Chennai: The soon to be released draft e-commerce policy, has suggested a series of conditions for operating online retail business in India through marketplace model, has proposed to ban all gifts shipped to India, among others.
Released on Saturday, the much awaited policy saw the Commerce and Industry Ministry mandate that all product shipments from other countries to India must be channelised through the customs route.
The 42-page draft addresses six broad issues of the e-commerce ecosystem – data, infrastructure development, e-commerce marketplaces, regulatory issues, stimulating domestic digital economy and export promotion through e-commerce.
The policy included mandatory mentioning of seller details on the website for all products and financial disincentives if vendors found to be selling counterfeit products.
The Ministry has proposed to ban all gifts shipped to India through e-commerce route to put a check especially on Chinese e-commerce platforms misusing the provision.
“In view of the misuse of the ‘gifting’ route, as an interim measure, all such parcels shall be banned, with the exception of life-saving drugs. India Post must conduct due diligence on ‘from and to’ shipping entities and addresses and set thresholds in the shipment booking system to eliminate misuse of the Foreign Trade (Development & Regulation) Act, 1992,” said the draft policy, which is now open for public consultation.
The draft e-commerce policy also mandated all e-commerce sites/apps available for download in India to have a registered business entity in India as the importer on record or as the entity through which all sales are transacted.
“This is important for ensuring compliance with extant laws and regulations for preventing deceptive and fraudulent practices, protection of privacy, safety and security,” it said.
Indian customs regulations currently allow tax exemptions on gifts sent to relatives from Indians living abroad for up to Rs 5,000. However, China-based online e-commerce platforms have been misusing the rules and shipping cheaper products to Indian customers as gifts, thus avoiding customs duty and goods and services tax, reports state.
Different encouragement
The draft policy also encourages foreign direct investment in the marketplace model only and not in inventory-based business, and enlists steps.
It said e-commerce players would be required to undertake certain measures including seller details to be made available on marketplace website for all products and this shall include the full name of the seller, address and contact details including e-mail and phone number; sellers must provide an undertaking to the platform about genuineness of products they are selling; trademark (TM) owners shall be given the option to register themselves with e-commerce platforms.
“In case TM owners so desire, e-commerce platforms shall not list or offer for sale any of the owners’ products without prior concurrence; in case of specified high-value (luxury) goods, cosmetics or goods having impact on public health, marketplaces will be required to seek TM owner’s authorisation; the platform shall enter into an agreement with each of the sellers on its platform, under which it shall obtain guarantee of authenticity and genuineness of the products,” it added.
Besides, the e-commerce player would have to seek a guarantee from the sellers that the product has not been impaired in any manner and that all warranties and guarantees of the brand owner are applicable and shall be honoured accordingly.
Further, the data shall not be made available to a third-party for any purpose and it would also not be shared with a foreign government, without the prior permission of Indian authorities, the draft said.
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| E-commerce giants Amazon and Walmart-backed Flipkart have said they are reviewing the draft national e-commerce policy and will share their inputs on the proposals in due course of time.
“We appreciate the government seeking consultation on the draft e-commerce policy. We are going through the draft, which has been just released for comments and will be sharing our inputs in due course. As India’s homegrown e-commerce pioneer, Flipkart has always been at the forefront of growth of the industry. We look forward to working with the government and other stakeholders in developing this nascent sector,” a Flipkart spokesperson said. Amazon India, in an e-mailed statement, said, “…we will provide our inputs during the public review period. We look forward to an enabling policy to serve over 4.5 lakh sellers and a policy that will allow us to scale up our logistics network, create new jobs and infrastructure, digitise payments and delight our customers.” |