Competition Commission begins market Study in e-Commerce, findings expected by August end

New Delhi: The Competition Commission of India (CCI) is conducting a Market Study on E-commerce in India.

The preliminary findings of the study will be presented at a Workshop to be held in the end of August 2019. All relevant stakeholders will be invited to share their views and deliberate on identified issues at this workshop. The final study report is expected to be published in the third quarter of 2019-20.

The objectives of the study on e-commerce in India are to study market trends with a particular focus on emerging distribution methods and strategies in response to e-commerce, to understand business practices and contractual provisions in e-commerce, their underlying rationale and implications for competition, to identify impediments to competition, if any, relating to e-commerce and to ascertain enforcement and advocacy priorities for the CCI in e-commerce.

The focus areas of the study include the emerging trends in business models and distribution mechanisms, market structure and business practices including contractual provisions and vertical restraints.

“In view of the rapid growth of electronic commerce (‘e-commerce’) and the rising importance of online trade in a large number of goods and services in India, the study will allow the CCI to develop a better understanding of the functioning of e-commerce in the country and its implications for markets and competition,” an official release said.

Market studies contribute significantly to the capacity of competition authorities in appreciating competitive dynamics in markets and can also form a useful basis for competition advocacy, it added.