Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has called for fresh round of stakeholder consultations with industry representatives, both from e-commerce and brick-and-mortar retail companies for opening up the e-commerce sector and will be meeting the industry, including representatives from industry bodies Confederation of All India Traders (CII) and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), on July 10 to discuss the issue.
The meeting which is likely to be attended by both Indian and foreign e-commerce companies, seems to have been necessitated with pressure mounting from potential free-trade partner countries to open up the e-commerce sector. In the meeting the minister may discuss the pros and cons of opening up the sector to foreign players and the safeguards that might be required if foreign direct investment (FDI) is allowed in the sector. Later the Commerce and Industry Minister is scheduled to meet chief ministers on July 15 to get their views on the matter.
The first round of the meeting which was held in May remained inconclusive as traders’ organisations like the CII had opposed the move, while the Retailers Association of India representing large brick-and-mortar retail companies had boycotted the meeting. Ficci had said that FDI should be allowed in B2C e-commerce but with a focus on sourcing from Indian manufacturers and in a phased manner. At present, India allows 100 percent FDI in business-to-business or B2B e-commerce, but not in B2C companies that sell directly to consumers.