• Dr Manveer Kaur
• Dr Inderpreet Kaur

The rapid proliferation of e-commerce and platformized services has transformed how parties negotiate, conclude, and perform contracts in India. Electronic contracts (e-contracts) now mediate everything from consumer purchases and app subscriptions to business-to-business (B2B) supply chains and fintech services. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated this shift, normalizing “contactless” contracting via click-wrap, browse-wrap, shrink-wrap, and e-mail agreements and embedding electronic signatures (e-sign/digital signatures) into enterprise workflows. This paper offers a doctrinal and policy analysis of India’s legal regime governing e-contracts, centring on the Indian Contract Act, 1872, the Information Technology Act, 2000, and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 (successor to the Indian Evidence Act, 1872). It explains how classic elements offer, acceptance, consideration, intention, capacity, consent, lawful object translate into the digital context; examines the evidentiary status of electronic records; and maps the role of public policy in calibrating enforceability, especially where standard-form terms, asymmetric bargaining power, and data-intensive architectures intersect. The paper also assesses Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), automated contracting, and platform governance, and identifies gaps around cybersecurity, cross-border enforcement, privacy, and the evidentiary authentication of machine-generated records. It concludes that Indian law broadly recognizes e-contracts but would benefit from targeted reforms guidance on online assent, clearer rules for cross-border jurisdiction, stronger consent transparency, and sector-specific standards to enhance legal certainty while safeguarding consumer and societal interests.

Electronic Contracts; Information Technology Act; Digital Signatures; Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam; Public Policy.

"E-CONTRACTS IN INDIA: LEGAL FRAMEWORK AND EMERGING ISSUES", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.12, Issue 11, page no.d412-d421, November-2025, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2511345.pdf

"E-CONTRACTS IN INDIA: LEGAL FRAMEWORK AND EMERGING ISSUES", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.12, Issue 11, page no. ppd412-d421, November-2025, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2511345.pdf