With the establishment of constitutional validity of the FDI policy of India for multi-brand retail sector by the Supreme Court of India, FDI in multi retail sector of India may witness a growth.

E-retail players were eagerly waiting for this opportunity to come as now e-retail websites can invite direct FDI for their ventures. However, this is just the beginning as e-retailers of India have still to manage many more techno legal issues.

For instance, e-retailers not following Indian laws. We have no dedicated e-retail laws and regulations in India and this is resulting in increased e-retail frauds in India. To make the matter worst, we have no effective e-retail dispute resolution mechanism in India.

The truth is that e-retail websites must be regulated in India. There are well defined legal requirements to start an e-retail website in India. Recently, online pharmacies of India were brought under scrutiny by Indian authorities.

Presently, Indian e-retailing, FDI regulations and cyber due diligence are not complied with by various national and international e-retailing players. Further, violation of FDI and foreign exchange regulations and laws of India must also be closely watched.

In fact, a probe against Walmart has already been initiated by Indian government to ascertain any market access lobbying and FDI violations by Walmart. The probe against Walmart included ascertainment of the alleged beneficiaries of the payments made while engaging in industrial lobbying.

It is high time for e-retail websites operating or proposed to operate in India to comply with techno legal requirements before launching their respective websites in India, says Praveen Dalal, managing partner of New Delhi based ICT and e-commerce law firm Perrry4Law.