MEITY advises states to treat e-commerce delivery as essential service

The Indian e-commerce sector has come to a halt across the country including the supply of essential commodities due to various lockdowns to prevent the spread of Covid-19

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) has told all state governments to treat e-commerce functions such as delivery, warehouse operations, shipping and logistics as part of essential services.

In order to enable delivery executives and other related workers provide the services, the Ministry has advised the state governments to treat “copy of orders, waybills, invoices” as evidence, particularly in respect to essential items. An advisory related to this has been issued by Rajiv Kumar, joint secretary at MEITY, on Tuesday.

“In view of the prevailing situation due to Covid-19, the Government of India has issued several advisories regarding