Project Report

(Submitted for the Degree of B.Com. Honours in Accounting & Finance under
West Bengal State University, Barasat)

Title of the Project

ROLE OF E-COMMERCE IN INDIA
Submitted by

Name of the Candidate : ARNAB CHOWDHURY

Registration No : 10312131114001019
Name of the College : BARRACKPORE RASTRAGURU SURENDRANATH COLLEGE
College Roll No : 12G1MHC241

Supervised by
Name of the Supervisor : SOUMYA GANGULY
Name of the College : BARRACKPORE RASTRAGURU SURENDRANATH COLLEGE

Month & Year of Submission

March, 2015
 Annexure-1

Supervisor’s Certificate

This is to certify that Mr. ARNAB CHOWDHURY a student of B.Com. Honours in Accounting &
Finance of Barrackpore Rastraguru Surendranath College under the West Bengal State University,
Barasat has worked under my supervision and guidance for his Project Work and prepared a Project
Report with the title “ROLE OF E-COMMERCE IN INDIA”. His work is genuine and original to
the best of my knowledge.

Signature :
Name : Soumya Ganguly
Place : Barrackpore
Designation : Faculty Member, Department of Commerce
Date :
Name of the College : Barrackpore Rastraguru Surendranath College

Annexure-2

Signature :
 Name : ARNAB CHOWDHURY
Place : Barrackpore Address : 17/A, Basanta Babu Road, Kanchrapara
Date :
Registration No : 10312131114001019
Name of the College : Barrackpore Rastraguru Surendranath College
Student’s Declaration

I hereby declare that the Project Work with the title “ROLE OF E-COMMERCE IN INDIA”
submitted by me for the partial fulfillment of the degree of B.Com. Honours in Accounting & Finance
under the West Bengal State University, Barasat is my original work and has not been submitted
earlier to any other University / Institution for the fulfillment of the requirement for any course of
study.

I also declare that no chapter of this manuscript in whole or part has been incorporated in this report
from any earlier work done by others or by me. However, extracts of any literature which has been
used for this report has been duly acknowledged providing details of such literature in references.

Acknowledgement
 I do extend my sincere appreciation, first to the West Bengal State University and also to the
Department of Commerce, Barrackpore Rastraguru Surendranath College for giving me an
opportunity to do this wonderful research work on the topic ROLE OF E-COMMERCE in West
Bengal: challenges and Opportunities.

I am also grateful to my college teacher-in-charge, Smt. Krishnakali Basu (Ghosh), and

college authority for allowing me to use the computer lab, Internet facility and college library for the
completion of my research work,

I would like to express my deepest gratitude to all those who provided me the possibility to
complete this study. A special gratitude I give to my guide Sri Soumya Ganguly and other
departmental faculty members for their counsel and guidance during the preparation of this research
work.

I wish to record my sincere thanks to my parents, my family members, and to my fellow

friends for their continuous co-operation and inspiration within the limited time frame.

ARNAB CHOWDHURY
BARRACKPORE RASTRAGURU SURENDRANATH COLLEGE

TABLE OF CONTENTS:-
SERIAL NO. CONTENTS PAGE NO.

1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 CONCEPT OF E-COMMERCE 1

1.2 NEED FOR THE STUDY OF E-COMMERCE 1-3

1.3 OBJECTIVE OF STUDY OF E-COMMERCE 3

1.4 RESEARCH AND METHODOLOGY AND SOURCES OF DATA 3

1.5 REVIEW OF LITERATURE 3

2 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

2.1 NATIONAL SCENARIO 4-7

2.2 INTERNATIONAL SCENARIO 8

3 PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS

3.1 PRESENTATION 9-10

3.2 ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS 10-11

4 CONCLUSION AND LIMITATIONS

4.1 CONCLUSION 12

4.2 LIMITATIONS 12

BIBLIOGRAPHY 13

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1. CONCEPT OF E-COMMERCE:-
Electronic commerce (or e-commerce) encompasses all business conducted by means of
computer network. Advances in telecommunication and computer technologies in recent
years have made computer networks an integral part of the economic infrastructure. More and
more companies are facilitating transaction over web. There has been tremendous
competition to target each and every computer owner who is connected to web.

Although business to business transactions play an important part in e-commerce market, a

share of e-commerce revenues in developed countries is generated from business to consumer
transaction. E-commerce provides multiple benefits to the consumers in form of availability
of goods with a click of mouse button without moving out of their house or office. Similarly
online services such as banking, ticketing (including airlines, bus, railway),bill payment,
groceries, hotel booking etc. have been of tremendous benefit for the customers. Most experts
believe that overall e-commerce will increase exponentially in coming years. Business to
business transactions will represent the largest revenue but online retailing will also enjoy aa
drastic growth. Online business like financial services, travel, entertainment, and groceries
are all likely to grow.

