If you hadn’t heard yet, the government recently launched a draft of the India e-commerce policy that proposes incentives for small businesses, discourages Chinese imports, and hopes to help small businesses go online swiftly.
We collated the key highlights of the policy draft doing the rounds to help you understand what it means for your business.
What’s the new India e-commerce policy?
The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) first floated the National E-commerce Policy last year.
What the policy entails?
- It contains proposals of setting up a new regulator to oversee and improve the e-commerce setting in India.
- It also aims at encouraging rural production and creating jobs with a focus on exporting home-made goods.
3 key highlights of the new e-commerce policy:
The draft is slated to be completed this year and go under review. We got hold of some of the latest proposals in the India e-commerce policy that could have an impact on your business.
1. The new India e-commerce policy could have incentives for small stores/businesses:
The push for digital is hard with this one.
Reports suggest that the new policy could incentivise small mom-and-pop Kirana stores and other businesses to go online. The government is also roping in internet giants like Amazon, Walmart, and Facebook to help out with the technology so they can make the transition faster.
“The incentives could be in the form of interest subventions on loans required for the switchover or as one time grant,” – according to a source by Telengana Today.
2. It will require you to display a “Made in India” tag on your website/online store:
In a move to encourage locally sourced products and reduce imports from China, the India e-commerce policy could mandate online businesses to display a “Made in India” tag on their websites or stores so customers are encouraged to buy locally-made products.
“We will mandate ecommerce players to display whether a product is made in India or not. We are actively looking to enable that. This will help cut out Chinese goods.” – a source was quoted by The Economic Times.
3. Checkmark to be introduced on website for locally produced products:
The new policy is also pushing to introduce a new checkmark or a filter that would encourage shoppers to buy products sourced and made from local markets in India. The checkmark or filter would have to be present in all/any website or stores selling products online.
“Sellers must provide an undertaking to the platform about genuineness of products they are selling and the same must be made accessible to consumers,” ET quoted the policy.
The policy will be released to the public for comment soon.
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