.

Wang was fired and Alibaba took disciplinary action against other employees, such as its Chief People Officer Judy Tong, who was given a demerit. The Chinese e-commerce giant’s CEO Daniel Zhang criticized the human resources department, saying it “did not pay enough attention and care to our people.”

In addition to the dismissal, Wang is also being investigated by police in the city of Jinan over those allegations related to sexual misconduct.

Read more here.

From Reuters

French retailer Carrefour is planning to launch a sale of its Taiwan business, which is valued at around $1.9b (EUR1.6b) in the coming weeks, three people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

The supermarket chain operator has hired Morgan Stanley to run the sale, which is expected to kick off after the summer, said the people, who declined to be identified as the information is confidential.

Carrefour has approached a number of potential buyers, including private equity firms, to gauge their interest, the people said.

Carrefour reported €1.26b in Taiwan net sales in the first half, up 13% year on year at constant exchange rates. The retailer said in June it had started considering possible consolidation, divestitures or tie-ups of its foreign subsidiaries, but denied it had decided to sell any assets.

Read more here.