Information Technology Act in India: e-Commerce Value Chain Analysis

Growth of e-commerce in India is posing significant legal and regulatory challenges. Deficiencies exist despite significant amendments and introduction of secondary legislation. This paper has been written with an object to highlight deficiencies in information technology legislation governing e-commerce in India. Content analysis of information technology and other relevant legislation/literature revealed that, the IT Act partially address issues like legal validity of electronic transactions, security, content regulation, intermediary liability and jurisdiction, whereas areas like junk mail and spamming, intellectual property, payment, taxation of e-commerce transactions, and consumer protection are unaddressed. This paper fulfils the identification of ten major components of e-commerce value chain vis-a-vis the Information Technology Act and signalizes key deficiencies. Information in this paper is useful for policy and decision makers in government and e-commerce businesses.