Karnataka Assembly passes APMC Amendment Bill to regulate e-commerce companies

State Agricultural Marketing Minister Shivanand Patil who presented the bill in the state Assembly said that earlier the government was regulating only the APMC yards but once the bill becomes a law, those doing business on the e-platform will have to operate within its framework.

Bengaluru: The Legislative Assembly on Monday passed the Agricultural Produce Marketing (Regulation and Development) (Amendment) Bill, 2025, that will regulate e-commerce platforms like Amazon, Big Basket and DMart.

When it becomes a law, e-commerce platforms will have to mandatorily pay cess to the APMCs.

Piloting the Bill, Agricultural Marketing Minister Shivanand Patil said, “As per this Bill, even e-commerce platforms will have to work under the APMC Act. DMart, Bigbasket, Amazon and Udaan are operating by escaping the purview of the law. For instance, Udaan has done business without paying the cess and ended up paying a fine of Rs 25 lakh. This Bill will be able to regulate them if they do business by avoiding the cess.”

As per the Bill, e-commerce companies cannot be established for marketing agricultural produce without obtaining a licence.

The Bill provides the APMC director with the authority to take action against those companies not paying the cess. If licences have been obtained through deceit, the director can suspend the licences.

If the companies are dissatisfied, they can appeal to the court.