Draft e-commerce rules may hit jobs, states tell Centre

New Delhi, June 27

Some states, mostly those ruled by non-BJP parties, are apprehensive about the new set of e-commerce rules proposed by the Centre to check mis-selling and fraudulent discounts, as they fear there could be a negative impact on jobs and market access for MSMEs.

The state governments are planning to suggest strong safeguard measures to ensure that any changes in the rules do not hamper their economic growth engines and revenue collections, officials from these states said.

Declining to be identified, these officials said it was a sensitive matter that needed to be tackled carefully as protecting consumers’ interest was as important as safeguarding jobs, MSMEs and lakhs of self-employed individuals who had been benefiting immensely from e-commerce. — PTI