1.2. NEED FOR THE STUDY OF E-COMMERCE:-

In global sense, the appearance of e-commerce as a pioneer has opened up various windows
of opportunities for variety of other companies and investors, for instance booming of e-
commerce more and more resources are being directed into electronic securities, internet
facilities, business plans and new technologies. In result of this phenomenon, a variety of new
markets have emerged from e-commerce itself giving a boost to the global market.

The need of e-commerce can be seen to effect three major stakeholders:

1. Organisations
2. Consumers
3. Society

E-COMMERCE TO ORGANISATION
International market: what use to be a single physical market place located in a geographical
area has now become a borderless become marketplace including national and international
markets? By becoming ecommerce enabled, business now has access to people all around the
world. In effect all e-commerce business has become virtual multinational corporations.

Operational cost savings: The cost of creating, processing, distributing, storing and retrieving
paper based information has decreased.
Mass customisation: E-commerce has revolutionised the way consumers buy good and
services. The pull-type processing allows for products and services to be customised to the
consumers requirement.

No more 24 hour constraints: Business can be contacted by or contact customers or suppliers

at anytime.

E-COMMERCE TO CONSUMER:-
Access:-Enables customers to stop or conduct other transactions 24 hours a day, all year
around for almost any location. For example:-checking balances, making payments, obtaining
travel and other information. Customers not only have a whole range of products that can
choose from and customised, but also an international section of suppliers.

Improved delivery process:-This can range from the immediate delivery of digitised or
electronic goods sell as software or audio-visual files by downloading via internet, to the
online tracking of the progress of packages being delivered by mail or courier.

An environment of competition:-Where substantial discount can be found or value added, as

different retailers via for customers. It also allows many individual customers to aggregate
their orders together into a single order whole seller or manufacturers and obtain a more
competitive price.

E-COMMERCE TO SOCIETY:-
Enables more flexible working practices and connect people:-which enhances the quality of
life for a whole host of people in society, enabling them to work from home. Not only is this
more convenient and provide happier and less stressful working environments.

Connects people:-Enables people in developing countries and rural areas to enjoy and access
products, services, information and other people which otherwise would not be so easily
available to them.

CLASSIFICATION ACCORDING TO PARTICIPANTS :-

Turban ,King ,Lee ,Warkentin and Chan (2002) describes the following different types of e-
commerce,together with additional types that researchers have identified:

 Business-to-Consumer (B2C):-Mostly retailing transactions with individual customer

or customers are B2C transactions. An example of B2C is Amazon.com

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  Business-to-Business:-Inter-organisational information system and electronic
transaction between organisations include B2B transactions. An example of B2B is
General Electric’s Trading Process Network(TPN)
 Consumer-to-Business:-In C2B category consumers who sell to organisation is
identified. Individuals who seek sellers with whom they may interact in order to
conclude a transaction also includes C2B transactions. An example of C2B is
priceline
 Consumer-to-Consumer:-C2C includes transaction between cosumer selling directly
to other consumers. Auction sites and advertising personal services on the internet are
falling in this type of applications. An example of C2C is eBay .

1.3. OBJECTIVE OF STUDY ON E-COMMERCE:-

This research work has been carried on to understand the application of information system in
organisation to appreciate how technology can help to improve decision making to integrate
business disciplines business care so they can learn to solve business problems with
information technology.

It introduces the social implications of information technology and to understand the B2C
model in India. This helps us to know the present scenario of e-commerce market in India.

1.4. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND SOURCES OF DATA:-

Secondary data were used for the study. Secondary data were collected from internet database
and different e-commerce portals, journals, magazines, research papers, related books and
thesis etc.

1.5 REVIEW OF LITERATURE:-

I have gone through different Books, Journals, Research Papers and Articles related with the
study.

Sridhar Vaithianathan in his journal Electronic Commerce Research said Firms across the globe
have adopted e-commerce (EC) in their operations and have reaped benefits thereof. While firms in
technologically developed countries like US and UK has deployed EC to its advantage, whereas firms
in developing countries like India failed to follow the suit. Though it has been widely acknowledged
by the researchers that the adoption of EC by businesses in developing countries is an important
economic indicator of growth; many firms in India still have not realized the potential benefits of EC.
This study examines the existing status of EC in India and reviews the available literature on E-
commerce adoption in India and puts forth opportunities for future research. The study might serve as
a starting point for further research in e-commerce in India.

