India jurisdiction report: Liability of e-commerce service providers

The statutory provision that lays down the framework to decide the liability of e-commerce platforms is contained in section 79 of the Information Technology Act, 2000. Section 79 is a provision that is applicable for “intermediaries” engaged in transactions by means of electronic data interchange and other means of electronic communication and includes by reference “online-marketplaces”. In this article, “intermediary” and “e-commerce platform” are used interchangeably.