Govt to tighten scrutiny over etailers: FM Sitharaman

Responding to queries during the Question Hour, Corporate Affairs Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman said in Rajya Sabha said that it has proposed amendments to the Competition law for greater regulation of e-commerce platforms and to ensure that presence of etailers has no severe impact on local jobs. These amendments have been designed keeping in mind the recommendation of the Competition Law Reviewing Committee, under the chairmanship of Corporate Affairs Ministry.

“The Competition Act Regulation Amendments will now bring in greater regulation. The cabinet has looked into it. Thisis one of the ways we are trying to regulate (e-commerce platforms),” she told the Upper House.

The minister observed that previously Competition Commission of India (CCI) had made efforts to promote self-regulation through advocacy from January this year after looking into a complaint it had received in April last year. But a court order from Karnataka stopped the anti-trust watchdog from taking further steps on self-regulation.