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CHAPTER 2: CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

2.1. NATIONAL SCENARIO:-

India is at the cusp of a digital revolution. Declining broadband subscription prices, aided by
the launch of 3G services, have been driving this trend. This has led to an ever-increasing
number of “citizens.”Furthermore, the likely launch of 4G services is expected to
significantly augment the country’s internet user base.

Internet has become an integral part of this growing population segment for remaining
connected with friends, accessing emails, buying movie tickets and ordering food. The
changing lifestyles of the country’s urban population have also led many people relying on
the internet for their shopping needs. The convenience of shopping from the comfort of one’s
home and having a wide product assortment to choose from has brought about Increased
reliance on the online medium.

E-commerce market is at an early stage but is expected to see huge growth over the next four
to five years. Over the past 12 months, venture capitalists have invested heavily in India’s e-
commerce market, new players have emerged, and the e-commerce ecosystem has developed,
presenting a huge opportunity for companies willing to work through some of the logistics
and payments challenges in India.

An increasing number of global companies are eyeing the rapidly growing e-commerce
market in India. As the world’s 11th largest economy (and fourth –largest emerging economy
after BRIC peers China, Brazil, and Russia),India is starting to appear on e-business
organisations list of key internal markets.

The e-commerce market in India is set to grow the fastest within the Asia-Pacific Region at a
CAGR of over 57% between 2012 to 2016. E-commerce sales in India surpass $1 billion for
the first time this year and reach $8.8 billion by 2016. India’s e-commerce industry is set to
grow on the back of rising demand from consumers and increasing penetration of technology.

BRIC NATIONS- COMPARISON:-

Among the BRIC Nations, India has been the fastest growing market adding over 18 million
internet users and growing at an annual rate of 41%. India is also among the top 3 fastest
growing markets worldwide in the last 12 months.

China added over 14 million users to reach 336 million internet users by the end of July 2012.
Russia and India have shown similar trends in online usage patterns along with similarities in
e-commerce and payment types.

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 KEY GROWTH FACTORS IN INDIA’S E-COMMERCE MARKET :-

 Venture capitalists are bullish on e-commerce growth.

 Online grocery shopping is starting to appeal to the upper-and middle-class
consumers.
 Expanding e-commerce into nonmetropolitan India.
 Large retailers are looking to build an online presence.
 Social media and mobile are helping accerate e-commerce adoption.

REPORT FROM THE INTERNET AND MOBILE ASSOCIATION OF INDIA :-

A report by the Internet and Mobile Association of India has revealed that India’a E-
commerce market is growing at an average rate of 70 percent annually and has grown over
500 percent since 2007.

The current estimate of US$ 6.79 billion for year 2010 is way ahead of the market size in the
year 2007 at $1.75 billion. The following chart depicts the growth of E-commerce in India in
the last couple of years:

Apparently, more online users in India are willing to make purchases through the Internet.
Overall e-commerce industry is poised to experience a high growth in the next couple of
years. The 70 percent year on year growth is expected to continue and India’s e-commerce
market is forecast to reach a whopping $US 10 billion by the end of 2011.The e-commerce
market in India was largely dominated by the online travel industry with 80% market share
while electronic retail (E-Tailing) held second spot with 6.48% market share.

E-Tailing and digital downloads are expected to grow at a faster rate, while online travel will
continue to rule the major proportion of market share. Due to increased e-commerce
initiatives and awareness by brands, e-Tailing has experienced decent growth. As far as

5
digital mobile downloads are concerned, the increasing use of smart phones, availability of
3G services and cheap data plans will also boost the growth process While e-commerce rise
there is a need to place one eye on cyber crimes in India .

SOURCES OF B2C IN INDIA:-

E-commerce is a industry is reaching new heights almost every day in India. News of Nasper
Technologies acquiring Redbus.in for a huge some or reading news about Flipkart.com
raising million dollars for their expansion. Small E-commerce companies being bought by
big ones or the ones who can raise money is buying the one’s who cannot. India’s e-
commerce market was worth about $2.5 billion in 2009, it went up to $6.3 billion in 2011 and
to $ 14 billion in 2012 ,$1 billion in 2013 and expected to touch whopping $56 billion by
2023 which will be 6.5 per cent of the total retail market.

