India working on formulating guidelines on e-commerce

Consumer affairs ministry has sought suggestions from other ministries that include finance and IT to carry the plan forward

Consumer affairs minister K.V. Thomas says the problems faced by consumers in e-commerce need to be tackled globally since in many cases, buyers, sellers, manufacturers, website owners, payment gateways are located in different countries.

India is mulling formulating a comprehensive guideline to deal with e-commerce, a concept fast catching up in the country.

The consumer affairs ministry has already started working on this and has sought suggestions from other ministries that include finance and IT to carry the plan forward.

“No international level study has been conducted on the subject. However, to formulate a comprehensive policy on the issue, suggestions from other ministries such as ministry of finance, ministry of communications and information technology ...have been sought,” consumer affairs minister K.V. Thomas said in Rajya Sabha on Friday.

Answering a supplementary during the Question Hour, he said the subject of e-commerce was relatively new, but had become extremely crucial due to global digital integration,widespread use of internet and convenience of on-line business transactions.

During the July meeting of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), India had communicated its strong viewpoint supporting regulation of e-commerce to protect interest of global consumers, he said.

“The problems faced by consumers in e-commerce need to be tackled globally since in many cases, buyers, sellers, manufacturers, website owners, payment gateways are located in different countries,” Thomas said.

“India is in close touch with UNCTAD, International Consumer Protection and Enforcement Network, etc to ensure global co-operation in the matter,” he said.

To a question on cheating by online marketing companies, Thomas said in such cases, consumers are entitled to get relief in three levels of consumer fora at district, state or national levels.