E-commerce companies may finally resume full operations in India from today, May 18, 2020. The Ministry of Home Affairs has now permitted sales of non-essential products outside the containment zones. However, e-commerce in containment zones would continue to be restricted to essential goods.

As per the reports, the two leading ecommerce firms in India, Amazon and Flipkart could only recover around 20 per cent of their usual sales through the permitted sales of essential goods in the lockdown. The latest relaxation for the e-commerce companies in the country is likely to significantly boost their recovery as well as lakhs of MSMEs working with these platforms.  

Amazon said in a statement that it welcomes the government’s decision. It noted that it will give a much needed boost to around 6 lakh sellers on its platform and would also help revive economic activity more broadly.

E-commerce companies await directives from State Govts.

However, state governments will take the final call on permitting or restricting economic activities in their states. Thus, most companies are now waiting for directions from individual states to resume operations.

Flipkart said that the ecommerce platform is awaiting advisories from different states. It would continue to work in accordance with the directives from the government and local authorities. Moreover, it also added that the firm is trying to help its partner sellers and MSMEs across country with constant counsel and seller support team to swiftly resume their operations.

Snapdeal has also said that it is ready and equipped to start serving customers across the country, including the red zones. It further added that this will also help medium and small scale online retailers to serve customers and start rebuilding their businesses.

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A recent study by the Unicommerce eSolutions had revealed that the overall e-commerce sector showed a good sign of recovery in the third phase of lockdown in India. However, market experts have predicted that the sector may continue to take a hit as metropolitans are still in red zones.

Moreover, it would also be crucial for e-commerce companies to strictly adhere to the government’s guidelines in our fight against the pandemic. Share your views with us in the comments and follow us on social media for all the trending tech news.