Trade Minister Piyush Goyal
held a video conference with nearly two dozen e-commerce executives in a bid to
understand hurdles faced by the sector.
Three days after the nationwide lockdown was imposed, Devender Singh revved up his motorcycle to deliver meat and eggs to customers - but his heart was in his mouth as he closed in on a police barricade on a deserted New Delhi road.
Beatings of delivery
workers by overzealous police after Prime Minister Narendra Modi suddenly
imposed the world's biggest lockdown to contain the coronavirus had unnerved
him.
"That day, it felt
like my time to get thrashed had come," Singh, 30, told Reuters on a quiet
summer afternoon as he was out making deliveries.
"But what I was
expecting didn't happen. The police were very friendly - they just asked me
where I was going and why."
Singh said he was allowed
to proceed after he flashed a so-called movement pass authorised by the police
and given to him by his employer Licious, an online meat store backed by
Bertelsmann's venture capital arm and Silicon Valley's Mayfield Fund.
E-commerce
is now limping back to life in the country as the border closures, warehouse
shutdowns and general confusion that initially accompanied the three-week
shutdown order have eased. While still clearing a backlog of previously placed
orders, most online retailers are accepting new orders, albeit with delayed
deliveries and a limited product catalogue.
Moreover, political
coldness towards e-commerce, which many in India see as a threat to millions of
brick-and-mortar retailers, has faded. While grocery stores and pharmacies are
still open, it has become evident that Singh and the thousands of delivery
workers like him have become crucial frontline soldiers in the country's battle
against the pandemic.
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