FDI policy on e-commerce: Online firms cannot win the game by blaming govt but by finding a way around regulations

The reluctance of digital/technology companies to invest time and resources to navigate an uncertain regulatory landscape is more to be blamed than the FDI policy itself. The new Foreign Direct Investment policy prevents online marketplaces from holding any equity interest and control over inventories through related companies that sell on their platform to avoid vertical foreclosure and exclusivity. Even Competition Commission of India circumvented the market analysis that would reason out the legitimacy of such disruptive business models and their market conduct, what otherwise should have involved a constructive dialogue among the operators, investors and the CCI to shape the economic and regulatory policy in the first place. For instance, due to knee-jerk policy changes, marketplaces are always tweaking their business models, investors face hurdles to price risk-adjusted returns and vendors are unable to enter into long and stable contracts.