The Government is considering to form a National e-Commerce policy and the new Industrial Policy. The draft national e-commerce policy seeks to facilitate the regulatory environment for the growth of the e-commerce sector.
The e-commerce policy is aimed at empowering the local entrepreneurs and encourage make in India to safeguard consumer interest to facilitate job creation. The newly proposed industrial policy aims to boost the growth of the manufacturing sector in India.
The information was shared by Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal in a written reply in the Lok Sabha on March 18, 2020.
National E-commerce Policy
The first draft of the National e-Commerce policy was placed in the public domain in February 2019 and comments were received from over 120 stakeholders including both Indian and foreign companies and think tanks.
A series of meetings have been conducted at secretary-level, DPIIT with different stakeholders including major e-commerce companies, industry associations, think tanks and start-ups to discuss the issues concerning the sector and the provisions in the draft policy.
The final National e-Commerce policy will be drafted in a manner that it includes the interests of all stakeholders. Hence, it requires detailed consultations with all the stakeholders.
New Industrial Policy
The government has created a Working Group to represent the center and state departments, state governments, and industry associations to create the draft of the new-Industrial policy. The working group is chaired by the Secretary of DPIIT. The working group met for the first time on October 24, 2019. Currently, inter-ministerial consultation is going on to frame the policy.
Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has introduced the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019, which inter alia, seeks to specify the flow and usage of personal data, defines sensitive data and aims to create a framework for organizational and technical measures in the processing of data, laying down norms for cross-border transfer and accountability of entities processing personal data.