New FDI rules to upset online shoppers; no more promotional offers and cash-backs

If you thought that online shopping doesn’t only save you from the pain of going to the market or shopping malls but also treats you with special discounts and cash-backs, you might be in for a surprise.

New rules set up by FDI have barred online marketplaces from giving direct discounts and offering promotional programmes such as cash-back offers.

The reason, they say, is that these incentives are against the intent of the policy, which restrains direct transactions between these marketplaces and the consumers.

The new rules say that for proper treatment of online marketplaces just like physical marketplace, the operator should have no interaction with the consumer.

"The policy has not gone into such finer details but these companies cannot offer discounts of any kind," the official told ET. "That control is solely with the seller."

This would result in a major blow to the big-sale events that these ecommerce companies run.

The rules suggest that these ecommerce marketplaces can provide full support to its listed sellers, in terms of logistics, warehousing, order fulfilment, call centres and payment collection, but cannot influence the pricing of the products in any which way.

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