Decoding the retail FDI tweaks

An e-commerce marketplace cannot sell products from group companies where it has an equity stake

The tweaks announced on Wednesday in the government’s policy on foreign direct investment in e-commerce have been described as a Boxing Day sucker punch for the likes of Amazon and Flipkart. The moot point is whether the changes in rules will force the e-commerce giants to press the reset button. After all, the last round of changes in rules — via Press Note No 3, issued on March 29, 2016 — was widely expected to restrain massive price discounting. Instead, smart lawyers earned hefty fees by putting in place new legal structures designed to circumvent the rules. This time too