E-commerce to come under scanner of nine govt agencies

The advent of e-commerce in India has had both positive as well as negative impact on the country’s economy. To keep a tab over e-commerce players in the country, the department of consumer affairs has proposed a committee of secretaries (CoS). The CoS could bring e-commerce under the purview of up to nine government agencies and regulatory bodies. These include RBI, home ministry, the department of revenue in the finance ministry, and ministry of corporate affairs.

While there has been a growth in consumer spending with most e-commerce players offering branded merchandise at discount and sometimes even extremely low rates, it has adversely affected the brick-and-mortar retail business. After heavy discount seasons announced by the leading online players such as Flipkart, Snapdeal and Amazon around the festive and year-end period, brands as well as leading physical retailers as well as industry bodies appealed for government’s intervention.

All ministries involved in the regulation of e-commerce practices will now have to submit their views and recommendations, followed by which the proposal would be tabled in front of the committee of secretaries, the decision making body after the Union cabinet. So far complaints against the e-commerce sector were dealt by the department of consumer affairs, but it has now expressed inability regulate the segment by any single ministry.

Fair trade regulator Competition Commission of India (CCI) had received a complaint against online retailers including leading platform Flipkart for alleged unfair business practices. The complaint was made after Flipkart’s massive ‘Big Billion Day’ sale event that raised concerns over anti-competitive practices of the online shopping portals. Even traders’ body CAIT had asked the Commerce and Industry Ministry to take steps to monitor and regulate online businesses. In a letter to Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, National General Secretary of Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) Praveen Khandelwal had demanded, setting up of a regulatory authority for e-commerce business in India.