DPIIT Senior Exec Says Will Extend Public Discussion On Draft Ecommerce Policy

With three days left for industry stakeholders to share their inputs on the draft ecommerce policy, the companies may get the requisite time to share their inputs/feedback till March 31.

An Inc42 source close to the development said that in a closed door meeting of stakeholders on Tuesday (March 5) attended by Shailendra Singh, additional secretary, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) and Surabhi Sharma, deputy secretary, DPIIT, that the deadline for stakeholders inputs will be extended to March-end.

The Confederation of Indian Industry(CII) meeting was hosted at CII office with Col Suhail Zaidi, Head Information & Communication Technology, CII at the chair. The stakeholders who participated in the discussions include officials from Amazon, Snapdeal, Uber, ShopClues etc.

The DPIIT introduced Draft Ecommerce Policy on February 23 and proposed regulation of cross border data flows and enabling sharing of anonymised community data.

The ecommerce policy is focusing on six broad issues in the sector — data, infrastructure development, ecommerce marketplaces, regulatory issues, stimulating domestic digital economy, and export promotion through ecommerce.

The policy has focused largely on the data-part of ecommerce. With this, the policy has directed the companies to set up data storage in India to store the data of Indian users and also supports the review of the current practice of not imposing customs duties on electronic transmissions.

The policy prohibits ecommerce companies from storing consumer data with third party entities even with consumer consent.

The focus on data has raised concerns for the stakeholders. At the CII meeting, they sought to understand from the government about how does the data requirements of ecommerce policy stand after the Personal Data Protection Bill comes into force as several points coincide with the policy.

The Inc42 source also emphasised that the government’s narrative has been open and supportive of the views of the stakeholders. The government and stakeholders have mutually agreed to explore the growth of exports and manufacturing through ecommerce.

Earlier, reports surfaced that US technology companies and Indian startups are working overtime to put together a response within a week to the government’s proposed ecommerce policy.

Yesterday (March 5), Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) also organised a stakeholder conference on ecommerce, addressed by NITI Aayog chief Amitabh Kant. He said, “As far as ecommerce is concerned it’s a revolution and no one can afford to spare itself from the ground reality.”