Page 2 - E Commerce Policy

Govt constitutes committee to draft safety pledge for e-comm platforms

The government has constituted a committee to draft the safety pledge for e-commerce platforms as it seeks to prevent the sale of unsafe goods to consumers through online marketplaces. The panel, which includes members from major e-commerce platforms, voluntary consumer associations, industry bodies and National Law Universities, will submit its report in two weeks. According to an official statement on Thursday, the Department of Consumer Affairs held a stakeholder consultation on preparation for a 'Safety Pledge' for e-commerce platforms. The exercise is aimed at ensuring the sale of goods which are safe for use by consumers and requires platforms to take appropriate measures to prevent the sale of unsafe goods. The meeting was chaired by Rohit Kumar Singh, Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs and was attended by representatives from industry associations, major e-commerce platforms, voluntary consumer associations and law chairs. "The Department has constituted a committee

Public procurement of services from GeM portal may touch Rs 1.5 trn in FY23

Procurement of services from government portal GeM is expected to touch Rs 1.5 lakh crore this fiscal on account of an increase in buying activities by different ministries and departments, a senior official said on Wednesday. The Government e-Market (GeM) portal was launched on August 9, 2016, for online purchases of goods and services by all the central government ministries and departments. "Services procurement was just Rs 3,069 crore in 2019-20. It reached Rs 65,957 crore in 2022-23. This fiscal it is expected to reach Rs 1.50 lakh crore," GeM CEO P K Singh told reporters here. He said that the top buyers of services included Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) like Coal India, NTPC Ltd and ONGC, and states and central ministries such as coal, power, defence and finance. GeM has over 63,000 government buyer organisations and over 62 lakh sellers and service providers offering a wide range of products and services. Currently, government departments, ministries, public se

E-commerce aggregator ETrade aims to triple revenue to $ 750 mn by 2025

E-commerce aggregator firm eTrade aims to triple its revenue to USD 750 million by the fiscal year 2025 on account of a multi-faceted strategy, including the launch of their own white labels, the company said on Wednesday. eTrade claims to have an annual revenue of USD 250 million at present. "We are proud to have established ourselves as a leading e-commerce aggregator partner in India. We are fully committed to continuing our growth trajectory and reaching the USD 750 million goal by 2025, solidifying our position as a trusted partner in the e-commerce ecosystem," eTrade Founder, Anuj Bhatia said. The company provides technology, logistics, inventory management and other tools to enable companies to sell their product online. eTrade claims to have over 100 new clients and registered a growth of 60 per cent over the last year. The company said that it recently introduced over 50,000 new products specially curated for the festival season launched by some of its partner brands like

ONDC can support growth of financial services, e-commerce: Deloitte

The government's initiative ONDC is providing a huge platform for growth of four key sectors, including financial services, agriculture, manufacturing, and e-commerce retail, a Deloitte report said on Thursday. The Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) is an initiative of the commerce and industry ministry to create a facilitative model to help small retailers take advantage of digital commerce. It is not an application, platform, intermediary or software but a set of specifications designed to foster open, unbundled, and interoperable open networks. The network aims at helping MSME players in the retail sectors to take advantage of the fast growing e-commerce space in the country. The report said that the ONDC presents an opportunity for financial institutions to engage with MSMEs segment that is mainly dependent on government schemes and non-baking financial companies (NBFCs) for credit as they are not deemed creditworthy by mainstream financial institutions. The size of lendi

Regulatory authority in e-comm needed for protecting small players: CAIT

The e-commerce industry needs regulation to provide a level-playing field for small businesses, traders' body CAIT said on Tuesday. Confederation of All India Traders Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal said that the "same set of 5-6 companies" are top sellers on prominent e-commerce platforms which leaves no scope for small businesses to grow. "There has to be a regulatory authority...like SEBI for share market, and for telecom industry...to regulate and monitor e-commerce and we are going to request the government (for the same)," he said. Speaking at a Meesho event for MSMEs, he also said that the government is likely to roll out a robust e-commerce policy against unethical business practices and foreign direct investment (FDI) violations by the end of the month. The proposed national e-commerce policy of 2019 by the commerce and industry ministry is said to be in the final stages, with the e-commerce policy aiming to prepare strategies for inclusive and harmonious growth of th

'E-commerce policy in final stages; to be presented before top-level'

The proposed national e-commerce policy being formulated by the commerce and industry ministry is in the final stages and no new draft policy will be issued now for seeking views of stakeholders, a senior government official said. The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) on August 2 held a detailed discussion with representatives of e-commerce firms and a domestic traders' body on the proposed policy. In that meeting, a broad level of consensus emerged among the concerned stakeholders on the proposed policy. "Now no draft policy will come. That exercise is over now. We are just getting a final sign off, the official, who did not wish to be named, said, adding there will be a presentation of the proposed policy at the top level of the government. On data localisation, the official said that the e-commerce companies would have to follow the law of the land. Earlier the ministry had issued two draft national e-commerce policies. The 2019 draft proposed to

Nandan Nilekani pitches ONDC to start-ups to democratise e-commerce

VC firm Antler has collaborated with Nilekani, FIDE and ONDC and launched the country's first ONDC-focused venture platform to help entrepreneurs create businesses and succeed on the open protocol

ONDC academy to provide info to sellers, network participants on e-com

Government's initiative Open Network for Digital Commerce has collaborated with a subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange to launch an academy to provide information to sellers and network participants about simple ways to conduct e-commerce business. In the current phase, the ONDC Academy will provide learning content in text and video formats to sellers about managing their operations effectively on the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), Joint Secretary in the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) Sanjiv said. Citing an example, he said a villager without any knowledge of e-commerce can learn how to make a seller app (without technical know-how) with a technology service provider to aggregate all sellers from a nearby marketplace to make these products available online. The academy was launched by ONDC in collaboration with NSE Academy Ltd, a subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange. Each of the steps in the onboarding process and associated ..

