ONDC Live In 500 Towns & Cities; All Ecommerce Rules Apply To The Network: MoS Commerce

Ecommerce took centre stage on the 13th day of the Parliament’s Winter Session as the government answered a slew of questions regarding regulation, competition, ONDC and ecommerce exports.

Responding to a question, the Minister of State (MoS) for Commerce and Industry Som Parkash on Wednesday (December 20) said that the ONDC network was now live in 500 towns and cities across the country. 

“The geographic coverage of ONDC is determined both by the capability of its Network participants and the independent business decisions of merchants onboarded by the Network participants,” he added.

Parkash’s comments were part of a written response to a question by Lok Sabha member Ravikumar D on whether ecommerce regulations extended to the state-backed ONDC. 

“All existing laws and regulations of India, related to ecommerce apply to ONDC and the Network Participants on [the] ONDC network,” Parkash said.

The government also added that ONDC was also taking ‘comprehensive’ steps to ensure trust, fairness and transparency on the network, including fairness in search and discovery, payment mechanisms, KYC requirements, reviews and ratings, and enforcement, among other factors.

During the session, Parkash also pointed out that the government has so far not undertaken any studies to address competition-related issues identified by the 172nd report of the Rajya Sabha on the promotion and regulation of ecommerce in India. 

The minister added that the government had filed an ‘Action Taken’ report in response to the recommendations of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Commerce on the matter.

Incidentally, the government had then decided not to take any recommendations on the aspect of competition.

The standing committee had recommended changes related to the current regulatory regime encompassing ecommerce, the Competition Act of 2002, abuse of dominant position by big players as well as mergers and acquisitions. The committee had also recommended that the Ministry of Corporate Affairs take ‘concerted efforts’ to finalise and enact the Competition Amendment Bill ‘at the earliest’.

The government, in its action-taken report, noted that the amendment bill would already include most of the recommendations made by the standing committee in terms of competition and address gaps in the current regulatory regime. 

DGFT Collaborating With Ecommerce Cos: MoS Commerce & Industry

On the question of whether the government has tied up with any startup or private players for ecommerce exports, MoS Commerce and Industry Anupriya Patel said that efforts were being taken to promote ecommerce exports in partnership with various stakeholders.

“… outreach events are being held in the districts under Districts as Export Hubs initiative with [a] focus on promoting ecommerce exports of the identified goods from the districts in collaboration with various stakeholders,” said Patel in a written response.

According to Patel, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) is collaborating with various ecommerce platforms to promote ecommerce exports from the country. 

“The core objective of this collaboration is to leverage ecommerce platforms operating in other countries to support local exporters, manufacturers, and MSMEs in India in reaching potential international buyers,” the MoS added.

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