25 e-commerce players attend key FDI policy meeting

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SME Times News Bureau | 25 Mar, 2021
A crucial meeting on Thursday on FDI policy for the e-commerce sector is being attended by 25 leading companies.

The meeting through video conference is being held under the Chairmanship of Secretary, DPIIT regarding FDI Policy on e-commerce sector.

The meeting is being attended by e-commerce players, including RIL, Amazon, Udaan, 1mg, Firstcry, Flipkart, Swiggy, Shopclues, Pepperfry, Snapdeal, Urbanladder, Paytm, Nykaa, Naukri, Netmeds, Bigbasket, Tata, Uber, Tata Unistore and Ola.

As per the draft policy, an e-commerce operator operating in marketplace or hybrid mode shall manage its relationship with sellers on its platform in an agnostic manner and without being partial to any of its sellers.

This is laid out in the Draft e-commerce policy prepared by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade under the Ministry of Commerce & Industry.

This National e-Commerce Policy is therein, not a fresh construct of government's ambitions but is a consolidated document for the continued vision of providing a level playing field to all stakeholders, including individual consumers, MSMEs, traders, artisans, startups, while pursuing a development agenda which addresses growth and reduces prevalent market distortions. This focus is important as retail trade has been complaining against it.

Meetings are underway to receive feedback on the policy. One on one interactions have been held with concerned Ministries/Departments, based on which the revised version of the policy has been prepared.

In this policy, e-commerce means the business activities of sale, marketing, distribution of goods or provision of services through the Internet or other information networks. The policy covers all modes of e-commerce, i.e., inventory, marketplace and hybrid model. This policy is equally applicable to entities, natural and/or legal with foreign and domestic investments.