Chennai: The Commerce and Industry Ministry is working on a new e-commerce policy to boost the fast growing online retail as well as protect the interest of small retailers, sources said.
The government has already set up a group of secretaries to look into the issues of the sector. The Ministry is committed to preparing the policy to boost the growth of the sector, sources said.
The move came after concerns were raised on some proposals of the draft e-commerce policy, which was prepared after consultations with several stakeholders, including industry chambers.
The draft e-commerce policy had suggested several steps to promote the growth of the sector. It had stated that online retail firms may have to store user data exclusively in India in view of security and privacy concerns.
It had also said that any group company of an online retailer or marketplace may not be allowed to directly or indirectly influence the price or sale of products and services on its platform, a move that could completely restrict e-tailers from giving deep discounts.
The draft had suggested to introduce a pre-set timeframe for offering differential pricing or deep discounts by e-commerce players to customers.