“SAFEGUARDING INDIAN E-COMMERCE: LEGAL MECHANISMS, CYBERSECURITY CHALLENGES, AND REFORM IMPERATIVES”

The steady growth in India’s e-commerce sector is expected to reach above USD 363 billion by 2030. This development highlights the industry’s substantial influence on the digital economy. However, this escalation has led to shortcomings, including cyber and security threats such as data breaches, payment fraud, and product liability. They undermine consumers' trust, reputation and financial status of the E-commerce platform. This paper critically examines the prevalent cybersecurity threats targeting e-commerce platforms. It analyses the efficient working of current legal frameworks, compliance by platforms and legal accountability for the resulting harm utilising safe harbour principles. The Research study employed is a qualitative doctrinal and case law-based analysis. Preliminary findings indicate weak enforcement due to fragmented regulation, inadequate penalties, vague definitions, and uncertain legal accountability resulting from the erosion of conditional immunity under Section 79. Geographically confined to the Indian Context, this paper seeks to make a practical contribution by proposing reform recommendations which aim to clarify liability, compliance mandates, enhance grievance redressal mechanisms, foster consumer trust, and improve cybersecurity resilience within the e-commerce ecosystem. Keywords: Cyber Law, Cybersecurity Challenges, Data Privacy, Digital Consumer Rights, E-Commerce Regulation