The Hindu Business Line : `e-commerceat tipping point'

The e-commerce industry in India is at a tipping point and will be `dramatically' different in the next five years, said industry experts at a panel discussion organised by Nasscom in the city.

Speakers included Mr K. Vaitheeswaran, CEO of online shopping site Fabmall; Mr Deep Kalra, Founder, Makemytrip.com; Mr Balachandran Unni, Head-Mcommerce, OnMobile Asia; Mr Mahendra Swarup, Chief Mentor at Smile Interactive; and Mr Ashish Gupta, MD, Helion Ventures, a venture capital fund.

The attitude of citizens has changed slowly over the past five years. Indians are now ready to pay a premium of Rs 40-60 for the convenience of online commerce, said Mr Kalra. They are now accepting the various services offered on the Internet and the increasing penetration of broadband at homes also promises to bring in more revenue for e-commerce players. "We are sitting on a pure gold mine," is how one of them put it.

The success of government-owned IRCTC Web site for online train ticketing is just one of the cases in point that give a glimpse of the potential of e-commerce in India.

On the safety of online transactions, the panel members said that credit card transactions over the Internet are safe and secure. All the experts declared that the Internet was a safe medium and their Web Sites had built-in precautions to ensure the user would not be taken for a ride.

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