Deadline to submit comments on draft e-commerce policy likely to be extended

Much to the relief of e-commerce companies such as Amazon and Flipkart, the March 9 deadline for submitting comments on the draft e-commerce policy is likely to be extended to March 31, sources told Moneycontrol.

In a letter written to the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) last week, multiple industry lobbies had requested for atleast a month's time to respond to the draft from the date of announcement on February 23 .

In a meeting with the stakeholders on March 5, a senior DPIIT official assured them of an extension till March end.

"This policy is a very extensive one with multiple things to look at. Most of the clauses will have a long term implications on the way the industry will grow. Hence two weeks is too small a time to consult everybody and come back with a properly thought through response," said one of the companies involved.

The 41-page draft e-commerce policy focuses on issues such as data, infrastructure development, regulatory concerns and the stimulation of the domestic digital economy, among others.

While the offline traders associations have welcomed the move, not many companies are impressed with the proposals.

"The basic premise of the policy is not very clear. It is basically on the garb of e-commerce data. It suggests that data is a resource. However data is not something that is freely available. To source that companies need to innovate," said one of the industry stakeholders requesting anonymity.

Many are seeing the draft as a principle driven policy. "Policy needs to be prescriptive in nature. There needs to be specific do's and don't's. This is currently missing," said another company.