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E-commerce in India to touch Rs 252 billion by 2005

E-commerce activity in India is expected to increase from Rs 4.5 billion in the financial year 2000 to Rs 252 billion in 2005, according to the book 'Secrets of Electronic Commerce: A Guide for Small-and Medium - Sized Exporters', recently released by Confederation of Indian Industry and International Trade Centre UNCTAD/WTO.

In order to identify the constraints relating to electronic commerce constraints faced by SMEs, ITC UNCTAD/WTO conducted a survey of about 269 organisations in developing countries.

Following the emergence of broadband and improvements in connectivity infrastructure, the book has pointed out, that the B2B e-commerce turnover will increase from Rs 4 billion in the financial year 2000 to Rs 232.8 billion in financial year 2005.

The total worth of B2C e-commerce activities in India is expected to increase from Rs 0.5 billion in the financial year 2000 to Rs 18.82 billion in 2005, it added.

According to the study, the growth in the B2B segment will be primarily because of the expected increase in Internet based networking companies and an increase in Internet based vendor selection and management activities.

The real emerging opportunity in Indian e-business, as pointed out by the e-commerce guide, is in providing software solutions and services.

Outlining the Indian e-commerce strategy, the book dwells on key policy initiatives undertaken by the government of India; current scenario ; future trends and measures undertaken to ensure security for e-commerce.

According to the guide, the Indian Internet security solutions and applications market is likely to grow more than 11 times from $6 million market in financial year 2000 to a $68 million market in 2005.

In light of these emerging trends and future growth potential, the book stresses the need to further strengthen the existing cyber laws under the Indian IT Act.

However, to ensure cyber security, Government of India is contemplating to put in place a 'National Infrastructure Protection Centre' to keep the vital infrastructure installations including rail and airport reservations, banking and services sectors, electricity and telephones from cyber crime and attacks.

At present, there are very few Indian companies actively participating in the network security solutions market with only a handful providing end-to-end security solutions, the book pointed out. In the medium term, the market is expected to witness a surge in the number of players providing security solutions and applications.

In the long term, the market is expected to witness consolidation and those who specialise in industries like banking or manufacturing will survive. The tie-ups with international organisations would provide the infrastructure for Indian companies to operate globally.

The future trends as highlighted in the e-commerce guide, are that the Indian e-commerce market will witness increase in the product portfolio of players that means, companies are likely to become integrated players.

Another major trend expected in medium to long term would be emergence of broadband, which will increase the usage of Internet for various communications needs.

According to the CII-ITC book, mergers and acquisitions is also likely to be a significant trend in the short to medium term, which would affect almost all the business categories such as infrastructure providers; Web site software and service providers and content providers.

The CII-ITC guide on e-commerce, stressed that Indian industry can use e-commerce to re-engineer their operations aiming at gaining competitive advantage.

The book provides "easy-to-understand" answers on how SMEs can concretely benefit from e-commerce. It is a user-friendly, practical and results based publication containing over 100 helpful references and resources for more in-depth information on a particular issue.

The book encompasses base level topics for the benefit of SMEs such as developing an e-commerce strategy; online market research; online marketing techniques; online communication techniques among others.

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