The e-commerce frenzy in the country seems to have caught the attention of some of India’s leading business schools, propelling them to launch specific courses for a career in internet-related ventures.

These institutions aim to bridge the talent gap which is being seen as a major challenge to the fast growing operations of Flipkart, Snapdeal, Amazon and other e-commerce firms.

Types of courses In the offing are specific courses related to web analytics, supply chain, online business models and strategies, e-commerce laws, mobile application and big data.

“With an enormous projected growth…graduates and young professionals are looking forward to join the e-commerce bandwagon. With the growing penetration of the internet and popularity of the social media in the youth, interest in careers related to this sector can only be expected to rise further,” said Uday Salunkhe, Group Director, N. Welingkar Institute of Management Development & Research (WeSchool).

WeSchool is planning to launch a distance learning post-graduate programmes on e-commerce. In fact, WeSchool has been running a Post Graduate Diploma in e-business programme for over a decade now.

The Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta (IIM-C) is planning to launch few e-commerce related courses aimed at the $15-billion industry from the next academic year. For its second year students, IIM-C already has an elective course in e-commerce, which might evolve as independent electives going forward, said Parthasarathi Dasgupta, Professor of Management Information Systems at IIMC.

“These new courses could help students refine their thought process, enable them to manage the e-business houses in a more competitive and sustainable manner and enable to have greater customer satisfaction,” he added.

Vishal Goyal, Group Head- Corporate relations at the Institution of Management Technology (IMT) Ghaziabad and Dubai, said the institute is talking to several e-commerce stalwarts and start-ups to understand the opportunities of this emerging industry.

“Faculty members are reading and writing white-papers which are going to be published soon. This will help us get clarity on what kind of new electives or independent course we can include in future,” he said, adding that IMT is keen to start full-time courses on web analytics and supply chain management specific to e-commerce. Mumbai-based MET has recently introduced a post graduate diploma in e-business.

Growing interest Institutions that had launched specific e-commerce courses ahead of the competition are benefiting from the pent-up demand already. Hyderabad-based Indian School of Business, which runs post graduate programmes on Web 2.0 and Business Intelligence, today has about 150 students for both courses as against 50 students five years ago, said Amit Mehra, Joint Executive Director at Srini Raju Centre for IT and Networked Economy at ISB.

In fact, WeSchool receives over 10,000 applications for 60 seats in Mumbai and 120 in Bengaluru for its existing e-business course, said Salunkhe

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