‘India should have common norms for online, offline retail business’

India should have common standards for offline and online retail business to safeguard critical customer factors such as choice, convenience, price and quality, according to a study conducted by the Bharti Institute of Public Policy (BIPP), Indian School of Business (ISB) in partnership with Empower India.

The report, titled ‘Customer Centric E-commerce in India,’ was structured around four broad topics in e-commerce viz. foreign direct investment, business models, data and search, and taxation, to assess the current e-commerce policies and make policy recommendations for improvement, according to a joint statement.

Some key recommendations of the report were policies on foreign investments in India need to be simplified to avoid misinterpretation by parties and have a common business standard, regardless of the mode of transaction, i.e., online or offline.

Alternate platforms complementing the existing ones such as the Open Network Digital Commerce (ONDC) and Government e-Marketplace (GeM), must be encouraged to benefit both small sellers and end customers.

Rural e-commerce should be expanded through collaboration with post offices, Common Service Centres (CSCs) and Indian Railways for assistance with logistics and warehouse, hence generating employment.

E-commerce platforms must further increase transparency and collaborate with the government to run customer awareness drives around various products listed on the e-commerce platforms within the remit of FDI laws.