holding ltd will be the main contenders for the prize indias promise lies in growth for which amazon is prepared to go as local as it must the peril lies in excessive control rules for foreign investment in online retail may get yet more restrictive new directives are reported to be in the works to discourage sellers on amazon and walmartflipkart from buying goods from the wholesale units of the us firms separately in what seems to have become an annual ritual the third draft of a national ecommerce policy is doing the rounds the document asks platforms to ensure equal treatment of all sellers and not adopt algorithms which result in prioritising select vendors advt the importance of an open wellcontested marketplace cant be disputed but it would be unfair to force ecommerce operators to give all sellers the same treatment regardless of size scale quality and what they bring to the table as krishnan ganesh an early backer of big basket the online grocery recently bought by the tata group told bloombergquintbesides a foreigner versus local lens may not be appropriate to judge monopolistic behaviour indias antitrust regulator wants to investigate both amazon and flipkartwalmart but pure ecommerce is a sliver of the 1 trillion retail market in the emerging onlineplusoffline landscape of retail 40 local competitors wont exactly be minnows plus theyll be free of the policy fetters that keep global players in checkthe ideal policy would encourage smaller physical retailers to digitise giving them a chance to adapt not every corner shop needs its own website but they can all benefit from accessing credit and tapping more brands directly something that 17 million retailers in 900 indian cities are already doing on an indigenous app called udaan built by a fiveyearold company thats among the countrys fastestgrowing unicorns as startups valued over 1 billion are commonly known the rivalry between bezos and ambani wont end with a verdict in the future group case where the founder took money from amazon but decided to sell out to reliance future retail ltd shares fell by their 10 limit on friday after the delhi high court said that a singapore arbitration tribunals interim order to stay the deal was enforceable in india the next frontier will be payments where the two have forged competing groups to bid for the right to operate nationwide digital networks these will run parallel to the current notforprofit interface that handled 59 billion in transactions in january double from a year earlier once again explosive growth will make for a keen contest visa inc is partnering amazon reliance has teamed up with facebook inc and googles parent alphabet inc which are also backing its jio telecom venture the tata group has gone in with mastercard incthat license it could be one or two would tell a great deal about which of the hopefuls for indias retail crown would be able to penetrate deeper not just into consumer wallets but the lives and livelihoods