E-commerce policy put on hold

New Delhi: India has decided to put the much-awaited e-commerce policy, which seeks to set up a regulator for the sector, on hold for now in view of the Covid-19 pandemic and economic challenges. Draft of the policy was discussed by a group of secretaries after which a call was taken to not pursue it for some time. “We have redrafted the policy and presented it to the group of secretaries. However, the environment is not congenial now and officers are busy in Covid-19-related work,” said an official in the knowledge of the details.

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has redrafted the policy with the aim to promote ecommerce while protecting vulnerable sections such as kiranas and also connect the offline stores with the online ones. The policy has also pitched the idea of a regulator through an Act of parliament. In case an ‘ecommerce regulator’ is not put in place, a ‘data regulator’ would regulate the sector