Government following China’s stand on data: Industry players

BENGALURU: The new draft policy for e-commerce is trying to mimic a China-like stand over its citizen’s data and shows signs of protectionism in the domestic market, senior industry executives have said after the draft was unveiled on Saturday. It limits cross-border flow of data, gives the government more access to it and also calls for creating a “data authority” to share information in public interest.

This has spooked industry executives. An Amazon executive, on the condition of anonymity, said the new draft is adding another layer of regulatory restrictions that try to control the flow of data, like China, after it was forced to store payments data only in India last year. This time, Amazon’s core e-commerce business will also witness complications on overall compliance.