PiyushGoyal meeting with Industry stakeholders on e-Commerce and data localization

Union Minister of Commerce and Industry & Railways, Piyush Goyal is holding a meeting with Industry stakeholders on e-Commerce and data localization in New Delhi today.

Common issues for discussion include opportunities for India in the growing digital economy, value addition in Indian GDP due to advent of e-commerce, understanding data flows from four aspects – privacy, security, safety and free choice, ownership and sharing of data, gains and costs of cross border flow of data and means to monitor use of data.

Issues like strengths and weaknesses of Indian companies who may benefit from e-commerce, threats from large foreign competition, level playing field and impact of anti-competitive practices such as predatory pricing and other discriminatory practices are expected to come up for discussion during Commerce Minister’s meeting with Indian e-Commerce companies.Gains and costs of cross border flow of data, ownership and sharing of data and efficiency gains and losses on utilizing Indian data servers, emails, clouds are likely to be deliberated during his meeting with e-Commerce companies.

Anticipated increase in costs and efficiency losses due to data localization, timeline to create a data infrastructure to comply with data localisation norms and developing Indian data servers, clouds, emails: Scope, coverage, advantages, disadvantages, costs and gains are some of the issues which may figure during Piyush Goyal’s meeting with Indian IT companies. Anticipated increase in costs and efficiency losses due to data localization, monitoring use of data from lens of privacy, security, safety and choice and efficiency gains and losses on utilizing Indian data servers, emails, clouds are the issues on the agenda of the Minister’s meeting with foreign IT firms.

The meeting is being attended by Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Som Parkash, Secretary, DPIIT, Secretary, Department of Commerce, Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Deputy Governor of RBI,B.P. Kanungo,senior officers from Ministry of External Affairs, Department of Commerce & DPIIT. Representatives of e- Commerce companies are attending the meeting.

Data localization deliberations may reshape cross-border data flows and domestic e commerce competition and compliance costs. Deliberations focus on regulatory and policy considerations surrounding data localization, including effects on cross border data flows assessed via privacy, security, safety and choice, data ownership and monitoring. The discussion highlights anticipated compliance burdens-costs, efficiency losses or gains from Indian servers, clouds and emails-and timelines and scope for building domestic data infrastructure. Concurrently, stakeholders will assess e commerce market structure, threats from foreign competitors, and anti competitive practices such as predatory pricing, plus governance, oversight and enforcement challenges tied to data and competition norms.