The national e-commerce policy will seek to create a conducive environment for the overall development of the sector and boost exports, department for promotion of industry and internal trade secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh said.
“The policy will put in place a streamlined regulatory framework for the ease of doing business, adoption of modern technologies and the integration of supply chains,” he added.
A regulator for the sector will also be looked at, he said but indicated it might take more time for such a body to be in place.
In 2025, global cross-border e-commerce exports will touch $2 trillion, as per an estimate. According to the foreign trade policy, India’s e-commerce export potential is in the range of $200 billion to $300 billion annually by 2030.
“The policy will address some of the issues concerning effective enforcement. It will clarify a lot of the issues. We are in the middle of inter-ministerial consultations,” Singh said.
Local traders’ associations have been demanding an empowered regulatory body to check against the violation of e-commerce rules. India allows 100% FDI in the marketplace model of e-commerce but no FDI is permitted for the inventory-based model.
From time to time, traders have been alleging that the policy of barring deep discounts and preference to select sellers are being flouted by e-commerce platforms.
They have also been seeking greater clarity on the rules on FDI in e-commerce. The relevant rules notified by the consumer affairs ministry bans flash sales and deep discounts on online platforms.
Also, foreign e-trade platforms are prevented from selling products of the firms in which they hold equity and striking exclusive deals with sellers using their platforms.
The e-commerce policy was first proposed in 2018 and in 2019, a draft of it was released. Since then the sector has grown manifold. The foreign trade policy sees e-commerce as a vehicle for boosting exports and has many provisions to ease rules for it.
“The e-commerce policy will act as an overarching framework for the sector,” Singh said. The policy has been suitably drafted to align with the amendments proposed to be made in the Consumer Protection (e-commerce) Rules 2020 by the department of consumer affairs, he said.
Apart from the FDI policy and the Consumer Protection Act, e-commerce is also governed by the Information Technology Act and the Competition Act.
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Along with the e-commerce policy, the DPIIT is also steering a national retail policy and inter-ministerial consultations are currently underway on this too.
“The retail policy aims to lay down broad guidelines for creating a conducive environment for fuelling and streamlining the growth of the physical retail sector,” the secretary said.
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