Five of India’s largest digital commerce platforms—Amazon, Eternal (Zomato), Meesho, Swiggy, and Zepto—launched an industry body called the Digital Commerce Coalition (DCC) on June 1, according to Entrackr. Notably, Flipkart is absent. Delhi-based public policy consulting firm Koan Advisory Group will run the secretariat and oversee its research and stakeholder engagement.
The coalition says it will work on four priorities: strengthening consumer trust, encouraging responsible innovation, promoting economic participation, and driving positive social and environmental outcomes. It says it will address the consumer experience, supply chains, delivery partners’ welfare, and small-business support.
The timing is not incidental. These five platforms already belong to the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), the Alliance of Digital India Foundation (ADIF), and the Startup Policy Forum (SPF). They did not need another body for general advocacy. A dedicated, e-commerce-only coalition with its own secretariat suggests it wants a coordinated lobbying voice for the specific regulatory fights that broader bodies cannot wage on its behalf.
The regulatory pressures they face. MediaNama has tracked each of these battles:
- Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) compliance: The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) met Blinkit, Zepto, and Swiggy Instamart in 2024 to examine whether their operations breached FDI rules, which permit 100% foreign investment in marketplace models but prohibit it in inventory-led models. As Blinkit shifted to an inventory-led model from September 2025, the compliance question sharpened. Zepto faces separate allegations of FDI violations over Zepto Cafe.
- Dark patterns enforcement: The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) directed e-commerce platforms to conduct internal audits for dark patterns in June 2025. A LocalCircles audit found that 97% of major platforms still use them. The CCPA fined Zepto Rs 7 lakh in December 2025 for hidden checkout charges and a paid add-on that was pre-selected by default.
- Gig worker regulation: Labour codes that took effect in November 2025 formally included gig workers for the first time and required platforms to contribute 1–2% of annual turnover to a social security fund. The draft Social Security (Central) Rules, 2026, require gig workers to log 90 days with an aggregator to qualify for benefits.
- Food safety liability: The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has sent back-to-back notices to Blinkit over consumer complaints about spoiled food, treating it as a directly liable food business operator rather than a neutral marketplace. The Maharashtra FDA also suspended Zepto’s Dharavi dark store licence in June 2025.
- Competition scrutiny: The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has examined deep discounting by quick commerce platforms, with the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) alleging that platforms misused over Rs 54,000 crore in FDI to fund below-cost pricing, displacing kirana stores.
The unanswered question for the coalition: The DCC’s stated priority of strengthening consumer trust lands oddly against this backdrop. FSSAI is sending food safety notices to one founding member, while the CCPA has fined another. The coalition has not publicly explained how it plans to address these ongoing disputes, but rather to shape the narrative around them.
What the coalition said: The member companies framed the launch around entrepreneurship and livelihoods:
- Eternal Head of Public Policy Jaskiran Bedi said digital commerce is “making everyday consumption more convenient while also enabling new avenues of livelihood and entrepreneurship for millions.”
- Meesho Head of Public Policy Prachi Bhuchar said it has “helped create entrepreneurship opportunities, particularly for small businesses and underserved markets.”
- Zepto Chief Policy Officer Rachit Ranjan said the choices the industry makes now “will shape how MSMEs access markets, how supply chains become more resilient, and how consumer trust is protected.”
The scale context: ICICI Securities projects the sector will grow from roughly $70 billion in financial year 2025 (FY25) to between $174 billion and $214 billion by FY30, with online retail penetration rising from 7% to 13%. That scale is precisely why the regulatory battles ahead matter and why a coordinated lobbying body makes strategic sense for platforms that have so far fought each battle separately.
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