Editorial Analysis for IAS - Addressing the Challenges in New-age Digital Commerce

Addressing the Challenges in New-age Digital Commerce

For Mains

How has the economy changed?

  • The increase in smartphone use along with affordable data plans has created an online revolution in the country.
  • The pandemic has further accelerated the process of digital inclusion due to the lockdown and social distancing.
  • It is now routine to transact online and have food, personal care items or anything else delivered at the one’s doorstep, and it is also common to learn online, have medical consultations online, and even resolve disputes online.
  • Systems such as the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) and Aadhaar, the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission have opened up various markets.

 

What are the challenges?

  • Online purchases from “near and now” inventory from the local store remain in a digital vacuum.
  • This is because, to sell on numerous platforms, sellers must maintain a separate infrastructure, which only adds costs and limits participation.
  • This has resulted in a lack of participation by the small and medium-sized businesses in the country’s e-commerce system.

 

What is Online Dispute Resolution?

  • Online Dispute Resolution, or ODR, refers to a broad set of technologies meant to either supplement or replace ways in which people have traditionally resolved their disputes.

 

What is the need for ODR?

  • ODR has the ability to work alongside the existing setup and deliver quick, affordable and enforceable outcomes.
  • It can also involve advanced automation, the use of technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to enable resolutions at the same time as it would take to initiate a transaction over the network.
  • It can make dispute resolution simple and handle complex multi-party disputes.
  •  It can have 24×7 accessibility from the remotest regions and be available in regional languages
  • It can enable a safe and secure online infrastructure and ensure minimal touchpoints.
  • ODR can not only digitise the entire value chain but can also facilitate an enhanced user experience.

Measures taken

  • Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) of the Government of India established the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) to develop open e-commerce and enabling access to small businesses and dealers.
  • The ONDC network makes it possible for products and services from all participating e-commerce platforms to be displayed in search results across all network apps.
  • National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has mandated platforms in the UPI ecosystem to adopt the ODR for complaints and grievances connected to failed transactions.
  • Ingram, SEBI SCORES (or the Securities and Exchange Board of India SEBI COmplaints REdress System), RBI CMS (or the Reserve Bank of India Complaint Management System), MahaRERA (or the Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority), MSME Samadhaan (or the Micro Small and Medium Enterprises Delayed Payment Monitoring System), and RTIOnline (or the Right to Information Online) are other examples of ODR systems that are widely used in the country.

Source The Hindu

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