National E-Commerce Policy

Electronic commerce and data are emerging as key enablers and critical determinants of India’s growth and economic development. E-commerce is an incredible opportunity for India to enable 70 million medium and small Indian businesses to become the bedrock of India’s digital economy.

• In order to enhance the capabilities and realize the potential of the electronic commerce sector, it is imperative that India develops robust administrative, regulatory and legal mechanisms. The National e-Commerce Policy lays down strategies to address issues pertinent to the sector. Consumer protection, data privacy and maintenance of a level-playing field are some of the crucial issues.
• The government in February 2019 has prepared a draft of national e-commerce policy to facilitate achieving holistic growth of the sector. The National e-Commerce Policy is aimed to address concerns which go beyond the sale and purchase of products by electronic means.
• The Policy recognizes the importance of data while enabling the domestic industry to benefit from the advantages and opportunities created by electronic commerce.
• The draft of national e-commerce policy proposing setting up a legal and technological framework for restrictions on cross-border data flow and also laid out conditions for businesses regarding collection or processing of sensitive data locally and storing it abroad.
• An inter-ministerial panel under Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade - DPIIT would be formed to address stakeholder grievances on FDI and draft e-commerce policy.
• The Policy takes into account interests of all stakeholders, be they investors, manufacturers, MSMEs, traders, retailers, startups and consumers.
• The strategies envisages should provide a basis for unlocking productivity, generating new-age jobs, protecting critical personal information, enhancing consumer awareness and facilitating onboarding of domestic producers, manufacturers, traders and retailers.
• The National e-Commerce Policy aims to create a framework for achieving holistic growth of the e-commerce sector along with existing policies of Make in India and Digital India.
• With an aim to develop capacities of the domestic industry, the Policy takes forward the core components of the Digital India initiative: (i) the development of secure and stable digital infrastructure; (ii) delivering Government services digitally; and (iii) universal digital literacy.
• The Policy provides for integrating Customs, RBI and India Post systems to improve tracking of imports through e-Commerce. All e-Commerce websites and applications available for downloading in India must have a registered business entity in India as the importer on record or the entity through which all sales in India are transacted.
• As per policy, e-Commerce entities are required to publicly share all relevant details of sellers who make their products available on websites/platforms of these entities.