Ease of Doing Business for MSMEs: Even as India’s e-commerce market continues to develop in measurement and scope for MSMEs promoting on marketplaces, numerous sellers, nonetheless, know little about current legal guidelines governing e-commerce within the nation. According to a survey of small sellers — promoting items on on-line platforms resembling Flipkart, Amazon, and others — launched by Research agency CUTS Institute for Regulation and Competition (CIRC) on Friday, 71 per cent weren’t conscious of any authorities coverage regulating the e-commerce sector. “This indicates a need to sensitize small sellers about e-commerce onboarding as well as the e-commerce policies in India and their rights,” the survey mentioned.
“For MSME sellers, the market to sell goods has become much bigger through e-commerce. However, a lot of information dissemination (about existing laws), and capacity building should happen to make sellers aware of the manner in which e-commerce works. E-commerce companies should also be more transparent in the manner in which they conduct business,” Arvind Mayaram, Chairman, CIRC and Former Finance Secretary of India informed Financial Express Online.
Currently, there isn’t a single piece of laws addressing e-commerce points in India. The legal guidelines are fragmented into totally different guidelines, acts and insurance policies such because the Consumer Protection Act, FDI legal guidelines, Personal Data Protection Bill, and so on. However, work has been underway on the nationwide e-commerce coverage for round three years. The authorities is predicted to launch the revised draft e-commerce coverage and guidelines this 12 months reportedly specializing in having an e-commerce regulator as nicely.
“While regulations will play their own role but e-commerce policy must be developmental in approach. This means it should promote the growth of e-commerce by the ease of entry, ease of doing business, and reducing the compliance burden. Regulations have to be light-touch much like they were for the IT sector back in the 1990s that helped the sector flourish. There should be ease of failing as well in e-commerce,” added Mayaram.
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Among key asks by sellers within the survey included a coverage mapping the merchandise to real sellers in an effort to verify plagiarism in merchandise and revising the return coverage to cut back losses to sellers as clients typically return the product after utilizing it for a number of days. “The losses are higher in case a customised product is returned,” the survey added.
The findings additionally revealed the important thing motivation for sellers to onboard e-commerce platforms. For 64 per cent of the sellers, entry to a wider buyer base and promoting past geographical boundaries had been the prime causes adopted by maintaining with technological evolution and sustaining enterprise in the course of the lockdown.
In phrases of digital progress, on-line gross sales account for almost 85 per cent of the entire gross sales for a majority of respondents. “Some respondents have reported that their online customer base is significantly higher than their offline store. Half the respondents reported offering discounts on online platforms only. One of the reasons for this might be that they face higher competition online than offline, and discounts are a way to get more customers,” the survey report added. Moreover, in the course of the festive season, as many as 71 per cent respondents reported that the reductions supplied throughout gross sales occasions on e-commerce platforms additionally assist in rising their gross sales.
According to CUTS, the survey was performed amongst 14 small sellers to gauge their e-commerce expertise. On the buyer facet, responses from 331 respondents had been additionally analysed. 83.08 per cent respondents reported that they get extra offers and reductions on-line as in comparison with offline retail shops. Moreover, 79.46 per cent mentioned that they discover on-line opinions concerning the merchandise helpful whereas purchasing on-line.
Source: www.financialexpress.com”