E-commerce policy ready after over 80 meetings, to come out ‘very soon’: Consumer Affairs Secretary

The e-commerce policy has been pegged to serve as an overarching framework for the sector, ensuring coherence among four governing acts including the FDI policy, the Consumer Protection Act, the Information Technology Act, and the Competition Act.

After several drafts, the final e-commerce policy is now ready and can come out ‘very soon’, the consumer affairs secretary, Rohit Kumar Singh told Moneycontrol in an exclusive interview.

He said there have been over 80 meetings and industry consultations over the finalisation of this policy, which now awaits final approval. “I think we have had about 80 meetings with all kinds of players, including consumer organisations, big e-commerce players, small players and startups. And so it's almost ready and is just waiting for final approval,” he said.

The delay, he says, was due to the involvement of two central ministries (The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade under commerce ministry and consumer affairs ministry) in the process. “They want to promote e-commerce and we want to protect the interests of the consumer. So it may not always be aligned because regulation and promotion are two different things. But thankfully, we are aligned now,” he said.

The Centre has been working on an e-commerce policy for the past few years. It was first proposed in 2018 and in 2019 a draft of the policy was released.

The 2019 draft proposed to address six broad areas of the e-commerce ecosystem - data, infrastructure development, e-commerce marketplaces, regulatory issues, stimulating the domestic digital economy, and export promotion through e-commerce.

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The e-commerce policy has been pegged to serve as an overarching framework for the sector, ensuring coherence among four governing acts including the FDI policy, the Consumer Protection Act, the Information Technology Act, and the Competition Act.

Trader concerns

Traders have expressed concerns regarding the violation of e-commerce rules, such as deep discounts and preferences given to select sellers. The policy intends to clarify these issues and provide greater transparency in the rules governing FDI in e-commerce. The Consumer Protection (e-commerce) Rules and proposed amendments will be aligned with the e-commerce policy for consistency.

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The proposed policy, as per a PIB statement, would take into account the interests of all stakeholders, like investors, manufacturers, MSMEs, traders, retailers, startups, and consumers.

The government is also in the process of framing consumer protection rules for the sector.

The e-commerce policy aims to prepare strategies for providing a conducive environment for inclusive and harmonious growth of the e-commerce sector through a streamlined regulatory framework for ease of doing business, adoption of modern technologies, integration of supply chains, and enhancing exports through this medium.