Bureau of Indian Standards to engage e-commerce players for self-regulation

The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) will engage stakeholders in the e-commerce space to establish standards with the objective of self-regulation, said its deputy director Parul Gupta at the Internet Commerce Summit 2022 in Bengaluru.

“Standardisation will allow parties to transact qualified commodities and services at any location and time,” said Gupta.

BIS recently released standards for e-commerce players, travel portals, and food delivery platforms that publish consumer reviews online, as part of the government’s efforts to crack down on fake reviews, said Gupta.

The objective is to monitor solicited/unsolicited views about their products by manufacturers themselves, she said.

Over the past few years, there has been a steady rise in reviews to influence purchase decisions by consumers that are both solicited and unsolicited reviews calling for intervention by the regulator, the release by Images Retail said.

India’s e-commerce market is estimated at $50 billion in 2022, and is expected to grow to more than 25 per cent per annum to reach $150-170 billion by 2027.

This will be fuelled by fashion, grocery, and general merchandise and account for up to two-thirds of e-retail by 2027, said Anurag Mathur, partner-consumer goods and retail, Bain & Company, at the ICS.

Earlier in his presiding address, Manish Tiwary, chairman of ICS, and vice-president, India consumer business, Amazon, said India’s transition to a digital economy has made the country the second major digital adapter among digital economies globally.

“Although e-commerce is at a nascent 3-4 per cent of India’s total retail sector, it is playing a vital role in the direct-to-consumer revolution with digital-first brands doing well and the shopping experience becoming highly personalised,” added Tiwary.