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Can the government come up with a policy that ensures national security, creates a level playing field for brick and mortar retail and new age e-Commerce requirements, not spook the FDI sentiment and yet regulate the e-economy?
I am glad about the proposed re-think of the draft e-commerce policy. The government has decided to drop the first draft of e-commerce policy and set up a committee of secretaries to decide on a new set of recommendations.
The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) is not happy with the move, but let us hope that the outcome post deliberation is a more well rounded policy that takes in to account the requirements and implications for all stakeholders.
Digital commerce is an inherent and inseparable part of most commercial transactions and therefore a lop-sided e-commerce policy notified in haste or without thinking through the impact on various stakeholders (the government due to national and data security threats, consumers, retail traders, e-commerce companies, interests, foreign investors ) would be more disastrous than beneficial.
The draft policy aimed to provide a framework that would enable the country to benefit from the rapid digitalization of the domestic, as well as the global, economy. The goal was simple- An e-commerce policy would consolidate the various norms and regulations(currently in different avatars and enforced by multiple government departments) to cover all online retailers/digitally transacting companies.
Hotly debated issues in the draft policy relate to data localisation, setting up of an ecommerce regulator, move to allow 49% foreign investment in inventory-based online retail, restrictions on deep discounts(sunset clause on discounts to prevent platforms from directly or indirectly influencing the prices of goods and services) , and preference for RuPay.
The size of digital economy in India will be approximately $ 1 Trillion[i] and by 2030, it could constitute almost 50 percent of the entire economy and therefore a goal to regulate and streamline digital transaction make sense. The question is can the government come up with a sensible policy that is able to ensure national security, create a level playing field for the the brick and mortar retail and new age e-Commerce requirements, not spook the FDI sentiment and yet regulate the e-economy! Its tough but certainly needs a re-look.
[i] Source: Draft National Policy for Electronic Commerce in India;
Uber, the popular Bangalore based cap operator was asked to change its payment mechanism by the Reserve Bank of India. Popular ecommerce sites like Myntra, Urban Ladder, Flipkart, and many other have been under the scanner for various regulatory matters like FDI violation, VAT related issues, Enforcement Directorate probes for maters before April 2013, Payment mechanism violations etc. With each passing day new violations or potential violations seem to be added.
Being the last critical budget before the next general assembly elections, we all probably had some sense of what the budget would lay down. Here's a quick summary of what appealed and didn’t appeal from the "Funds/Venture Industry" perspective.
I respect the government’s desire to increase the tax net, curb black money, money laundering and build transparency in our tax system. What I don’t understand is why they make us a part of a guessing game with unheard of potential levies from time to time?
The Indian Startup ecosystem has attracted over USD 5.5 Bn of PE/VC in 2015 alone and is the third largest Startup base worldwide. It’s heartening to see the Government take notice and launch the “Startup India Standup India” initiative.
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