Industry leaders to discuss trade, e-commerce with WTO chief

New Delhi: Representatives of Indian industry, including online retail and technology firms, will discuss issues pertaining to trade and e-commerce with WTO chief Roberto Azevedo here tomorrow.

The roundtable meeting is happening under the aegis of International Chamber of Commerce (ICC). Indian corporate leaders who would attend the meeting include Bharti Enterprises Chairman Sunil Mittal and Paytm CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma, among others.

The issues which will figure in the deliberations are -- standards for e-commerce sector; problems of businesses dealing with differences in national or regional regulations; facilitating trade in services and future of the global trading system, an industry source said.

The meeting assumes significance as developed countries are pushing WTO to start negotiating a agreement on e-commerce in the World Trade Organisation (WTO). They are pushing for ecommerce-related disciplines to be included in the ministerial meeting of the WTO in December at Argentina.

According to the WTO, since 1998, WTO members have agreed not to impose customs duties on electronic transmissions and a work programme was set up at the same time to clarify the concepts and impacts of this new area in trade.

As per a report, e-commerce market in India may touch USD 100 billion by 2020. The sector is likely to grow ten-fold in the coming years.