Centre asks e-commerce platforms to stick to their business model

Draft e-commerce policy to be out in few weeks; stakeholder consultation process-led by Goyal held

The Centre on Wednesday asked e-commerce majors not to flout their respective business models, and ensure that a distinction is made between the inventory and marketplace models, people aware of the matter said.

This is because there is an issue of conflict because of control of warehousing through vendors by e-commerce entities, they said. In an inventory model, a firm owns goods or services, and sells them directly to customers. In the marketplace model, the e-commerce company offers a digital platform to carry out transactions between buyers and sellers.

These issues were discussed during a stakeholder consultation process spearheaded by