Sunday, April 29, 2012

Vodafone Taxation Dispute In India And Censorship By Google

Vodafone taxation dispute in India has witnessed many ups and downs. Finally, it has reached at a stage where the Parliament of India has to intervene to conclusively settle the same.

Once bitten twice shy. This adage aptly applies to Indian government. Handed with a defeat at the Supreme Court level, now Indian government is planning to bring amendments in the tax law of India.

Simultaneously, Indian government has also introduced consolidated FDI policy of India 2012. The new FDI policy is clearly safeguarding Indian interests unlike the previous one that was specifically crafted to sub serve private interests.

The current budget session (April-May 2012) is going on and the proposed amendments may be placed in the first week of May 2012. Let us see how Vodafone and other telecom sector players would respond to these developments.

In the meantime censorship of controversial news by Google is in full force. Vodafone taxation related news is frequented censored in India these days. For instance, this post did not appear at all in the news while this post appeared and then disappeared within half an hour of its posting.

It is only after making the issue public that the latter post resurfaced. But this has become a standard practice of Google and Indian government for which neither is providing any explanation.

It seems either Google or Indian government is openly and blatantly abusing the controversial Information Technology (Intermediaries Guidelines) Rules 2011 of India.  In fact, a motion for annulment of intermediary guidelines has already been moved In the Rajya Sabha.

It is high time for both Google and Indian government to clarify their respective stands in this regard as civil liberties of Indians in cyberspace is clearly violated through these censorship activities.  

Monday, April 16, 2012

E-Commerce Legal Requirements In India

Many entrepreneurs are jumping upon e-commerce wagon band in India without realising that e-commerce also requires legal compliances. For them mere opening of a website is enough to start e-commerce business in India.

These entrepreneurs cannot be blamed as cyber law awareness in India is missing. E-commerce laws in India are still evolving and e-commerce stakeholders in India are not aware of cyber law due diligence in India.

However, ignorance of law is no excuse. This is more so when the cyber due diligence for Indian companies is now well established. For instance, cyber due diligence for foreign websites in India, cyber due diligence for press and media in India, cyber due diligence for PayPal and online payment transferor in India, etc have already been discussed.

Thus, if you are planning to open an e-commerce business in India, legal formalities required for starting e-commerce business in India must be well understood. Similarly, legal requirements to start an e-commerce website In India must also be well understood.

In short, legal requirements of undertaking e-commerce in India must be duly complied with in order to get maximum benefits out of e-commerce business in India.