Page 2 - E-commerce Policy

Grasim achieves highest-ever Ebitda of Rs 20,837 cr: Kumar Mangalam Birla

Speaking at the company's 77th Annual General Meeting, Kumar Mangalam Birla said that Grasim Industries invested Rs 7,000 crore in its paints business

Regulatory framework to push exports via e-comm likely by Sep: Comm secy

A regulatory framework to push the country's exports through e-commerce medium is expected to be ready by September, a top government official said on Tuesday. Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal said that at present India's exports through this medium are only about USD 5 billion as compared to China's USD 300 billion, annually. He said there is a huge potential to boost these exports. In this regard, a meeting was held in the ministry on Tuesday with concerned departments such as revenue and industry representatives from areas like logistics and marketplace platforms. "We are working on setting up e-commerce export hubs in the country. We discussed on its framework. It is in our 100-day agenda," Barthwal told reporters here. When asked about the timeline for the framework to be ready, he said by September. There is a potential to take it to USD 50-100 billion in the coming years. Through these hubs, small producers will be facilitated to sell to aggregators and then that aggregat

Only 21% Amazon workers in India say work environment is safe: Report

Ecommerce firm denies UNI Global Union's survey that claimed company sets difficult targets for warehouse workers and drivers

Amid call for reduced dependency, India's coal import rises 13% in April

India's coal import rose by 13.2 per cent to 26.10 million tonne (MT) in April 2024 as buyers took fresh positions amid early onset of summer. The country had imported 23.05 MT of coal in the year-ago period, according to data compiled by B2B e-commerce company mjunction services ltd. This comes amid coal and mines minister G Kishan Reddy stating that India should increase domestic production of the fossil fuel and reduce coal imports. "India's coal and coke imports in April 2024 through the major and non-major ports increased by 13.2 per cent over April 2023," the data showed. Of the total import in April, non-coking coal import stood at 17.40 MT against 15.15 MT in the year-ago month. Coking coal import was 4.97 MT against 4.77 MT. "There was an increase in volumes...Going ahead, there may be continued demand from both the power and non-regulated sectors due to pre-monsoon restocking," mjunction MD & CEO Vinaya Varma said. Coal imports in April were up by 8.93 per cent as ...

E-commerce, BFSI, hospitality sectors driving job market in 2024: Report

E-commerce, BFSI (banking, financial services, and insurance), and hospitality sectors witnessed an increased demands for talents in the first four months of 2024, indicating a recovery in overall job market, a report said on Thursday. Driven by economic recovery, the demand for workforce in BFSI increased the maximum by 21 per cent during the first four months of this calender year. The e-commerce sector saw an increase of 17 per cent, services and hospitality industries reported a growth of 13 per cent, according to a report by professional networking platform Apna. The report is based on the data on Apna platform during 2023 and 2024. It also found that the job market in the southern part of India saw a growth of 23 per cent compared to 18 per cent last year, with cities like Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Chennai leading in terms of total number of job postings. The adoption of digitalisation is becoming increasingly evident in tier II and III cities like Lucknow, Coimbatore, and ...

Google to acquire minority stake in Flipkart in fresh funding round

Internet major Google has proposed an investment in e-commerce major Flipkart to buy a minority stake during the company's fresh funding round, the Walmart group firm said on Friday. "As part of the latest funding round led by Walmart, Flipkart today announced that it will be adding Google as a minority investor, subject to receipt of regulatory and other customary approvals by both parties," Flipkart said in a statement. The e-commerce firm, however, neither disclosed the amount proposed to be invested by Google nor the details of the fund being raised by the firm. "Google's proposed investment and its cloud collaboration will help Flipkart expand its business and advance the modernization of its digital infrastructure to serve customers across the country," Flipkart said.

Govt working on global trade ahead of World Bank business ready report

With the World Bank planning to come out with its first Business Ready report in September this year, the commerce ministry has started working on the international trade topic in detail to further push India's ranking, an official said. Business Ready (B-READY) is the World Bank's new flagship report benchmarking the business environment and investment climate in most economies worldwide. The report assesses the regulatory framework and public services directed at firms, and the efficiency with which regulatory framework and public services are combined in practice. The first B-READY report will be launched on September 25, 2024. The Business Ready report is replacing the World Bank Group's earlier Doing Business index. In 2020, the World Bank decided to pause the publication of its Doing Business report following a number of irregularities regarding changes to data in previous reports. The new focuses on 10 topics covering the lifecycle of a firm in the course of starting, ...

