Goods And Services Tax Imperatives For E-Commerce

Goods And Services Tax Imperatives For E-Commerce

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‘Digital India’-driven start-ups have been touted as the next driving force for the Indian economy, by the Government of India on several occasions. During the recent demonetization drive, the role of the digital economy for eradication of black money and corruption was frequently stressed upon. This strongly indicates as to how the cashless economy, and thereby, electronic commerce is considered as a beacon of hope for a better tomorrow by the Government, and accordingly, influences the policy and legislative decisions.

In India, increased Internet penetration through availability of smartphones and data network has led to a new world of opportunities for start-ups through e-commerce. According to NASSCOM’s latest estimates, India’s e-commerce market is estimated to be USD 33 billion in the financial year 2017. For the financial year 2016-17, e-commerce sales reached USD 16 billion with a projection of a sevenfold growth within the next two fiscals as estimated by Morgan Stanley.

By 2020, online commerce sales are expected to cross USD 120 billion mark. The number of consumers who purchase goods and services online is expected to cross 100 million by 2017 end with the e-retail market likely jumping 65% on y-o-y in 2018.

The rise of electronic commerce in India has resulted in conception of online marketplaces among other things. Online marketplace is an e-commerce platform owned by the e-commerce operator such as Snapdeal, Myntra, and Amazon etc., where vendors of any scale can sell directly to the end consumers. Thus, electronic commerce opened new avenues for small-to-medium vendors to sell their goods to a larger base of consumers at a much lower cost.

The bright performance of electronic commerce sector made it imperative for the taxman to focus on plugging any tax leakages and to provide a level-playing field to offline retailers.