Lok Sabha Question No. 809 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-02-07
Subject: Online Discounts
Ministry: COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY
Asked by: Magunta Sreenivasulu Reddy

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMERCE & INDUSTRY DEPARTMENT FOR PROMOTION OF INDUSTRY AND INTERNAL TRADE

## LOK SABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 809. TO BE ANSWERED ON WEDNESDAY, THE 07 TH  FEBRUARY, 2024.

## ONLINE DISCOUNTS

## 809.   SHRI MAGUNTA SREENIVASULU REDDY:

Will the Minister of COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY be pleased to state: वाणिज्य एवं उद्योग मंत्री

- (a) the details of plans to compete with high discounts and offers provided by other platforms;
- (b) the details of plans to provide clarity on the issue of liability;
- (c) the details of MSMEs which are technically competent to use this portal; and
- (d) the  details  of  schemes  to  provide  technical  support  to  small  and  local businesses?

## ANSWER

## वाणिज्य एवं उद्योग मंत्रालय में राज्य मंत्री ( श्री सोम प्रकाश ) THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF COMMERCE & INDUSTRY (SHRI SOM PARKASH)

in

- (a): Government  has  implemented  several  legislative  and  policy  measures  for maintaining level playing field and  regulating unfair trade practices e-commerce  sector  in  the  country.  Further,  Department  for  Promotion  of Industry and Internal Trade has initiated Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) which is aimed at democratizing digital commerce in India. ONDC is based  on  open-source  methodology,  using  open  specifications  and  open network protocols independent of any specific platform which can be used by any buyer or seller.
- (b): ONDC and the Network Participants in the ONDC network are subject to all existing applicable laws and regulations of India.
- (c) & (d): The  Ministry  of  Micro,  Small  and  Medium  Enterprises  (MSMEs)  has  built various tools and portals to run its own schemes and programmes, which interalia  include  single  window  on-line  Udyam  Registration  portal  for  MSME registration, MSME Champions Portal for grievance redressal, MSME Global Mart Portal for marketing support,  MSME  SAMBANDH  and  MSME SAMADHAAN for monitoring of procurement and delayed payment by Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) from Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs).

Also,  Ministry  of  MSME  has  schemes  such  as  Entrepreneurship  Skill Development Programme (ESDP) to provide training through Tool Rooms, Technology Centres, MSME- Development and Facilitation Offices (MSMEDFOs) and Entrepreneurship Development  Institutes  (EDIs).  Furthermore, the  Government is helping  MSMEs onboard e-market and Digital commerce through Open Network Digital Commerce (ONDC).

In order to improve digital services and use big data and Artificial Intelligence (AI)  to provide easy, cheap and timely credit to the MSME sector, various methodologies have been developed which, inter-alia includes Trade Receivables Discounting System, Regulatory Sandbox and Account Aggregator Framework.  The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has created Trade Receivables Discounting System (TReDS) platform for solving the issue of delayed payments, opened the Regulatory Sandbox to spur innovations that can fill the lending gap for MSMEs through the use of technology and data analytics, and set-up the Account Aggregator (AA) framework to make sharing and  aggregation  of  financial  data  possible  in  a  secure,  transparent,  and efficient manner.

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