DNA Money Edit: E-commerce restrictions raise concerns

The restrictions put on the e-commerce sector raises more concerns than they try to address. Almost all of the country's e-commerce business is owned by foreign companies - Amazon and Walmart - all in the name of free-for-all policy and our clamour for foreign direct investment. And then we realise our own desi retailers are required to be safeguarded.

In a knee-jerk reaction to the protests from traders' community, some genuine and some misplaced, the government has put severe restrictions on e-commerce platforms fuelled by foreign direct investments. It's given that every investor into new businesses would look for synergistic business opportunities. For instance, Uber would always try to get into businesses where it can leverage its technology expertise. Thus a business like UberEats would get created.

No regulator would ever start wondering why would a taxi aggregator be allowed to deliver cooked food. A Walmart or Amazon, likewise, would hunt for opportunities like nurturing and handholding small businesses, startups who can develop new innovative products and then would try to monetize their investments by getting into exclusive marketing contracts. True, there are genuine concerns like the deep pockets of these two global retail giants' deep discounting products and thus trying to kill brick-and-mortar retailers, most of which are owned by Indians. But in their zeal to address such concerns, the new set of regulations run the risk of killing a segment whose products and innovations may not be enjoyed anymore.