Lack of consensus on the e-commerce policy ,India may drop the policy

The inter-ministerial group discussing the policy consisted of the Agriculture Ministry, Corporate Affairs Ministry, Electronics and IT Ministry and the Finance Ministry. The policy aims to provide the regulator guidelines on law enforcement, law and order, individual safety, security and taxation, and seeks disclosure on source code to monitor digital biases.

India may scrap its e-commerce policy after questions over its rationale were raised by “certain sections within the government” due to lack of unanimity.

The consultation meeting was organised by the Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) to discuss the draft policy, decide on a sector regulator and implement a new law seeking to limit data storage by e-commerce companies, the report said. the DPIIT reportedly restarted interdepartmental consultations on its draft e-commerce policy.

The policymaking process has spanned over two years and is fraught with issues like pathways to ease logistics and methods to control data. The policy might get scrapped as there is no convergence on certain issues. The minister questioned the real rationale for the policy,” an official - who was part of the inter-ministerial meeting held on January 21.

All ministries concerned and regulators were present in the meeting,” another official said. Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal was also a part of the group. The consultation meeting was organised by the Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) to discuss the draft policy, decide on a sector regulator and implement a new law seeking to limit data storage by e-commerce companies, as per the report.