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| E-Commerce in India |
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The past 2 years have seen a rise in the number of
companies' embracing e-commerce technologies and the Internet in India. Most
e-commerce sites have been targeted towards the NRI's with Gift delivery
services, books, Audio and videocassettes e.t.c Major Indian portal sites have
also shifted towards e-commerce instead of depending on advertising revenue. The
web communities built around these portal sites with content have been
effectively targeted to sell everything from event and moues tickets the grocery
and computers. The major in this services being Rediff on the net
(WWW.rediff.com) and India plaza with started a shopping section after
their highly successful content site
generated WEB visitors . Inspite of RBI regulation, low Internet usage
e-commerce sites have popped up everywhere hawking things like groceries, bakery
items, gifts, books, audio & videocassettes, computer e.t.c. None the major
players have been deterred by the low PC penetration and credit card usage in
India and have tried to close the success worldwide of online commerce. BPB
publication went online selling its complete range of computer books about 2
years ago, it might not have the success of either Amazon.com of Barnes and
noble. but they definitely have promised the cause of e-commerce in India with
atleast 1 to 5 web sites like Indiabookshop coming online.
This is not to say that the e-commerce
scenario has been bad in India as highly successful e-business like baba bazaar
and India mart have proved. Indian Banks too have been very successful in
adapting EC and EDI Technologies to provide customers with real time account
status, transfer of funds between current and checking accounts, stop payment
facilities. ICICI Bank, Global TRUST BANK AND UTI-Bank also have put their
electronic banking over the internet facilities in place for the up coming
e-commerce market speed post also plain to clone the federal express story with
online package status at any moment in time . The future does look very bright
for e-commerce in India with even the stock exchanges coming online providing a
online stock portfolio and status with a fifteen minute delay in prices. The day
cannot be far when with RBI regulations we will able to see stock transfer and
sale over the Net with specialized services like schwab and e*trade.
Though with security and encryption
being proven Technologies for transfer of funds over the Internet, the Indian
Government still has problems with 'Digital signatures' and verification
processes over the Internet. This combined with RBI norms and regulations has
proved to a major handle for e-commerce even though VSNL India's monopolistic
ISP does want to jump on to the electronic transaction bandwagon with the advent
of private ISP's and India new and positive attitude towards IT and the prime
ministers new 'IT policy " the future is very positive in India for doing
commerce with a-e.
The Future of E-Commerce
What does the future hold for e-commerce? Many would say it is difficult to
predict. The forces that determine the web's winners and losers are just taking
shape and technological advances could add even more uncertainty. On the
downside, some experts predict that it will be increasingly difficult for
smaller companies to establish their presence. Public companies and traditional
brand name retailers have deep pockets and a name recognition that will make it
difficult for smaller sites and mom-and-pop shops to attract customers, thereby
forcing them to compete with the big boys. On the Net, it's one big
neighborhood. On the upside, nearly all experts believe that overall e-commerce
will increase exponentially in coming years. Business to business transactions
will represent the largest revenue. Online retailing will also enjoy a drastic
growth. Areas expected to go include financial services, travel, entertainment
and groceries. And for those considering opening a virtual storefront,
forthcoming technology and standards agreements will make it easier to create a
site, to protect it against payment fraud, and to share information with
suppliers and business partners.
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