New ecommerce guidelines have been published in a paper released by China’s cabinet, after central authorities have promised to nurture the growth of online businesses amid the economic downturn, scmp.com reports. The move came as Premier Li Keqiang made a tour of Zhongguancun, Beijing’s high-tech business hub, to applaud innovation and encourage entrepreneurship.
The State Council paper promised to abandon strict registry requirements for ecommerce businesses, encourage more venture capital to enter the sector, reduce share-holding restrictions on foreign investments and lower the tax burden. It also plans to reduce logistical costs, strengthen financing and infrastructure and turn bricks-and-mortar stores into click-and-mortar, both online and offline platforms.
The government also aims to increase consumer confidence in ecommerce by improving consumer rights, cracking down on online fraud, increasing security, and improving legal protection. In 2014, Chinese consumers purchased online goods and services worth USD 451 billion (CNY 2.8 trillion), an increase of 49.7%, as compared with 2013, said China’s National Bureau of Statistics, cited by the source.
China’s Alibaba, the world’s biggest ecommerce group, posted a 45% year-on-year increase in its quarterly revenue to USD 2.81 billion. Li has also paid a visit to the physics institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in Beijing, where he pledged to further increase spending on research to turn “Made in China” to “Created in China”. He also toured Inno Way, a 300-metre long start-up street in Haidian district with more than 12,000 technology companies, to toast entrepreneurs for helping to generate mass employment in China.
The State Administration of Taxation has urged local tax departments to ensure proper implementation of relief policies already announced for new start-ups. It has also ordered tax officials across the nation not to carry out tax assessments and checks on small and innovative companies.
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