E-commerce Policy

Blinkit vs Instamart: Chasing a moving target in quick commerce race

Instamart's GOV growth has not translated into significant margin improvements, as higher marketing and employee expenses offset gains from reduced contribution margin losses

Camweara makes Wear from Home a Reality for Retailers!

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Alibaba Group combines e-commerce arms to tackle growing competition

Alibaba split into six business units in 2023, in the biggest revamp of its 24-year history

YouTube Shopping expands in India, collaborates with Flipkart and Myntra

The video platform said the global success of YouTube Shopping, with over 30 billion hours of shopping-related content watched in 2023, shows the power of connecting creators, viewers, and brands

CAIT demands immediate enforcement of e-comm laws on Amazon and Flipkart

CCI launched its investigation into Amazon and Flipkart in 2020 for allegedly pushing select sellers to the top of search results, while sidelining others

Draft Digital Competition Bill: Kirana vs quick commerce likely on table

Consumer ministry raises with MCA potential threat to local stores from burgeoning quick ecom

Decoded: FSSAI takes U-turn on week-old notice on 'A1', 'A2' milk products

The regulator stated that the advisory dated August 21, 2024, issued regarding the subject cited, has been withdrawn for further consultation with stakeholders

Grasim achieves highest-ever Ebitda of Rs 20,837 cr: Kumar Mangalam Birla

Speaking at the company's 77th Annual General Meeting, Kumar Mangalam Birla said that Grasim Industries invested Rs 7,000 crore in its paints business

Regulatory framework to push exports via e-comm likely by Sep: Comm secy

A regulatory framework to push the country's exports through e-commerce medium is expected to be ready by September, a top government official said on Tuesday. Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal said that at present India's exports through this medium are only about USD 5 billion as compared to China's USD 300 billion, annually. He said there is a huge potential to boost these exports. In this regard, a meeting was held in the ministry on Tuesday with concerned departments such as revenue and industry representatives from areas like logistics and marketplace platforms. "We are working on setting up e-commerce export hubs in the country. We discussed on its framework. It is in our 100-day agenda," Barthwal told reporters here. When asked about the timeline for the framework to be ready, he said by September. There is a potential to take it to USD 50-100 billion in the coming years. Through these hubs, small producers will be facilitated to sell to aggregators and then that aggregat

Only 21% Amazon workers in India say work environment is safe: Report

Ecommerce firm denies UNI Global Union's survey that claimed company sets difficult targets for warehouse workers and drivers

Amid call for reduced dependency, India's coal import rises 13% in April

India's coal import rose by 13.2 per cent to 26.10 million tonne (MT) in April 2024 as buyers took fresh positions amid early onset of summer. The country had imported 23.05 MT of coal in the year-ago period, according to data compiled by B2B e-commerce company mjunction services ltd. This comes amid coal and mines minister G Kishan Reddy stating that India should increase domestic production of the fossil fuel and reduce coal imports. "India's coal and coke imports in April 2024 through the major and non-major ports increased by 13.2 per cent over April 2023," the data showed. Of the total import in April, non-coking coal import stood at 17.40 MT against 15.15 MT in the year-ago month. Coking coal import was 4.97 MT against 4.77 MT. "There was an increase in volumes...Going ahead, there may be continued demand from both the power and non-regulated sectors due to pre-monsoon restocking," mjunction MD & CEO Vinaya Varma said. Coal imports in April were up by 8.93 per cent as ...

E-commerce, BFSI, hospitality sectors driving job market in 2024: Report

E-commerce, BFSI (banking, financial services, and insurance), and hospitality sectors witnessed an increased demands for talents in the first four months of 2024, indicating a recovery in overall job market, a report said on Thursday. Driven by economic recovery, the demand for workforce in BFSI increased the maximum by 21 per cent during the first four months of this calender year. The e-commerce sector saw an increase of 17 per cent, services and hospitality industries reported a growth of 13 per cent, according to a report by professional networking platform Apna. The report is based on the data on Apna platform during 2023 and 2024. It also found that the job market in the southern part of India saw a growth of 23 per cent compared to 18 per cent last year, with cities like Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Chennai leading in terms of total number of job postings. The adoption of digitalisation is becoming increasingly evident in tier II and III cities like Lucknow, Coimbatore, and ...

Google to acquire minority stake in Flipkart in fresh funding round

Internet major Google has proposed an investment in e-commerce major Flipkart to buy a minority stake during the company's fresh funding round, the Walmart group firm said on Friday. "As part of the latest funding round led by Walmart, Flipkart today announced that it will be adding Google as a minority investor, subject to receipt of regulatory and other customary approvals by both parties," Flipkart said in a statement. The e-commerce firm, however, neither disclosed the amount proposed to be invested by Google nor the details of the fund being raised by the firm. "Google's proposed investment and its cloud collaboration will help Flipkart expand its business and advance the modernization of its digital infrastructure to serve customers across the country," Flipkart said.

