Government Initiatives

Since 2014, the Government of India has announced various initiatives, namely Digital India, Make in India, Start-up India, Skill India and Innovation Fund. The timely and effective implementation of such programs will likely support the growth of E-commerce in the country. Some of the major initiatives taken by the Government to promote E-commerce in India are as follows:

• Government e-Marketplace (GeM) is an online platform for public procurement in India that was launched on August 9, 2016, by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry with the objective of creating an inclusive, efficient, and transparent platform for the buyers and sellers to carry out procurement activities in a fair and competitive manner.
• In FY23, the procurement of goods and services from the government portal crossed the Rs. 2 lakh crore (US$ 24 billion) mark.
• As of November 2022, the GeM portal has served 12.28 million orders worth Rs. 334,933 crore (US$ 40.97 billion) from 5.44 million registered sellers and service providers for 62,247 buyer organizations.
• In a bid to systematise the onboarding process of retailers on e-commerce platforms, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) is reportedly planning to utilise the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) to set protocols for cataloguing, vendor discovery and price discovery. The department aims to provide equal opportunities to all marketplace players to make optimum use of the e-commerce ecosystem in the larger interest of the country and its citizens.
• National Retail Policy: The government had identified five areas in its proposed national retail policy—ease of doing business, rationalisation of the licence process, digitisation of retail, focus on reforms and an open network for digital commerce—stating that offline retail and e-commerce need to be administered in an integral manner.
• The Consumer Protection (e-commerce) Rules 2020 notified by the Consumer Affairs Ministry in July directed e-commerce companies to display the country of origin alongside the product listings. In addition, the companies will also have to reveal parameters that go behind determining product listings on their platforms.
• Government e-Marketplace (GeM) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Union Bank of India to facilitate a cashless, paperless and transparent payment system for an array of services in October 2019.
• Under the Digital India movement, the Government launched various initiatives like Umang, Start-up India Portal, Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM) etc. to boost digitisation.
• In October 2020, Minister of Commerce and Industry, Mr. Piyush Goyal invited start-ups to register at the public procurement portal, GeM, and offer goods and services to government organisations and PSUs.
• In October 2020, amending the equalisation levy rules of 2016, the government mandated foreign companies operating e-commerce platforms in India to have permanent account numbers (PAN). It imposed a 2% tax in the FY21 budget on the sale of goods or delivery of services through a non-resident e-commerce operator.
• In order to increase the participation of foreign players in E-commerce, the Indian Government hiked the limit of FDI in the E-commerce marketplace model to up to 100% (in B2B models).
• Heavy investment made by the Government in rolling out a fiber network for 5G will help boost E-commerce in India.