The penetration of e-commerce companies in the Indian market is steadily growing. Currently, there are no strong laws or policies regarding e-commerce. The Government of India is rapidly working towards the e-commerce draft. According to Bloomberg's report, the emphasis has been laid on making rules that benefit local startups.
Apart from this, there will be a special look at how the company is handling the data of the customers.
The government has been working for the last two years to prepare this draft. According to the report, the government will create an e-commerce regulator whose job will be to ensure that the entire industry is competitive as well as broad access to information.
The draft is being manufactured by DPIIT (Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade) which comes under the commerce ministry.
The digital economy is developing very fast in India. The number of digital users is more than 500 million. There is immense potential in every segment – online retail, digital content, digital payments and global companies are leading in all these segments.
In recent times, investment of over one lakh crore in Reliance Jio is enough to understand this reality. There is currently no place for local startups in this game. However, action against China has strengthened their morale.
The government recently banned 59 Chinese apps. The reason stated is that it is possible to misuse users' data. Data localization is a major issue. Regarding data storage in this draft policy, it has been said that a special policy is being prepared regarding this.
The government will create a category for e-commerce and accordingly, rules will be made regarding data localization.
Consumer interest in the draft policy has also been taken care of. E-commerce companies will have to tell who is the seller, it will be necessary to share their information such as contact number, complex contacts, email and address with the consumer.
