Ajit Balakrishnan offers a thinking man's guide to e-commerce controversies.
E-commerce firms like Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra and others witnessed successful festive season sales this year, Experts say e-commerce adoption in the country is accelerating by multiple years or what it would have looked like in 2025.
Beware of spot offers and discounts aimed to lure you into binge buying.
E-commerce websites are developing online content in Indian languages.
In the past eight months, Flipkart has seen the exits of Mukesh Bansal, considered the right hand man of Sachin and Binny Bansal; Ankit Nagori, chief business officer; Punit Soni, Flipkart's million-dollar hire from Silicon Valley who headed product and strategy; and Manish Maheshwari, head of the seller business
'Our focus would be to onboard top 100 merchants in top 10 different segments.'
Eyeing $9 billion business opportunity in booming e-commerce business, India Post, which has the biggest network and serves the last mile, is boosting its infrastructure for real-time tracking of parcels through satellites using a new technology.
Competition Commission of India (CCI) has notified the regulations for determining the cost of production, a move that will help the watchdog to more effectively assess alleged predatory pricing and deep discounting practices especially in the quick commerce and e-commerce segments. As part of efforts to update the framework for assessing predatory pricing, the watchdog came out with the draft rules in February.
Data localisation, an overarching theme across recent government policy proposals, has been a thorny issue with industry
The draft favoured up to 49 per cent foreign equity in inventory model in the case of 100 per cent made in India products sold through Indian management-controlled platforms with resident Indian founders/promoters.
The Chinese billionaire and founder of Alibaba is said to be planning a significant investment in business to business e-tailing as well as payment services and logistics companies.
The company, which unveiled on Wednesday its Ebay India census guide, said the country has over 2,471 e-commerce hubs and states like Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Gujarat are most active when it comes to online trading.
Make no mistake, Reliance's entry into Indian e-commerce cannot be taken lightly. It is akin to a combine of AT&T and Wal-Mart challenging Amazon on its home turf, says Shailesh Dobhal.
Under an Executive Order issued by the US administration on July 30, 2025, goods valued above USD 100 will be subject to customs duties in America with effect from August 29 onwards.
Hiring activity has gained momentum in anticipation of upcoming festivals like Raksha Bandhan, Dussehra, Diwali, seasonal sales and the wedding season.
Prominent recruiters were Flipkart, Urban Ladder, AskmeBazaar etc
The overall e-commerce opportunity in India and China is comparable, yet it's hard to see any single player in India emerging with Alibaba-like market share.
SBI Cards on Tuesday launched a credit card especially meant for transactions on e-commerce websites.
In spite of the mega IPO of Alibaba, Flipkart-Myntra is not thinking of a public offering at this point
Categories such as lifestyle, food and electronics accounted for over 1,350 sellers across the country last year.
The threat may be a decade away, but it has brick-and-mortar sellers rethinking their strategies and banking on the govt to regulate online companies.
The government will develop a mechanism to ensure that e-commerce companies and entities that have adopted Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) architecture are compliant with the rules. Non-compliance may result in a penalty. "We will have our own evaluation system, and if we find any player is not sticking to it, then we will take action. "Participants will have to be compliant with the rule of the land," Sanjiv, joint secretary at the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), told reporters on Thursday.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has accused Karnataka Congress MLA K C Veerendra of collecting over Rs 2,000 crore through online betting sites. The agency alleges that Veerendra and his associates used various gateways and fintech service providers to mask their illicit activities.
According to CAIT, e-commerce policy should take within its ambit not only foreign players but also domestic ones.
"Not a single step has been taken by this government to empower small businesses in India," says Praveen Khandelwal, national secretary general of the Confederation of All India Traders and former treasurer of the Bharatiya Janata Party's Delhi unit.
Chartered accountant Nitin Kaushik's message to India's young workforce is clear: spend smart, save smarter and let money serve your goals.
The final policy may be out only after formation of the new government, according to sources
Players are stepping on each other's toes, significant acquisitions are coming and opportunities still abound.
Experts say data localisation and sharing is probably the single-biggest detriment that the draft policy talks about, the rest have no or minor repercussions on the players
Enrise Systems is scouting for summer interns from any business school in Andhra Pradesh for a period of 2 months.
E-commerce companies typically stick to the gross merchandise value run rate to calculate sales.
'Amazon, Meta, Google, Microsoft have large operations in India and rely on smooth trade and data flows.' 'Restrictions could raise their costs, limit AI chip exports, and complicate their India strategies.'
Female students alleged that Saraswati used abusive language, sent obscene messages, and made unwanted physical advances.
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Government seeks stakeholders' comments by Jan 30 on discussion paper.
The e-commerce sector's usage of commercial spaces was about 4.2 million square feet of the total of 17.5 million sq ft consumed in the first half of 2015.
Graphic designers, writers, testers, draftsmen and editors are seeing their traditional roles replaced by AI, warns Dr Anshuka Kulkarni, associate professor and head, School of Creative Studies, DYPU.
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The indicative salary outlook for junior employees is Rs 1.45 lakh-Rs 3 lakh per annum, while for mid-management it is between Rs 12 lakh-Rs 30 lakh per annum
The Centre has slapped as many as 148 notices on e-commerce players in the past three months for not complying with the mandatory display of the 'country of origin' tag on products sold. "Of the 148 notices, 56 have compounded it (the offence) and paid up around Rs 34 lakh," a senior official told Business Standard. "Every product has to display the country of origin, along with other basic information," the official added. In the case of e-commerce companies, these details have to be clearly displayed on their portals.
Law enforcement authorities in India insist that the market-place operator be responsible that all products and services put up for sale by independent merchants.
