Mumbai, July 31: Online shoppers and those who are always on the hunt for cheap deals, and discounts on the e-commerce platform, may soon face a rude shock because the government is planning to tighten their noose around deep discounting, according to a Times of India report. To regulate the sector, the draft e-commerce policy proposed that such 'deep discounting' be stopped from a specified date.

Reportedly, the policy will not only cover e-commerce platforms like Amazon, Flipkart, but will also include food-delivery sites like Swiggy, Zomato, service apps like Urban Clap, and financial products like Freecharge. The draft has also suggested appointing a regulator for the sector. Reportedly, the grievance redressal mechanism will also regulate companies that have their e-commerce platforms.

The Indian e-commerce sector is booming and is projected to touch $200 billion in a decade. Looking at the intense activity that has been going in this sector, investors like Softbank, Walmart, Alibaba have been taking a keen interest in the market, thus driving up the valuations.  In the month of May, global retail giant Walmart bought 77 percent stake in Flipkart for $16 billion. According to a Bloomberg report, the deal was touted to be the biggest in the e-commerce space, and was confirmed by Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son.

With government planning to crack their whip on discounts, it will be interesting to see how these e-commerce players try to lure their customers.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 31, 2018 09:44 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).