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Detailed stories on technology startups, business and economic current affairs.
The government of India continues to surprise with its regulation ideas for online retail. What will happen if it actually decides to implement them?

Editor's note: As reported by Reuters, India’s Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, which notified the Consumer Protection (E-commerce) Rules in July 2020, has proposed amendments to the same a year later. We at The Morning Context have obtained the draft copy issued by the ministry. The amended rules are quite sweeping in both their definitions, including in their ambit the said “e-commerce entities”, as well as the best behaviour (“interests of consumer” in bureaucrat speak) that they want to hold the said entities to. Various government entities wading into the now mature e-commerce industry is nothing new. We reported in January 2020 on how the Competition Commission of India had released a market study with key recommendations. It went nowhere but was probably not meant to. CCI itself stood on the back of the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade’s Press Note 3 (2016), which clarified the foreign direct investment, or FDI, policy in Indian e-commerce, followed by Press Note 2 (2018). Coming back to the latest salvo, aimed clearly at the dominant players of Indian retail …
The government of India continues to surprise with its regulation ideas for online retail. What will happen if it actually decides to implement them?

Editor's note: As reported by Reuters, India’s Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, which notified the Consumer Protection (E-commerce) Rules in July 2020, has proposed amendments to the same a year later. We at The Morning Context have obtained the draft copy issued by the ministry. The amended rules are quite sweeping in both their definitions, including in their ambit the said “e-commerce entities”, as well as the best behaviour (“interests of consumer” in bureaucrat speak) that they want to hold the said entities to. Various government entities wading into the now mature e-commerce industry is nothing new. We reported in January 2020 on how the Competition Commission of India had released a market study with key recommendations. It went nowhere but was probably not meant to. CCI itself stood on the back of the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade’s Press Note 3 (2016), which clarified the foreign direct investment, or FDI, policy in Indian e-commerce, followed by Press Note 2 (2018). Coming back to the latest salvo, aimed clearly at the dominant players of Indian retail …

As the smart fan maker gears up for an IPO, prospective investors could do with some clarity on what the company’s next phase of growth will look like.
The retailer has shrunk operations to fix its loss-making vertical. But a reduced presence risks hurting volumes in a segment dominated by Blinkit and Instamart.
Instead of going after scale like Jio, the Sunil Bharti Mittal-led telecom giant is chasing a smaller but higher-quality customer base to grow its home broadband segment. Will the bet pay off?

As the smart fan maker gears up for an IPO, prospective investors could do with some clarity on what the company’s next phase of growth will look like.
The retailer has shrunk operations to fix its loss-making vertical. But a reduced presence risks hurting volumes in a segment dominated by Blinkit and Instamart.
Instead of going after scale like Jio, the Sunil Bharti Mittal-led telecom giant is chasing a smaller but higher-quality customer base to grow its home broadband segment. Will the bet pay off?