Now,lets look at the top six players in Indian E-commerce Market. According to a survey
conducted by DesiDime amongst 3500 respondents,following are the Top 6 Online stores in
India:-

 Amazon
 Flipkart
 Snapdeal
 Jabong
 Myntra
 Homeshop18

Flipkart leads the way among the online retailers in India with 7.4 million unique visitors
a month,growing at 431% annually. Snapdeal has been close second with 6.9 million
uniques. Jabong and Myntra have been competing closely in the lifestyle category with
over 5.3 million uniques each. Homeshop18 has over 4 million uniques a month.

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Apparel has been the fastest growing subcategory in retail and reaches 13.4% online users in
India. Comparison shopping, as research of retail online grows continue to dominate. Most of
the comparison shopping sites show a growth over 75% Y-o-Y and will continue to grow as
more categories of retail come online. Consumer goods, sports/outdoor products and retail
food subcategories have also shown early growth signs. Consumer goods being a popular
category among horizontal retailers are still way below global averages.

Vertical e-commerce categories including baby products, apparel, shoes and other lifestyle
categories have also shown tremendous growth. Wider assortment and product availability
have helped these retailers in growing business online.

B2C MARKETERS USE MORE MOBILE AND PRINT:-

Eighty-six percent of B2C marketers are using content marketing, compared to 91 percent of
B2B marketers, and on average, B2C marketers use 12 tactics to achieve their content goals.
The most popular of these tactics include social media (84%), articles on a company’s
website (84%), and eNewsletters (78%).

While B2C and B2B marketers use the same mix of tactics, B2C marketers are more likely
to use mobile content, mobile apps, print magazines, and print newsletters. Compared
with their B2B peers, they use far fewer case studies, white papers, webinars/webcasts, and
research reports.

Similar to their B2B peers, B2C marketers are not confident they are using these tactics
effectively. However, compared to their to B2B, B2C marketers are more confident in their
use of social media and print.

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2.2. INTERNATIONAL SCENARIO :-

Internet usage globally has been on the rise with most of the growth has come from markets
in Asia Pacific and Latin America. Asia Pacific has added over 43 million users and is
growing in line with the 7% worldwide growth rate. Europe and North America have grown
at 8% and 3% respectively. Latin America’s online user base in the month of July 2012 stood
at 134 million and grew from 120 million in July 2011. The online user growth has primarily
been fuelled with improved network infrastructure and growing need of online content
consumption.

With a growing user base, the engagement among online users has also grown in the last 12
months time spent has increased over 5.4% per visitor and pages viewed has grown by 7%
per visitor.

E-commerce globally has been on the rise. Both travel and retail have grown faster than
several other categories in India. Retail visitation has an overall reach of close to 72%
worldwide and has grown over 13%. More than a billion people worldwide visit retail
sites every month.

In India, travel has always been ahead of the curve in terms of visitation and transactions
compared to world averages and are at 44% penetration and have grown over 41% from
last year.

Retail has grown 43% and reaches 60% penetration among online users,but still below
world averages. This shows the immense potential that the retail category holds in India
with online retail filling the distribution and convenience gap. The ecosystem to support
growth in online retail has also evolved including improvement in logistics and awareness
among brands in making the products available online.

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CHAPTER 3: PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND
FINDINGS
3.1. PRESENTATION :-

 E-COMMERCE HUB IN INDIA :-

EBay India (www.ebay.in), India’s leading e-commerce marketplace, revealed that Mumbai
was the largest e-commerce Hub in the country, according to the eBay India Census 2013.
Mr. Muralikrishnan B, Country Manager, eBay India, unveiled the 5th edition of the annual
eBay Census Guide which documents the key trends in online buying, importing, selling &
exporting across Indians in the Top 20 e-commerce Hubs, 28 states and 7 Union Territories.
eBay Census also revealed export trends to 201 countries as well as import trends from 141
countries.

Key Trends revealed in the eBay India Census 2013:

 Massification: Online Shopping is mainstream & a nationwide phenomenon: India has

over 4,306 e-commerce Hubs from all 28 States and 7 Union Territories, a 30%
increase from eBay Census 2011. Consumers from over 3,281 Bharat Hubs & 1,015
Rural Hubs shopped online.
 Top Cities: India’s Top 5 e-commerce Hubs are Mumbai, followed by Delhi, Jaipur,
Bengaluru & Chennai.
 Top States: The Top 5 States with the most transactions were Maharashtra, Delhi,
Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu & Karnataka.
 Most Wired States: The Most Wired States with the maximum e-commerce Hubs are
Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh & West Bengal.
 Top Rural Hubs: India’s Top 5 Rural Hubs are Guntur (AP), Choryasi (GJ),
Kartikapally (KL), Villupuram (TN) & Dindori (MH).
 Top Countries: India’s Top Trading Partners are United States, United Kingdom,
Australia, China & Canada.
 Zones: The West Zone of India dominate e-commerce (38%), followed by the North
Zone(30%), South Zone (26%) & East Zone (6%).
 Vertical Categories: Electronics continue to dominate & hold share at 48% of
Domestic Transactions with Lifestyle Categories (41%) gain traction with the advent
of an increased number of women consumers.
 Global Shopper: Indian shoppers from 2,638 Indian cities are opening up their wallets
to import buying from eBay entrepreneurs in 141 countries.
 Retail Exports continue to thrive with consumers from 201 countries buying Indian
handcrafted Products from Indian entrepreneurs from 523 Export Hubs across India.
 Top Brands: Samsung, Apple, Sony, Nokia & Sandisk are the most transacted brands
on eBay India.