Govt working on global trade ahead of World Bank business ready report

With the World Bank planning to come out with its first Business Ready report in September this year, the commerce ministry has started working on the international trade topic in detail to further push India's ranking, an official said. Business Ready (B-READY) is the World Bank's new flagship report benchmarking the business environment and investment climate in most economies worldwide. The report assesses the regulatory framework and public services directed at firms, and the efficiency with which regulatory framework and public services are combined in practice. The first B-READY report will be launched on September 25, 2024. The Business Ready report is replacing the World Bank Group's earlier Doing Business index. In 2020, the World Bank decided to pause the publication of its Doing Business report following a number of irregularities regarding changes to data in previous reports. The new focuses on 10 topics covering the lifecycle of a firm in the course of starting, ...

Amazon India revises seller fees for 2024 due to macroeconomic factors

Starting April 7, there will be changes in referral fee, closing fee and weight handling fee, besides other fee heads, for sellers on Amazon.in

Govt, RBI in talks to ease Fema guidelines for boosting e-commerce exports

Efforts on to ease FEMA norms, says DGFT Sarangi

ONDC merchants expected to multiply in coming year: MD & CEO Koshy

The government-promoted Open Network for Digital Commerce has around 3 lakh merchants and the count is expected to multiply in the coming year, ONDC MD & CEO Thampy Koshy said on Thursday. "We started with 600 merchants on-board in January last year. At present there are around 3 lakh merchants (on-boarded). In the coming year we expect this will be multiplying and build its momentum. At least ten times growth I expect in the coming year," Koshy said on the sidelines of an event here. He further said that ONDC witnessed 67 lakh transactions in January, and he expects a 20-30 per cent growth in monthly transactions going forward. Koshy was speaking after an agreement signing ceremony between QCI and ONDC at the launch of the DigiReady Certification (DRC) portal. For the DRC initiative, QCI in conjunction with ONDC aim to assess and certify digital readiness of MSME entities. With the help of an online self-assessment tool, MSMEs can evaluate their preparedness to seamlessly onboard

Digital commerce platform OTO raises $10 mn from K L Rahul, others

Digital commerce platform OTO on Tuesday said it raised USD 10 million (around Rs 83 crore) from a clutch of investors, including cricketer K L Rahul. The fresh funding was led by GMO Venture Partners with participation from Turbostart, cricketer K L Rahul and a few other family offices as well as existing investors Prime Venture Partners, Matrix Partners, and 9Unicorns funds, OTO said. The investment is aimed at expanding the company's presence to over 30 cities and strengthening its existing partnerships. "OTO has recently raised funding of USD 10 million," the platform said. The latest funds will strategically expand OTO's presence to over 30 cities, support the transition to electric vehicles, and fortify existing partnerships, it added.

Retail sector set for 10-13% growth in 2024 on luxury, value purchases

Set to enter a "transformative era", the country's retail sector is expected to clock 10-13 per cent growth in the new year with players adopting technological advances to cater to luxury as well as value customers while inflation shadows continue to lurk in the background. Network expansion, a strong uptick in demand for premium brands, increasing traction for value brands in smaller cities and general elections will be among the key drivers for the retail sector, which is also moving from being just a tale of rural and urban markets. Besides, the continuing e-commerce growth with a surge in quick commerce, hyperlocal delivery services and impulse purchases will provide additional tailwinds. "The Indian retail industry's growth prospects for 2024 present a mixed picture with several factors influencing the landscape," Deloitte India Consulting Partner Rajat Wahi told PTI. The space has bright spots such as robust GDP growth, tech-driven transformation, continued festive season ...

Online sellers seek FDI in inventory-based model of e-comm for export

The e-commerce industry has suggested the government to permit foreign direct investment (FDI) in an inventory-based model of online trade only for export purposes, a senior government official said on Friday. At present, the country's FDI policy does not permit foreign direct investment in the inventory-based model of e-commerce. It is allowed only in firms that are operating through a marketplace model. Director General of Foreign Trade (DGF) Santosh Kumar Sarangi said that they are working on several steps to promote exports through e-commerce medium. He said that the e-commerce stakeholders have asked the department for the promotion of industry and internal trade (DPIIT) to relook at the FDI policy on this issue. "For export purposes, if these (rules) could be revisited is something that we are requesting the DPIIT to examine and explore... and this could be one step forward for creating the e-commerce export zones that DGFT and its team has been working on," Sarangi said here