Amazon India revises seller fees for 2024 due to macroeconomic factors

Starting April 7, there will be changes in referral fee, closing fee and weight handling fee, besides other fee heads, for sellers on Amazon.in

Govt, RBI in talks to ease Fema guidelines for boosting e-commerce exports

Efforts on to ease FEMA norms, says DGFT Sarangi

ONDC merchants expected to multiply in coming year: MD & CEO Koshy

The government-promoted Open Network for Digital Commerce has around 3 lakh merchants and the count is expected to multiply in the coming year, ONDC MD & CEO Thampy Koshy said on Thursday. "We started with 600 merchants on-board in January last year. At present there are around 3 lakh merchants (on-boarded). In the coming year we expect this will be multiplying and build its momentum. At least ten times growth I expect in the coming year," Koshy said on the sidelines of an event here. He further said that ONDC witnessed 67 lakh transactions in January, and he expects a 20-30 per cent growth in monthly transactions going forward. Koshy was speaking after an agreement signing ceremony between QCI and ONDC at the launch of the DigiReady Certification (DRC) portal. For the DRC initiative, QCI in conjunction with ONDC aim to assess and certify digital readiness of MSME entities. With the help of an online self-assessment tool, MSMEs can evaluate their preparedness to seamlessly onboard

Digital commerce platform OTO raises $10 mn from K L Rahul, others

Digital commerce platform OTO on Tuesday said it raised USD 10 million (around Rs 83 crore) from a clutch of investors, including cricketer K L Rahul. The fresh funding was led by GMO Venture Partners with participation from Turbostart, cricketer K L Rahul and a few other family offices as well as existing investors Prime Venture Partners, Matrix Partners, and 9Unicorns funds, OTO said. The investment is aimed at expanding the company's presence to over 30 cities and strengthening its existing partnerships. "OTO has recently raised funding of USD 10 million," the platform said. The latest funds will strategically expand OTO's presence to over 30 cities, support the transition to electric vehicles, and fortify existing partnerships, it added.

Retail sector set for 10-13% growth in 2024 on luxury, value purchases

Set to enter a "transformative era", the country's retail sector is expected to clock 10-13 per cent growth in the new year with players adopting technological advances to cater to luxury as well as value customers while inflation shadows continue to lurk in the background. Network expansion, a strong uptick in demand for premium brands, increasing traction for value brands in smaller cities and general elections will be among the key drivers for the retail sector, which is also moving from being just a tale of rural and urban markets. Besides, the continuing e-commerce growth with a surge in quick commerce, hyperlocal delivery services and impulse purchases will provide additional tailwinds. "The Indian retail industry's growth prospects for 2024 present a mixed picture with several factors influencing the landscape," Deloitte India Consulting Partner Rajat Wahi told PTI. The space has bright spots such as robust GDP growth, tech-driven transformation, continued festive season ...

Online sellers seek FDI in inventory-based model of e-comm for export

The e-commerce industry has suggested the government to permit foreign direct investment (FDI) in an inventory-based model of online trade only for export purposes, a senior government official said on Friday. At present, the country's FDI policy does not permit foreign direct investment in the inventory-based model of e-commerce. It is allowed only in firms that are operating through a marketplace model. Director General of Foreign Trade (DGF) Santosh Kumar Sarangi said that they are working on several steps to promote exports through e-commerce medium. He said that the e-commerce stakeholders have asked the department for the promotion of industry and internal trade (DPIIT) to relook at the FDI policy on this issue. "For export purposes, if these (rules) could be revisited is something that we are requesting the DPIIT to examine and explore... and this could be one step forward for creating the e-commerce export zones that DGFT and its team has been working on," Sarangi said here

Govt constitutes committee to draft safety pledge for e-comm platforms

The government has constituted a committee to draft the safety pledge for e-commerce platforms as it seeks to prevent the sale of unsafe goods to consumers through online marketplaces. The panel, which includes members from major e-commerce platforms, voluntary consumer associations, industry bodies and National Law Universities, will submit its report in two weeks. According to an official statement on Thursday, the Department of Consumer Affairs held a stakeholder consultation on preparation for a 'Safety Pledge' for e-commerce platforms. The exercise is aimed at ensuring the sale of goods which are safe for use by consumers and requires platforms to take appropriate measures to prevent the sale of unsafe goods. The meeting was chaired by Rohit Kumar Singh, Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs and was attended by representatives from industry associations, major e-commerce platforms, voluntary consumer associations and law chairs. "The Department has constituted a committee

