CR Chaudhary defends FDI policy amid outcry by big players

Better enforcement of the FDI policy on e-commerce will contribute significantly to the growth of the sector, Parliament was informed Monday. Minister of State for Commerce and Industry C R Chaudhary said the e-commerce sector is expected to keep growing in the future.

"The FDI policy on e-commerce has remained unchanged. Better enforcement of this policy will contribute significantly to the growth of this sector over a medium and long term," he said in a written reply to Lok Sabha. The government has recently revised norms for e-commerce companies having foreign investments.

In order to ensure due to compliance with the FDI policy on e-commerce, the ministry has issued norms putting in place certain conditions. As per those conditions, an entity having equity participation by e-commerce marketplace firm or its group companies, will not be permitted to sell its products on the platform run by such marketplace entity.

E-commerce marketplace entities will not mandate any seller to sell any product exclusively on its platform only, the minister said. These new guidelines have come into effect from February 1. Global firms like Flipkart and Amazon had sought the extension of this deadline, but the government rejected that.

The minister also said stakeholder consultations on creating a framework for National Policy on e-commerce were conducted with representatives from ministries, departments, RBI, industry bodies, online companies, telecom firms, IT and payment companies.

(With inputs from agencies.)