Minister of Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation, Suresh Prabhu, will chair the first meeting of the think tank on the Framework for National Policy on E-commerce to be held on April 24^th, 2018. Senior officers of the ministries/ departments of the Government of India involved in different aspects of e-commerce; high level representatives from the industry bodies, e-commerce companies, telecommunication companies and IT companies; Reserve Bank of India; and independent experts have been invited to participate in the meeting.

The think tank on the Framework for National Policy on E-commerce has been established recently by the Department of Commerce. It will provide a credible forum for an inclusive and fact-based dialogue leading to recommendations for informed policy making, so that the country is adequately prepared to take advantage of the opportunities, and meet the challenges, that would arise from the next wave of advancements in digital economy.

The think tank on the Framework for National Policy on E-commerce will seek to collectively deliberate on the challenges confronting India in the arena of digital economy with a view to developing recommendations for a comprehensive and overarching national policy on e-commerce. Some of the issues that will be discussed by the think tank include the following aspects of e-commerce and digital economy: physical and digital infrastructure, regulatory regime, taxation policy, data flows, server localisation, intellectual property rights protection, FDI, technology flows, responding to disruptions in industrial organisation, need for skill development and trade-related aspects. Developments on e-commerce at the WTO and evolving appropriate national position on the underlying issues, would be another important dimension of the discussions of the think tank on the Framework for National Policy on E-commerce.

The think tank will explore options for providing a fillip to entrepreneurship in digital economy. It will identify specific policy interventions for nurturing domestic firms and create jobs in e-commerce.

Representatives of almost fifty organisations are expected to participate in the first meeting of the think tank on the Framework for National Policy on E-commerce to be held on 24 April 2018.

National e commerce policy framework to guide regulatory, taxation and data localisation recommendations for digital economy. A multi stakeholder think tank will develop a Framework for National Policy on E commerce by producing evidence based recommendations across interrelated areas: infrastructure, regulatory design, taxation, data flows and server localisation, intellectual property, FDI and technology transfer, organisational disruption, skill development, and trade positions, while also identifying policy measures to promote entrepreneurship, nurture domestic firms and generate jobs in the digital economy.