NPCI, PPRO ink deal to offer hassle-free e-commerce payments globally

NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL) on Thursday executed a definitive agreement with digital payments infrastructure provider PPRO to offer Indian customers a platform for hassle-free e-commerce payments globally. The agreement aims at expanding RuPay card and UPI acceptance across PPRO's global clients, such as payment service providers (PSPs) and global merchant acquirers, a joint statement said. This association will drive NIPL's continued expansion into foreign markets and will add India to PPRO's Local Payment Method (LPM) coverage map, it added. The partnership between NIPL, a wholly-owned subsidiary of National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), and PPRO will empower the global PSPs, banks, payment gateways and enterprises with payment platforms to expand globally, giving international e-commerce merchants access to Indian consumers, it said. Consumers can seamlessly make cross-border purchases in Indian rupees using their favourite payment method. Launched in 201

Flipkart launches exchange programme for used ACs with doorstep pickup

Customers can make the exchange irrespective of where the AC was purchased, says company

Govt to bring retail trade policy to promote ease of doing biz: Official

The government is working to bring a national retail trade policy for brick and mortar retail traders with an aim to promote ease of doing business, a senior official said on Monday. Joint Secretary in the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) Sanjiv said that the policy would also help in providing better infrastructure and more credit to traders. The Department, he said, is also working to bring an e-commerce policy for online retailers. "We want that there should be synergy between e-commerce as well as retail traders," Sanjiv said at a conference on FMCG and e-commerce here. The Department is also in the process of formulating an insurance scheme for all the retail traders. The accident insurance scheme would particularly help small traders of the country, he added. "The government is trying to do policy changes not only in e-commerce but national retail trade policy which will be for physical traders which will be introducing ease of doing business,

India asks WTO members to discuss e-comm issues; submits two papers

India has submitted two papers in the World Trade Organization related to consumer protection and digital infrastructure part of the e-commerce sector to initiate discussion on the subject before deliberating a final agreement, government officials said on Friday. The country wants member countries of Geneva-based WTO to discuss all these issues 'threadbare' before initiating negotiations on binding commitments or rules on the e-commerce sector. Joint Secretary in the commerce ministry Darpan Jain said the e-commerce sector is rapidly growing across the globe and as it has implications on developing and poor nations, it should be discussed in a multilateral setting in WTO and not among a group of countries. At present, a group of 87 countries, mostly developed, are negotiating to frame a pact on e-commerce rules. These two papers, he said "will form a basis for discussion. We have not proposed any rules or any binding obligations". "We are saying that plurilateral discussions have

Traders demand rollout of robust e-com policy, formation of regulator

Referring to observations of Parliamentary Committee on Finance, traders have demanded the government to immediate roll out a robust and strong e-commerce policy, formation of a regulatory authority

Govt may bring e-commerce policy once ONDC stabilises: Report

The government will look to stabilise its e-commerce firm ONDC and address the data privacy concerns before bringing a proposed e-commerce policy, according to an official source. In June 2021, the Department of Consumer Affairs under the Food and Consumer Affairs Ministry released a draft set of rules that aims to tighten the governance of e-commerce platforms. On the other side, the Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) under the Commerce and Industry Ministry is also framing a national e-commerce policy. A couple of ministries are involved in the policy making as it lies in the jurisdiction of other legislations. "We have already launched the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) to help small retailers. It has gone quite well. We have raised funds for ONDC. Once this gets stabilised and democratised, it will be easy to formalise the proposed e-commerce policy," the source said. There is also an element of data privacy in e-commerce, which Ministry of

Open Network for Digital Commerce: What does it mean and how will it work?

ONDC, which is being developed to tackle the duopoly of Amazon and Flipkart in the Indian e-commerce market, will use open specifications and network protocols independent of any one platform

Centre deliberating on e-commerce policy draft, says CAIT

According to CAIT, Goyal advised the officials to explore the possibilities of formation of a regulator for e-commerce trade so that laws and rules are followed in both letter and spirit

SC rejects Amazon's request to file fresh written submission

Move comes five days after apex court reserved its order on Future Group's plea to go ahead with NCLT proceedings for proposed deal between Future Group and Reliance Industries

E-commerce policy likely to help small retailers in using technology

Under the proposed policy, the Centre will also have to focus on promoting the government-backed e-commerce network Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC)

DPIIT officials, top e-tailers meet to discuss e-commerce policy

"None of the e-commerce companies refuted the charges made by the CAIT and other associations," CAIT said in an official statement

DPIIT holds meeting with various stakeholders on proposed e-commerce policy

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) on Tuesday held a meeting with different stakeholders, including domestic and foreign companies, on the proposed e-commerce policy, an official said. The meeting was attended by domestic and foreign e-commerce firms besides domestic traders body CAIT (Confederation of All India Traders) and associations related to the MSME sector, the official added. CAIT in a statement said the meeting was attended by All India Consumer Products Distributors Federation (AICPDF), Retailers Association of India, Laghu Udyog Bharti, and Federation of Indian Micro and Small & Medium Enterprises (FISME). Representatives of e-commerce firms, including Amazon and Flipkart, also attended the virtual meeting, which was chaired by DPIIT Additional Secretary Anil Agarwal, along with other senior officials of the ministry. Confirming his participation in the meeting, CAIT Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal said the e-commerce policy should