India's e-commerce market is entering a more closely watched regulatory phase. The government has released the Draft Digital Trade Facilitation Bill, 2026 for stakeholder feedback, while the proposed Digital Competition Bill remains under consideration. This is not an enacted law: the government is conducting a market study to establish the appropriate thresholds and framework before finalising the legislation.
That distinction matters for the traditional technology channel. As policymakers study how digital markets should operate, distributors and dealers are asking a more immediate question: are online and offline businesses really competing on a level playing field?
During a visit to Nehru Place, Swaran Singh, General Secretary, ADCTA, and K.S. Oswal, Director, RR Systems and a key body member of ADCTA, spoke about how e-commerce is changing the economics of the physical technology market.
Their views are based on their experience of the channel and should be read as market perspectives, rather than independent findings about any particular e-commerce company.
The channel is not asking customers to come offline
Oswal makes an important distinction at the start.
“We don't have a problem with online.”
For him, e-commerce itself is not the problem. In fact, he says online platforms have also helped the offline channel.
Customers increasingly check prices online before approaching a dealer. That gives the physical channel a reference point when negotiating with customers.
In his account, however, the same transparency can become a disadvantage when the online price falls below what an offline dealer can commercially sustain.
This is where the debate moves from online versus offline to online economics versus offline economics.
Where the price gap starts hurting
Oswal points to payment costs and cashback as one example.
He says an offline dealer accepting card payments can incur a charge of around 2.66%, while online customers can receive cashback incentives.
“What do they do when they go online? They give you cashback of 10%.”
His argument is that the customer sees an immediate financial benefit online, while the physical dealer has an additional transaction cost.
Whether every online transaction follows this pattern is not established by the recording. Oswal's point is that such differences can make price competition difficult for physical retailers.
For a dealer operating on narrow margins, even a small difference can matter.
The demand is for equal rules
This leads to Oswal's central policy argument.
“The market should be equal for everyone, right? Whether it is online or offline, if everyone has the same rules, then the person will decide whether he wants to go online or not.”
It is a significant distinction.
The channel is not necessarily asking for restrictions on e-commerce. It is asking for comparable rules and commercial conditions.
Oswal believes that if online sellers were operating at the same underlying price conditions as physical dealers, the ability to undercut the offline channel would reduce.
“If the people online sell the goods at the actual price, then they cannot sell it cheaper than us.”
That is his assessment of the market, and it highlights the issue that distributors want policymakers to examine as digital competition rules evolve.
Nehru Place is already feeling the behavioural shift
The impact is visible beyond pricing.
Oswal recalls Nehru Place being much more crowded when he entered the business. He says physical footfall has changed as customers increasingly sit at home and transact online.
“When I came here, it was very crowded.”
The change is not simply about customers abandoning the physical market. It is also about how they make purchasing decisions.
A buyer can now check prices, compare products and even source inventory from another city without physically visiting Nehru Place.
Oswal says he himself sometimes receives products sourced online from places such as Surat and describes situations where goods ordered in Delhi can be fulfilled from another location.
That effectively changes the geography of distribution.
The customer may be in Delhi. The inventory can be somewhere else. The transaction can happen without the traditional physical retail journey.
But the dealer has not disappeared
This is where the channel's relationship with e-commerce becomes more nuanced.
Oswal says the physical market has also benefited from online price discovery. Customers check prices online and then contact dealers. In some cases, that can lead to a sale through the offline channel.
The physical dealer therefore still has a role.
That role is particularly relevant when customers need product advice, immediate interaction or after-sales assistance.
Swaran Singh's comments from the same Nehru Place discussions reinforce the importance of that relationship from another angle.
“Then they come back to our dealer network.”
His statement was made in the context of warranty support, but it highlights a wider channel reality: even when the buying journey becomes digital, the local dealer can remain the point of contact when something goes wrong.
The regulation question is still open
This discussion comes as the government examines how India's digital economy should be regulated.
The Draft Digital Trade Facilitation Bill, 2026 is focused on giving legal recognition to electronic trade documents and supporting digital trade processes. It has been released for feedback and is not itself an enacted law.
The proposedDigital Competition Bill is at a different stage. The government has said it is taking an evidence-based approach and conducting a market study before finalising the framework. The study is intended to help determine appropriate qualitative and quantitative thresholds for large digital businesses and core digital services.
For the channel, that process creates an opportunity to put its concerns on the table.
The question is not simply whether digital commerce should grow. It already has.
The bigger question is whether the economics of that growth leave enough room for India's physical distribution and retail network to compete.
The channel's message is simple
Nehru Place's concern, as expressed by Oswal, is therefore not a rejection of e-commerce.
It is a call for parity.
“We don't have a problem with online.”
That sentence may be the most important takeaway from the discussion.
The physical channel understands that customer behaviour has changed. It also understands that digital commerce is now part of the technology market.
What it wants is a framework where the customer can choose online or offline based on the value and service offered — rather than because one channel operates with a structural price advantage.
For policymakers, the ongoing market studies will eventually have to answer that larger question.
For Nehru Place, however, the issue is already being felt at the counter.
This is no longer about whether online commerce will exist. It is about whether offline distribution can compete fairly alongside it.
