DIRECT SELLING ACTIVITIES IN INDIA THROUGH THE LENS OF LAW

Abstract

Direct selling is a relatively old business model prevalent in many countries across the world where sellers directly approach customers for a sale based on personal communication. India also has had a fledging direct selling industry since several decades but efforts at regulating it only gained steam in the past decade. In the current submission, we look into the efforts at regulation of the direct selling industry and the different models of regulation. We look into the overlaps in the regulatory process due to the presence of multiple legislation on the subject and how they affect the industry. We also look into the shortcomings of the existing model of regulation which depends on cooperation between both the Union government of India (similar to the federal government of the USA) and the state governments in the country and provide suggestions on how these shortcomings may be resolved.