RCEP negotiations begin, future of Indian e-commerce to be decided

By

Isabelle Crossley

Published
Oct 23, 2017

The 20th round of negotiations for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) have begun between India and 15 other countries and the proposed e-trading regulations could spell a change for Indian e-commerce if accepted.

On October 23 in Incheon, South Korea, the latest round of negotiations between India and 15 other Asian countries began on the RCEP agreement. However, some are voicing concerns about what this may mean for Indian e-commerce, a topic that looks set to be discussed in this round of talks.

Ashwani Mahajan, the Co-Convenor of Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM), expressed his concerns over the proposed agreement. In the letter to Suresh Prabhu, the Union Minister for Commerce and Ravi Shankar Prasad, the Minister for Information and Technology, Mahajan said: “We are hearing from some reports that the e-commerce chapter is expected to be concluded during this round of negotiations in RCEP. This is a matter of great concern for all Indians.”

According to Mahajan: “[the] Introduction of [the] e-commerce chapter will immensely benefit big foreign e-commerce giants like Alibaba and Amazon, at the cost of small domestic retailers... These rules seek to free up all regulation on their activity through provisions such as free data flows, no disclosure of source code and so on.”

Proposals included in the trade agreement include removing certain tariffs which would have a knock-on effect to customs duty and the whole of the Indian e-commerce landscape, but there are also many who see potential benefits here for Indian retailers. What happens at the negotiations will therefore undoubtedly have an effect on the future of Indian trade and retail.