Awaiting clarity on ecomm rules, Tata postpones ‘super app’

Tata Digital, which was planning to launch its ‘super app’ later this month, has now put it on hold until the government provides clarity on the proposed ecommerce rules, sources said.

Since Tata Digital is an ecommerce entity, it will have to rework plans — and may even have to set up a separate company — if the draft Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020 are implemented in their current form.

That’s because the app hinges on goods and services offered by various Tata group companies. The proposed amendments, however, bar ecommerce entities from selling goods on their own platforms.

“Going by strict legal interpretation, related parties of e-commerce entities will now (if the draft rules are made effective as is) not be able to undertake activities which such e-commerce entities cannot themselves undertake. Thus, they will not be able to list themselves as sellers on the e-platform,” said Stuti Nemji Galiya, partner at law firm Khaitan & Co.

-Not just Tata-
Executives at Reliance Industries have also said that the company would have to re-engineer its Jio marketplace plans if the rules are implemented in their current form.

-There’s hope-
News agency PTI reported on Tuesday, citing a senior official, that the consumer affairs ministry was examining stakeholders’ views on provisions of the draft e-commerce rules, including the definition of ‘related party’. Tech AI