1/n In my column in Moneycontrol, I look at the government's angst with e-commerce...that the government doesn't like e-commerce has been apparent for some time now moneycontrol.com/news/opinion/a…
2/n At one time, the angst was solely directed towards the foreign Amazon... later it was against both Amazon and Flipkart given that both were owned by foreign players
3/n But of late, the government seems upset with the very notion of e-commerce -- its new draft Consumer Protection (E Commerce) rules are hardly aimed at protecting consumers... they are aimed at giving a leg up to small Indian sellers. Even big Indian players will be affected
4/n The govt is also planning some sort of an open platform that will apparently act as an aggregator for sellers, logistic companies etc and supposedly compete with the Amazons and Flipkarts of the world
5/n There are several problems in the government's current thinking. First, retail is one sector -- the same people will buy online, offline and sometimes go to a shop, and order online from there. After the pandemic specially, most players are exploring a hybrid model
6/n The bigger issue is that retail is a tough game -- a consumer will ditch you if you give him or her bad service a couple of times. I cannot see how an open platform will compete with the seamless service of today's e-comm players
7/n More importantly, why is the govt pretending to be in the consumers interests? Sales are good for consumers. They might not be good for domestic sellers who cannot match the price...
8/n Why can't domestic sellers match the price or quality sometimes? It is not because of e-commerce players but because of business conditions, infrastructure, taxes, regulations etc on the ground... not because of other reasons...
9/n The government's ability to build its own website is pretty suspect... forget an open platform. Moreover, what does it get by treating e retailing as a completely different thing from retailing
10/n There is enough competition in retail. And your neighbourhood shops are not going away -- most big organised players are striking alliances with them for stocking, delivery etc...
11/n Does e-commerce need a separate regulator? Maybe if the regulator is good. In telecom, TRAI has still not managed to get implement better voice and data service or do not disturb services for consumers.. India has many regulators, only some of them work properly
12/n Coming to data -- there are two issues. One, data collected and used for better services to consumers. Every loyalty programme, offline or online, does that
13/n The other issue is data misuse -- for which we need proper privacy laws and should apply to everyone collecting data from people, whether private or government entities...
14/n In essence, I think the government is trying to tamper with something that is working reasonably well -- and the end result will only wreck the sector instead of improving it
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