E-commerce & Platforms
Digital commerce in India operates within a rapidly evolving regulatory framework that touches every layer of the platform stack – from marketplace structuring and seller onboarding to consumer protection, intermediary liability, and foreign investment compliance. Vectis Law advises e-commerce platforms, marketplaces, and aggregators on building legally sound operations that satisfy India's increasingly prescriptive digital commerce regulations. We understand the technical architecture of platform businesses – catalogue systems, order management, payment flows, logistics integrations – and translate that understanding into compliance structures that scale with the business. Our approach is pragmatic: we help platforms meet regulatory obligations without sacrificing the speed and flexibility that digital commerce demands.
Key Services
- E-commerce platform legal structuring
- Intermediary compliance (IT Act intermediary guidelines)
- Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules compliance
- Marketplace terms of service and seller agreements
- Platform liability and safe harbour assessment
- FDI compliance for e-commerce (Press Note 2 of 2018)
- Digital advertising compliance and disclosure requirements
Regulatory Landscape
India's e-commerce regulatory landscape is shaped by a convergence of consumer protection, intermediary liability, and foreign investment rules. The Consumer Protection Act 2019 and the Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules 2020 impose specific obligations on marketplace and inventory-based e-commerce entities, including product listing disclosures, grievance redressal mechanisms, and return and refund policies. The IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021 define due diligence requirements for intermediaries. FEMA and FDI regulations – particularly Press Note 2 of 2018 – impose structural constraints on foreign-invested e-commerce platforms. The Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules govern product labelling for online sales, and the Competition Act 2002 is increasingly relevant to platform dominance and self-preferencing concerns. We help clients navigate this dense regulatory overlay with practical compliance frameworks.
Who We Serve
Our e-commerce and platforms practice serves e-commerce marketplaces, direct-to-consumer brands with online operations, aggregator platforms across verticals, logistics and fulfilment technology companies, social commerce platforms, and quick-commerce operators. We work with companies from initial platform structuring through scaling, regulatory engagement, and market expansion.