Blog: Thank You, Piyushbhai Goyalji,

Friday 22 January 2021

Thank You, Piyushbhai Goyalji,

For questioning the “real rationale for the policy “

Context :

India may scrap e-commerce policy due to lack of unanimity: Report / Money Control / 22 Jan 2021

Extract :

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 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 - told The Economic Times.

“The proposed policy is not clear as to purpose and in its current form is more like a broad document detailing the state of play in the ecommerce sector,” the official added.

They said the inter-ministerial group consisted of the Agriculture Ministry, Corporate Affairs Ministry, Electronics and IT Ministry and the Finance Ministry.

“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.

Various ministers discussed the reach and the role of the proposed regulator, and legislative overlaps related to policy specifications on consumer data storage, it added.

Talk of scrapping the policy comes as the European Union came out with its Digital Markets Act, which “can be a good starting point for India,” an expert told the paper.

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Over past 5 years, I have sent following e-mails to Cabinet Ministers, pointing out that :

Ø E Commerce is just a version of good old “ Old / Physical Commerce “, where some actions / transactions , are being carried out ( by Buyers / Sellers ) , digitally / online ( through a website or a mobile app ) , and some other transactions are carried out physically / on the ground

Ø Total number of “ Permutations / Combinations “ of these “ physical “ and “digital “ processes ( actions / transactions ) , could possibly run into 39.92 MILLIONS ! It is just impossible to enact a LAW which could list all of these “ unique instances “, and then definitively say :

# XYZ “ instance / combination “ shall be treated as “ E Commerce “

# LMJ “ instance / combination “ shall be treated as “ Old fashioned /

normal Commerce “

Ø Millions of “ bewildering / mind-boggling “ unique situations will make it impossible,

# to follow the law ( by Buyers / Sellers )

# to enforce its provisions (by Regulatory Authority/Income Tax Authority )

# to correctly interpret the law ( by the judiciary )

If any of your colleagues have any doubt that the envisaged E Comm Policy is “ UNIMPLEMENTABLE “, please ask them to read the following :