By Prarthana Mitra
The government announced on Friday that in order to help incentivise the home-grown e-commerce industry and develop a domestic policy with regard to international digital trade it will set up a think tank. This initiative by the centre comes as a direct response to demands for re-evaluating India’s stance on cross-border digital trade.
Roles and responsibilities for e-commerce
The growth of India’s e-commerce sector has given the economy a much-needed boost and is expected to cross over $50 billion in 2018. As new local players continue to enter the market at break-neck speed, any change in the delicate dynamics causes a fluctuation in the consumer behaviour and consumption pattern. The think tank will be looking into ways to encourage the domestic players so that they are able to take on competition from foreign firms.
To that end, the ministry of commerce and industry reached out to the ministries of finance, home affairs, corporate affairs, electronic and information technology among others, to constitute this new committee for development of the e-commerce sector.
Commerce and industry minister Suresh Prabhu will lead the think tank and representatives from various industries like telecom and IT, including Reliance Jio, TCS and Wipro. They will share the platform with e-commerce retail firms and digital payments service providers like Ola, Snapdeal, Makemytrip, Urban Clap, Justdial, PepperFry and PayTM.
Additionally, the Technology, Information Forecasting and Assessment Council will also play a crucial role in predicting “technologies that are likely to come in future” and help the government “implement, regulate and decide the policy flexibilities needed to be put in place accordingly,” said a senior official in the interview with the Economic Times.
Talks underway for a new cross-border trade policy
India’s refusal to engage in negotiation pertaining to its stance on domestic e-commerce has raised a lot of doubts from other countries in the recent past, many of whom are bilateral trade partners and members of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). 71 WTO countries, accounting for 77% of the global trade, have already engaged in discussions about domestic e-commerce policies.
With pressure from rest of the WTO member countries, Indian officials have also expressed the need to have a defined policy. At a meeting in Geneva last month, the newly formed think tank met 13 other delegations and resolved to initiate an intensive discussion on e-commerce. Perhaps, this spells a new dawn for a more organised e-commerce sector in the country.
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