Public procurement of services from GeM portal may touch Rs 1.5 trn in FY23

Procurement of services from government portal GeM is expected to touch Rs 1.5 lakh crore this fiscal on account of an increase in buying activities by different ministries and departments, a senior official said on Wednesday. The Government e-Market (GeM) portal was launched on August 9, 2016, for online purchases of goods and services by all the central government ministries and departments. "Services procurement was just Rs 3,069 crore in 2019-20. It reached Rs 65,957 crore in 2022-23. This fiscal it is expected to reach Rs 1.50 lakh crore," GeM CEO P K Singh told reporters here. He said that the top buyers of services included Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) like Coal India, NTPC Ltd and ONGC, and states and central ministries such as coal, power, defence and finance. GeM has over 63,000 government buyer organisations and over 62 lakh sellers and service providers offering a wide range of products and services. Currently, government departments, ministries, public se

E-commerce aggregator ETrade aims to triple revenue to $ 750 mn by 2025

E-commerce aggregator firm eTrade aims to triple its revenue to USD 750 million by the fiscal year 2025 on account of a multi-faceted strategy, including the launch of their own white labels, the company said on Wednesday. eTrade claims to have an annual revenue of USD 250 million at present. "We are proud to have established ourselves as a leading e-commerce aggregator partner in India. We are fully committed to continuing our growth trajectory and reaching the USD 750 million goal by 2025, solidifying our position as a trusted partner in the e-commerce ecosystem," eTrade Founder, Anuj Bhatia said. The company provides technology, logistics, inventory management and other tools to enable companies to sell their product online. eTrade claims to have over 100 new clients and registered a growth of 60 per cent over the last year. The company said that it recently introduced over 50,000 new products specially curated for the festival season launched by some of its partner brands like

ONDC can support growth of financial services, e-commerce: Deloitte

The government's initiative ONDC is providing a huge platform for growth of four key sectors, including financial services, agriculture, manufacturing, and e-commerce retail, a Deloitte report said on Thursday. The Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) is an initiative of the commerce and industry ministry to create a facilitative model to help small retailers take advantage of digital commerce. It is not an application, platform, intermediary or software but a set of specifications designed to foster open, unbundled, and interoperable open networks. The network aims at helping MSME players in the retail sectors to take advantage of the fast growing e-commerce space in the country. The report said that the ONDC presents an opportunity for financial institutions to engage with MSMEs segment that is mainly dependent on government schemes and non-baking financial companies (NBFCs) for credit as they are not deemed creditworthy by mainstream financial institutions. The size of lendi

Regulatory authority in e-comm needed for protecting small players: CAIT

The e-commerce industry needs regulation to provide a level-playing field for small businesses, traders' body CAIT said on Tuesday. Confederation of All India Traders Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal said that the "same set of 5-6 companies" are top sellers on prominent e-commerce platforms which leaves no scope for small businesses to grow. "There has to be a regulatory authority...like SEBI for share market, and for telecom industry...to regulate and monitor e-commerce and we are going to request the government (for the same)," he said. Speaking at a Meesho event for MSMEs, he also said that the government is likely to roll out a robust e-commerce policy against unethical business practices and foreign direct investment (FDI) violations by the end of the month. The proposed national e-commerce policy of 2019 by the commerce and industry ministry is said to be in the final stages, with the e-commerce policy aiming to prepare strategies for inclusive and harmonious growth of th

'E-commerce policy in final stages; to be presented before top-level'

The proposed national e-commerce policy being formulated by the commerce and industry ministry is in the final stages and no new draft policy will be issued now for seeking views of stakeholders, a senior government official said. The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) on August 2 held a detailed discussion with representatives of e-commerce firms and a domestic traders' body on the proposed policy. In that meeting, a broad level of consensus emerged among the concerned stakeholders on the proposed policy. "Now no draft policy will come. That exercise is over now. We are just getting a final sign off, the official, who did not wish to be named, said, adding there will be a presentation of the proposed policy at the top level of the government. On data localisation, the official said that the e-commerce companies would have to follow the law of the land. Earlier the ministry had issued two draft national e-commerce policies. The 2019 draft proposed to

Nandan Nilekani pitches ONDC to start-ups to democratise e-commerce

VC firm Antler has collaborated with Nilekani, FIDE and ONDC and launched the country's first ONDC-focused venture platform to help entrepreneurs create businesses and succeed on the open protocol