Abhishek VProf. Mohan Mani, - Supervisor2022-12-022022-12-022022-12-02https://dans.nls.ac.in/handle/123456789/1129Over the better part of the last decade, the growth of e-commerce models has led to a significant change in the conduct and content of commerce in India. It is indicative of a thriving platform economy, where marketplace (and inventory based) e-commerce models match supply and demand through electronic interfaces. The rise of such a platform economy, while contributing to greater ease of buying and selling, geographical penetration, variety of products, and efficiencies across the supply chain, has also had implications on aspects of competition, business ethics, and data governance. In this context, the following study aims to examine the issue of platform neutrality, through the lens of various stakeholders- platforms, vendors, and legal experts. It does this, by breaking down the issue into it’s legal, moral, economic, and operational components. This is followed by a comparative analysis of data sharing frameworks across major economies, including India, with a focus on e-commerce. Each section, while listing observations, is followed by implications of those observations. This forms the base of the ‘principles-based’ approach for addressing Platform Neutrality. These principles also form the conclusion of this study, revolving around- greater examination of financial relationships between platforms and vendors, a careful consideration of harms and benefits in multisided markets, and a reimagined collaboration between platforms and vendors that involves bridging of technological gaps, and mechanisms for protection of proprietary data.enElectronic Commerce – India - Data protection; Competition Law ; Business Ethics; Financial relationship – Platform and vendors.Thesis