What is e-commerce?

By Vijay Kumar

GOVERNMENT has inserted a new para 9.17A in the Foreign Trade Policy 2015-2020 to define e-commerce.

e-commerce means buying and selling of goods and services, including digital products, conducted over digital and electronic network. For the purposes of Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS) e-commerce shall mean the export of goods hosted on a website accessible through the internet to a purchaser. While the dispatch of goods shall be made through courier or postal mode, as specified under the MEIS, the payment for goods purchased on e-commerce platform shall be done through international credit/debit cards and as per the Reserve Bank of India Circular (RBI/2015-16/185) [AP. (DIR Series) Circular No.16 dated September 24, 2015] as amended from time to time.

DGFT Notification No. 2/2015-2020., Dated April 11, 2016