Ecommerce is a rapidly evolving and dynamic sector, necessitating extensive consultations with stakeholders for the development of a national policy, as per information presented in Parliament on Wednesday.
Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Som Parkash, stated in a written response to the Lok Sabha that a draft ecommerce policy was made public on 23 February 2019, inviting public input.
“Suggestions have been received from various stakeholders. Since e-commerce is an emerging and dynamic sector, wide stakeholder consultations are required for formulation of National ecommerce Policy,” he said.
Additionally, the minister highlighted that the government has implemented various legislative and policy measures to streamline and regulate the ecommerce industry.
These include the FDI policy, Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999, Consumer Protection Act, 2019, Competition Act, 2002, and Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007.
“Provisions of the Competition Act are applicable in respect of ecommerce platforms as provided in Section 3 (Anti-competitive Agreements), Section 4 (Abuse of dominant position) and Section 5 and Section 6 (Mergers and Acquisitions),” Parkash added.
In response to another query, he said that the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) is operational in over 500 cities and towns across India.
