Retail and E-Commerce

Online commerce in India is governed by several frameworks at once. The consumer protection rules applicable to e-commerce entities, the intermediary due diligence conditions, payments regulation, data protection, legal metrology and packaging requirements, and the foreign investment conditions distinguishing marketplace from inventory models apply to the same transaction and are administered by different authorities. We advise marketplaces, brands selling direct, multi-brand retail groups, quick-commerce and delivery platforms, and wholesale and B2B platforms.

Our work draws on our Global Market Entry, Regulatory & Compliance, Commercial Transactions, and Intellectual Property practices. It covers foreign investment structuring and the marketplace and inventory distinction, seller onboarding and vendor supply arrangements, fulfilment, last-mile, and reverse logistics contracting, private label and contract manufacturing, catalogue and feed syndication, and franchise arrangements. On the consumer side we advise on platform terms, returns, refunds, and cancellation policies, loyalty and gift card programmes, pricing and discount practices, grievance redressal and officer appointment requirements, mandatory disclosures and product labelling, and dark patterns. Brand protection is a recurring workstream, including counterfeit enforcement through marketplace takedowns and customs recordal, and the embedding of brand-protection standards into supply chain, inventory, and liquidation processes. We also advise on the payments architecture underlying a platform and on data protection as it applies to purchase histories, behavioural profiling, and recommendation systems.