Ramesh Abhishek to head panel of secretaries to look into issues raised on some proposals of draft e-commerce policy

The Government of India (GoI) has set up a group of secretaries to look into the issues raised on some proposals of the draft e-commerce policy. The group will be chaired by Ramesh Abhishek, the secretary in the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP). The development comes at a time when the DIPP has effectively ruled out FDI in inventory based ecommerce models. As per draft e-commerce policy, any group company of an online retailer or marketplace may not be allowed to directly or indirectly influence the price or sale of products and services on its platform, a move that could completely restrict e-tailers from giving deep discounts. The draft has also suggested introduction of a pre-set timeframe for offering differential pricing or deep discounts by e-commerce players to customers. Further, the draft recommended 49% FDI in inventory-based business-to-customer e-commerce model. Currently, FDI in such businesses is prohibited and it is allowed only in the marketplace model.