Budget 2019: B2B industry demands policy reforms in Indian e-commerce from Nirmala Sitharaman

The B2B industry is the backbone of the large Indian retail sector and a critical part of the supply chain for the entire e-tailing ecosystem. Over the last decade, the e-tailing sector has come a long way in gaining consumer confidence and trust. However this has come at a cost and the B2B sector has alleged that, to an extent, the cost is being borne by their industry. The monopolizing of the market through predatory pricing and heavy discounting has led to this particular segment feeling the pinch. In its wish-list for Union Budget 2019, the B2B industry has appealed to the Modi 2.0 Government for bringing in reforms in the e-commerce space to realign the industry’s goals to the entire ecosystem than to just benefit the e-tailers.

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Speaking on the matter Rajan Sharma, Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Excess2Sell.com said, “Although e-commerce in India is still in its growth stage and the market will evolve in its own unique way, the same holds true for the regulatory requirements as well. As one of India’s leading e-commerce companies in the B2B domain, we hope that the Union Budget will address issues specific to e-tailing. Presently heavy online discounting, predatory pricing, preferential treatment to select sellers or monopolizing of the market is rampant and unchecked. This is creating an imbalance across the whole partner and fulfillment ecosystem affecting both online and offline B2B businesses."

“Since we serve both sides of the B2B space, we understand there is an urgent need to address the concerns. As a platform which is neutral to both sellers and buyers, we feel confident and hope that the Government will make changes in the policy framework to help e-commerce grow organically based on positive, genuine parameters and not on a discount-driven model which eventually will hurt the overall ecosystem,” concludes Sharma. 

Gurmeet Singh, Chairman & Managing Director, Johnson Controls-Hitachi Air Conditioning India Limited said, "In the interim budget, we saw some of the announcements meeting our expectations, this budget did address the middle-class housing needs and the farming community expected to have a trickle-down effect for the AC industry. Our expectations from the Budget are high. The ACE industry is looking forward to the continuation of steps taken for the indigenization of the industry with a focus on domestic manufacturing, creating better employment opportunities and rural growth. In addition to that, we expect the government to take further steps towards strengthening the bourgeoisie as well as MSME sectors. The MSME sector has a big role in our sales, logistics, services, and vendor network. Facilitation measures taken by the government for this sector will help in the growth of the electronics business. In terms of policies, we are anticipating a reduction in the GST rates, especially for air conditioning products, to boost the ACE sector."