E COMMERCE POLICY IN INDIA
E-COMMERCE POLICY IN INDIA At present India is witnessing a digital revolution. With the advent of initiatives like “Digital India” and a generation of youth which has a multitude of options at its fingertips, E-Commerce has surged like anything. According to an estimate by the Finance Ministry of India, the size of the digital economy in India will be $1 trillion by 2022 and it will account close to 50% of the entire economy by 2030. Keeping such facts and figures in mind, its pertinent to regulate this growing sector and it demands for better policy measures and coordination amongst various wings of the government. Also, the discussions regarding E-commerce became a part of high-level negotiations in various mega free trade agreements, like regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership(RCEP). Apart from it WTO also warranted a high degree of global attention towards the ever-developing E-commerce sector. THE DRAFT E-COMMERCE POLICY OF INDIA The drafts E-commerce policy emphasizes equality between the regular stores and the online stores. It formulates that all the discounts offered by large E-commerce firms will be phased out gradually within two years and will be brought at par with brick and mortar stores. Further, it mandates the online commercial firms to maintain and store the consumer data. For this mandate as well, firms will be given two years to fulfill the mandate. The Competition Commission of India might be tasked with the work of examining these firms and also see whether they have any trade distorting techniques in the process. Along with this an independent regulator will be set up to oversee the compliance with FDI caps. The consumers will lose out the heavy discounts, however, they would be able to take adequate action against, online commercial frauds. The draft also makes major changes in FDI policy. As of now, 100% FDI is allowed when it comes to the online stores which follow the marketplace model; While no FDI is allowed in online firms following the inventory model. But the present draft policy proposes 49% FDI under the inventory model for firms to sell locally produced goods on their online platforms. An important point to note here is that the final authority or control over such firm would be of Indians only. Very recently, Ministry Of Corporate affairs has set up a panel to examine the trends in Digital economy along with the discounts in online retailing. The experts in Competition Law have opined that the restrictions on online sellers offering huge discounts has remained a matter of dispute since long. Also the online retailers have greater transformational capacity than the conventional firms, in terms of reach, variety and price, hence they must be protected. The policy vaccum has to be fulfilled adequately and aptly. The fee in such cases must also be reduced and the policy must be implemented immediately. Thus, it’s very clear that with the growth and development of online retailing, it’s very important that a draft policy along with a regulator is brought in working. Infact , a scheme to reduce backlog of competition-related cases should also be devised and implemented for better prospects.