Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: The Centre is understood to have formed a high-level steering committee to suggest how India can have its own Amazon-variant for e-commerce.
India intends to set up its own e-commerce platform to curb malpractices being carried out on different e-commerce platforms and to prevent the flight of capital to other countries.
Over the last decade, the e-commerce business in India has grown by leaps and bounds, and so have fraudulent activities that adversely impact buyers.
In particular, e-commerce zoomed after the government took far-reaching financial measures like demonetization and implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST), and also due to Covid-19 enforced prolonged lockdowns this year which prompted many people to buy goods and services online.
The committee will oversee the setting up of a government-based e-commerce platform to rival the likes of Amazon and Flipkart but which would follow strict norms to minimize malpractices, according to reports.
The Union Commerce Ministry’s committee aims at providing oversight on the policy for the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), an e-commerce platform, which the government would back.
The ONDC will provide the required infrastructure to set up a marketplace like those of sector majors. The ministry’s Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has issued an order in this regard on November 24, the reports said.
The 11-member committee will be headed by the Joint Secretary, DPIIT, and will have representatives from the Government e-Market (GeM), the ministries of Electronics and Information Technology (MEIT), Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), NITI Ayog, Quality Council of India Chairman Adil Zainulbhai, National Payments Corporation of India CEO Dilip Asbe, NSDL CEO Suresh Seth, MyGov founder Arvind Gupta, Confederation of All India Traders Secretary-General Praveen Khandelwal, and representatives from the Retailers Association of India.
An important reason behind this move is that physical stores across India have often condemned the alleged unfair practices adopted by various e-commerce platforms to lure customers by offering discounts and freebies which the retailers cannot afford.
The government’s own e-commerce platform is expected to provide a level-playing field to these physical stores for selling goods.
The privately-owned platforms usually partner with the companies and their brands to ensure predatory pricing, deep discounts, and exclusive sales. Their logistics and inventory practices have also been questioned.