July 11, 2019

Competition and Industry News

Angel Tax Fears Linger Despite FM’s Assuranceedit

The threat of ‘angel tax’ is yet to recede despite assurances from finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman that startups wouldn’t face out-of-the-ordinary tax scrutiny. After several requests from startups over how this tax was impacting their fund-raising plans, the Department of Industrial Promotion (DIPP) in February this year announced new rules that said companies whose share premium did not exceed ₹25 crore would get immunity from the taxation. But last week, a Bengaluru-based startup was refused an exemption and asked to cough up ₹15 lakh on the ground that the exemptions announced by the DIPP were withdrawn and that the company was liable to pay.

Publication: The Economic Times

Date: July 11, 2019

Angel tax
Livspace has an IKEA, but India’s furniture market needs reassemblingedit

One year into India, furniture giant IKEA is slipping on its promises. Its investment in Livspace, looking to standardize the interiors business, could give it a leg-up. But the commercial synergies the two are exploring will take a lot more than what they’ve got on their catalogues.  IKEA thinks Livspace—one of the country’s better-performing interior decor startups—could be that wedge. After all, new homes are all about furniture and interiors, so budgets are usually higher. In May this year, Ingka Investments—IKEA’s investment unit—made a $10-15 million bet on the Bengaluru-based company. The company hasn’t disclosed the figure but sources put it between $10 and15 million.

Publication: The Ken

Date: July 11, 2019

IKEA
Need to Develop Indian E-commerce Modeledit

E-commerce has been the buzz word lately. Everyone is talking about it as investors have put-in billions of dollars in companies like Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal while the sector shows no sign of profitability. Not just that, it remains anyone’s guess that when and if at all the sector will become profitable ever! Why is it so that while Amazon USA has churned out eight consecutive quarterly profits, Amazon India shows no signs of profitability even with more than $2 billion in investments from the parent company?

India is fundamentally a different retail market when compared to the USA!

Publication: Entrepreneur 

Date: July 10, 2019

E-commerce
No proposal under consideration to constitute e-regulatory authority for e-commerce: Goyaledit

There is no proposal under consideration of the government to constitute e-regulatory authority to regulate and monitor e-commerce business in India, Parliament was informed on Wednesday. “No such proposal is under consideration of the government to constitute e-regulatory authority to regulate and monitor e-commerce business,” Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha. He said measures to check malpractices by e-commerce companies including predatory prices and deep discounts are laid down in the Competition Act, 2002, which also checks anti-competitive agreements, including vertical restraints.

Publication: The Times of India

Date: July 10, 2019

 

E-commerce
Internet monopolies: India’s trust deficitedit

Regulators are waking up to the threat posed by the dominance of internet firms to competitors. In June, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) announced that it was conducting a market study on e-commerce in India. While doing so, the antitrust regulator gave perhaps the first public indication about the novelty of challenges posed by the internet and giant platforms that it enables. This is the closest the CCI has come to admitting that the present competition laws may not be equipped to deal with the shape-shifting, confounding challenges posed by the nature of internet platforms to competition regulation.

Publication: Livemint

Date: July 10, 2019

E-commerce
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