The National E-commerce Policy is in final stages of discussion and will be announced soon, commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said Thursday. “It is in the final stages of discussion at the highest level in the government. We hope to come out very soon,” he said at a press conference.
The E-commerce Policy was first mooted in 2018 and an initial draft of it was released in 2019. Since then many rounds of consultations have happened. Currently the e-commerce sector has been governed by the Information Technology Act, Consumer Protection Act, FDI Policy on e-commerce and Competition Act.
The policy addresses six broad areas of the e-commerce ecosystem like data, infrastructure development, e-commerce marketplaces, regulatory issues, stimulating domestic digital economy and export promotion through e-commerce.
According to officials It seeks to strike a balance between interests of all stakeholders, like investors, manufacturers, MSMEs, traders, retailers, startups and consumers.
The consultation phase with outside stakeholders including representatives of e-commerce companies and traditional retail on the policy got over in August this year.