Deliver goods in 7 days, or pay fine
Hossen Sohel for DOT
[2] E-commerce companies have to ship products to buyers within 7-10 days after completing orders, depending on delivery locations, reports The Business Standard.
[3] Failing to do so, they will face fines and have to refund the customer. They will even be indicted in a fraud case for supplying a faulty or subpar product.
With many such guidelines, a policy for e-commerce is coming up to streamline the fastest-thriving business model.
[4] The commerce ministry has already prepared a draft of the policy. Next week, the ministry will sit with the ministries and agencies concerned, and representatives from the e-commerce sector to finalise it.
[5] However, this policy is only for web-based e-commerce companies. The commerce ministry will later issue a separate policy for small e-commerce initiatives that have grown on Facebook and other social media sites. [6] The number of web-based e-commerce companies now stands at around 2,000. There are more than 50,000 Facebook- and other social media-centric initiatives.
[7] The government is making guidelines to help the e-commerce sector thrive by reducing the existing anomalies and protecting consumers’ interests, said commerce ministry officials.
[8] The ministry believes that it will be possible to employ five lakh people in the e-commerce sector next year if transparency is ensured through a clear policy to restore consumers’ confidence.
The draft policy states that e-commerce companies will be obliged to hand over a product to its delivery person within a maximum of 48 hours after the product’s order is placed online.
Penalty for late delivery
If the buyer-seller location is in the same district, the delivery company will have to ship the goods within seven days. If the buyer is from another district, the delivery company will have a maximum of 10 days to drop off the product at the buyer’s address.
The penalty for late delivery will be a fine and refund of advance money.