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Online Vs. Offline: Nehru Place comments on E-commerce business model
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FacebookXLinkedInWhatsAppIndia's e-commerce market is entering a more closely watched regulatory phase. The government has released the Draft Digital Trade Facilitation Bill, 2026 for stakeholder feedback, while the proposed Digital Competition Bill remains under consideration. This is not an enacted law: the government is conducting a market study to establish the appropriate thresholds and framework before finalising the legislation.
That distinction matters for the traditional technology channel. As policymakers study how digital markets should operate, distributors and dealers are asking a more immediate question: are online and offline businesses really competing on a level playing field?
During a visit to Nehru Place, Swaran Singh, General Secretary, ADCTA, and K.S. Oswal, Director, RR Systems and a key body member of ADCTA, spoke about how e-commerce is changing the economics of the physical technology market.
Their views are based on their experience of the channel and should be read as market perspectives, rather than independent findings about any particular e-commerce company.
The channel is not asking customers to come offline
Oswal makes an important distinction at the start.
For him, e-commerce itself is not the problem. In fact, he says online platforms have also helped the offline channel.
Customers increasingly check prices online before approaching a dealer. That gives the physical channel a reference point when negotiating with customers.
In his account, however, the same transparency can become a disadvantage when the online price falls below what an offline dealer can commercially sustain.
This is where the debate moves from online versus offline to online economics versus offline economics.
Where the price gap starts hurting
Oswal points to payment costs and cashback as one example.
He says an offline dealer accepting card payments can incur a charge of around 2.66%, while online customers can receive cashback incentives.
His argument is that the customer sees an immediate financial benefit online, while the physical dealer has an additional transaction cost.
Whether every online transaction follows this pattern is not established by the recording. Oswal's point is that such differences can make price competition difficult for physical retailers.
For a dealer operating on narrow margins, even a small difference can matter.
The demand is for equal rules
This leads to Oswal's central policy argument.
It is a significant distinction.
The channel is not necessarily asking for restrictions on e-commerce. It is asking for comparable rules and commercial conditions.
Oswal believes that if online sellers were operating at the same underlying price conditions as physical dealers, the ability to undercut the offline channel would reduce.
That is his assessment of the market, and it highlights the issue that distributors want policymakers to examine as digital competition rules evolve.
Nehru Place is already feeling the behavioural shift
The impact is visible beyond pricing.
Oswal recalls Nehru Place being much more crowded when he entered the business. He says physical footfall has changed as customers increasingly sit at home and transact online.
The change is not simply about customers abandoning the physical market. It is also about how they make purchasing decisions.
A buyer can now check prices, compare products and even source inventory from another city without physically visiting Nehru Place.
Oswal says he himself sometimes receives products sourced online from places such as Surat and describes situations where goods ordered in Delhi can be fulfilled from another location.
That effectively changes the geography of distribution.
The customer may be in Delhi. The inventory can be somewhere else. The transaction can happen without the traditional physical retail journey.
But the dealer has not disappeared
This is where the channel's relationship with e-commerce becomes more nuanced.
Oswal says the physical market has also benefited from online price discovery. Customers check prices online and then contact dealers. In some cases, that can lead to a sale through the offline channel.
The physical dealer therefore still has a role.
That role is particularly relevant when customers need product advice, immediate interaction or after-sales assistance.
Swaran Singh's comments from the same Nehru Place discussions reinforce the importance of that relationship from another angle.
His statement was made in the context of warranty support, but it highlights a wider channel reality: even when the buying journey becomes digital, the local dealer can remain the point of contact when something goes wrong.
The regulation question is still open
This discussion comes as the government examines how India's digital economy should be regulated.
The Draft Digital Trade Facilitation Bill, 2026 is focused on giving legal recognition to electronic trade documents and supporting digital trade processes. It has been released for feedback and is not itself an enacted law.
The proposedDigital Competition Bill is at a different stage. The government has said it is taking an evidence-based approach and conducting a market study before finalising the framework. The study is intended to help determine appropriate qualitative and quantitative thresholds for large digital businesses and core digital services.
For the channel, that process creates an opportunity to put its concerns on the table.
The question is not simply whether digital commerce should grow. It already has.
The bigger question is whether the economics of that growth leave enough room for India's physical distribution and retail network to compete.
The channel's message is simple
Nehru Place's concern, as expressed by Oswal, is therefore not a rejection of e-commerce.
It is a call for parity.
That sentence may be the most important takeaway from the discussion.
The physical channel understands that customer behaviour has changed. It also understands that digital commerce is now part of the technology market.
What it wants is a framework where the customer can choose online or offline based on the value and service offered — rather than because one channel operates with a structural price advantage.
For policymakers, the ongoing market studies will eventually have to answer that larger question.
For Nehru Place, however, the issue is already being felt at the counter.
This is no longer about whether online commerce will exist. It is about whether offline distribution can compete fairly alongside it.
Read More;
IT channel ecosystem in Punjab: PACT and FAIITA seek offline revival
Acer India 2026 Lineup: AI, Mobility and Channel Strategy
Siliconops bets on managed services, Sovereign Cloud and AI
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