E-commerce & Platforms
Digital commerce in India operates within a regulatory framework that touches every layer of the platform stack — from marketplace structuring and seller onboarding to consumer protection, intermediary liability, and foreign investment compliance. The rules are increasingly prescriptive, and the enforcement is becoming more active.
We advise e-commerce platforms, marketplaces, and aggregators on building legally sound operations that satisfy India's digital commerce regulations. We understand the technical architecture of platform businesses — catalogue systems, order management, payment flows, logistics integrations — and translate that understanding into compliance structures that scale with the business without sacrificing the speed and flexibility that digital commerce demands.
What We Do
- E-commerce platform legal structuring (marketplace vs. inventory model analysis)
- Intermediary compliance under the IT Act intermediary guidelines
- Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules compliance
- Marketplace terms of service and seller agreements
- Platform liability and safe harbour assessment
- FDI compliance for e-commerce (Press Note 2 of 2018)
- Digital advertising compliance and disclosure requirements
Regulatory Context
India's e-commerce regulatory landscape is shaped by a convergence of consumer protection, intermediary liability, and foreign investment rules. The Consumer Protection Act 2019 and the E-Commerce Rules 2020 impose specific obligations on marketplace and inventory-based entities — product listing disclosures, grievance redressal mechanisms, return and refund policies. The IT Intermediary Guidelines 2021 define due diligence requirements. FEMA and FDI regulations — particularly Press Note 2 of 2018 — impose structural constraints on foreign-invested e-commerce platforms. The Competition Act 2002 is increasingly relevant to platform dominance and self-preferencing concerns. The regulatory overlay is dense, and we help clients build compliance frameworks that address all of it.
Who This Is For
E-commerce marketplaces. Direct-to-consumer brands with online operations. Aggregator platforms across verticals. Logistics and fulfilment technology companies. Social commerce platforms. Quick-commerce operators. If you operate a platform or marketplace in India, this practice is relevant.