Smartphone bonanza! Realme, Oppo, Vivo, Huawei, Honor, Lenovo, Asus, other smartphones' big price drop ahead; Here's why

The Indian smartphone market is growing rapidly and this has even helped the manufacturers to launch new products in line with customers' demand. Also, e-commerce giants like Flipkart and Amazon have been offering discounts on new smartphone devices. Now, you may also expect big discounts on the smartphones before February 1. 

This is due to the new e-commerce rules and guidelines issued by the government. According to an Economic Times report, companies like OnePlus and Realme have already sought clarification in this regard before clearing their unsold inventories. According to the report, companies like Huawei/Honor, Realme, Lenovo and Asus will be more concerned about their inventories. The report quoted analysts as saying that online-first brands now have only two options - either to sell the existing stocks on discount or expand their offline presence. 

The recent change in e-commerce policy and FDI rules are aimed at bringing more transparency in the operations of the e-commerce firms. Some key changes in the rules are as follows:

1. E-commerce entity providing a marketplace will not exercise ownership or control over the inventory i.e. goods purported to be sold. Such ownership or control over the inventory will render the business into inventory based model. Inventory of a vendor will be deemed to be controlled by e-commerce marketplace entity if more than 25% of purchases of such vendor are from the marketplace entity or its group companies. 

2. An entity having equity participation by e-commerce marketplace entity or its group companies, or having control on its inventory by e-commerce marketplace entity or its group companies, will not be permitted to sell its products on the platform run by such marketplace entity.

3. E-commerce entities providing marketplace will not directly or indirectly influence the sale price of goods or services and shall maintain level playing field. 

4. Cash back provided by group companies of marketplace entity to buyers shall be fair and non-discriminatory. For the purposes of this clause, provision of services to any vendor on such terms which are not made available to other vendors in similar circumstances will be deemed unfair and discriminatory.

Watch This Zee Business Tweet Video

भारतीय रेलवे की नई और अनोखी पहल, यात्रियों की सुविधा का ख्याल रखते हुए अब से ट्रेन के डिब्बों में ही रेट लिस्ट के साथ खाने का मेन्यू लगा मिलेगा।@RailMinIndia @PiyushGoyal @ShaliniKTiwari pic.twitter.com/AgfNODwpu4

— Zee Business (@ZeeBusiness) January 5, 2019

As per extant Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policy, FDI up to 100% is permitted under automatic route in companies engaged in e-commerce provided that such company engaged only in Business to Business (B2B) e-commerce. Further, 100% FDI under automatic route is permitted in marketplace model of e-commerce but FDI is not permitted in inventory based model of e-commerce.