Volume of e-commerce transactions is expected to touch Rs 1,000 crore by the year 2002, a study prepared by Nasscom the apex body for software-driven IT industry said in its report.

The Nasscom study said that with growing penetration of personal computers in Indian homes and increased desire by corporates to make foray in e-commerce ventures, e-business transactions would increase significantly in the country.

Since 1998-99, the volume of e-business transactions were only Rs 131 crore, out of which Rs 119 crore was contributed by B2B transactions and the rest by B2C mode. This volume almost touched Rs 300 crore in 1999-2000, which was expected to touch Rs 450 crore in the current year.

The study said that keeping with the global trends, it is expected that E-commerce business would be dominated by B2B transactions.

Nasscom said that the real business opportunity is providing software solutions and services in e-business areas in India. The market for providing e-solutions was also expected to fetch an annual revenue of Rs 3000 crore by 2002, the study mentioned.

On the Internet survey conducted by Nasscom, it had been estimated that by the end of year 2000, there would be at least 1.5 million net subscribers and five million net users across the country.

This, according to Nasscom, would easily surpass the standard worldwide account users multiple of 1:2.

Commenting upon the present regulatory framework. Nasscom said that it should be more conducive for the proliferation of e-business in India. In this context, it urged the government to support the sector.

The study also said that the revenue stream for e-business would primarily originate from transactions rather than advertisement. It said that this was in line with the global trend, and by 2003, more than 80 per cent of the revenue would be transactions-oriented.

Saying that supply chain management was one of the strongest pillars of E-commerce business, the study stated that percent of Indian software houses had informed of strong expertise in supply chain and distribution management solutions.