Relevance : GS Paper III (Indian Economy)
[460 words reduced to 160]
- In order to quell the disquiet among offline retailers, government has formulated a new e-commerce policy.
- The NEW policy:
- The new rules bar sales for over 25% of sales in a marketplace by any entities where the e-com firm has an equity stake.
- Any specialised back-end support for some sellers must now be extended to all vendors.
- An e-commerce marketplace entity will not mandate any seller to offer a product exclusively on its platform rules.
- Problems with the NEW policy
- FDI in e-commerce could decrease
- There may be loss of jobs
- Create perception of India being unpredictable in terms of policies.
- Restricts freedom of a seller to sell exclusively on one e-com portal
- It goes against the fairness and level playing field
- Way forward: Globally, India has been taking on protectionism, the same non-protectionist tenets must be applied for internal trade.
- India’s retail FDI policy remains muddled with the new e-commerce policy.
