Not ready for global e-tail rules, India to tell G20

NEW DELHI: India is expected to stick to its stand and tell G20 leaders later this week that it is not yet ready for a set of global rules on e-commerce, allaying apprehensions that the world’s fifth largest economy will succumb to pressure from the US and Japan for talks at the World Trade Organization (WTO). PM Narendra Modi is likely to maintain that the government would wait until it evolves a clear domestic policy on e-commerce before deciding on its global strategy, sources told TOI.

India, along with a handful of countries such as South Africa, is resisting talks on global rules for the sector even as 70 countries — including China — have joined a group at the WTO. The WTO is working on a global set of rules that New Delhi believes will completely open the doors to companies such as Amazon and Uber and could also force lowering of import duties and opening up of services sector in the coming years.

The government has maintained curbs on the entry of global giants in the multi-brand retail sector as well the inventory-based model, arguing that companies with deep pockets will wipe out small mom-and-shop stores.


Unlike several members of the European Union, the US and Japan, China has suggested a more cautious approach and suggested an international framework may not be possible immediately given the huge disparity between countries.

A few weeks ago, commerce and industry ministry Piyush Goyal had articulated India’s position at a meeting of G20 trade ministers.