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The eBay Census 2013 also revealed many interesting trends about the online shopping
habits of Indian’s including:

1. Technocrats: Technology products had the most share of Domestic Purchases (47%)
while Lifestyle categories dominated Imports (49%).
2. Chochoholics: Mumbai shoppers indulge their sweet tooth on eBay by buying the
most Chocolates.
3. Silky Way: Mumbai Entrepreneurs weaved a silk route of its own by exporting the
most Silk Fabric.
4. Go Smart: Mumbaikars indulge in a battle of the gadgets of their own by importing
the most smartphones.
5. Street Smart: Mumbai propagates road safety for indian riders by selling the most
rider protective gear.

3.2ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS:-

 Convenience was listed as the top reason for shopping online by 74% of the
respondents, and at the same level were discounts and coupons. This is good news for
e-tailors, as the value proposition for online shopping is clear in the minds of
shoppers.
 27% of our respondents said they purchase majority of their goods online. We believe
this bodes well for e-tailors as online shopping is gaining acceptance.
 95% of respondents look for discounts and coupons before purchasing.
 Coupon/ deal sites, Google search, and social media were the top 3 places for
shoppers to find coupons and offers.
 The number of Internet users in India was forecasted to grow to exceed 140 million
by the end of 2012, representing more than 10 percent of the population. Additionally,
an increase in mobile Internet users in India by approximately 25 percent annually
between 2012 and 2015 was expected.
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 In relation to this, online shoppers in India mainly planned to purchase from the
categories mobile phones (including accessories), computer and game software,
entertainment tickets, books/newspapers/magazines as well as travel reservations in
2012.
 In 2012, online mass merchants Flipkart and Snapdeal, as well as online clothing
retailer Jabong, had the highest number of unique visitors. Regarding the reach of
online-travel-providers in India, Indian Railways was leading in July 2012. The
website reached nearly a fifth of all Internet users in India, much more than the
trailing competitors MakeMyTrip, Yatra Online, and Jet Airways.

FUTURE TREND OF E-COMMERCE IN INDIA :-

E-commerce in India has grown rapidly across both travel and retail in the last 12 months
and has shown an above average growth compared to many categories online. Retail
growth has been fuelled by several players getting funded, aggressive marketing and the
consumer need and convenience to buy these products online.

Travel E-commerce has been above global averages and continues to soar in terms of
visitation and transactions. IRCTC has led the category with the largest transaction share
and dollar share contribution. Airline, OTAs and hotels have seen steady growth and will
remain as standard travel options for many consumers in the coming months. Car rentals
and bus booking online have shows very high growth especially among urban consumers.
With further penetration of the internet, these two categories along with have a great
amplified reach and conversion rates.

Retail category has seen peculiar growth with a lot of retailers pushing for trails among
consumers through discount and freebies. This is a changing trend as consumer having
tried online shopping; the credibility of these sites will further bolster the transaction
volume on retail sites. Among all retail sites apparel and lifestyle good shave seen an early
adoption among consumers. This again is a growing trend and we see a good amount of
contribution in dollar share and transaction share coming from lifestyle categories along
with home furnishing and lifestyle goods.

Online retail has seen a heavy overleap with social networking and search due to
aggressive marketing and strong inclination towards social commerce. We expect a larger
portion of online retail from social commerce with India positioning itself as one of the
fastest growing social networked user base and also large size of social groups.

To conclude-commerce has seen tremendous growth in the last 12 months. Models like
cash on delivery and other consumer centric payments options and improved service
quality will boost overall sales. It is definitely the most exciting phase among one retailers
and consumers as this learning curve will put India on the global map as one of the largest
e-commerce markets in the coming months.

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 CHAPTE
R 4: CONCLUSION AND LIMITATIONS
4.1. CONCLUSION:-

E-commerce has revolutionized the concept of conducting by providing equal chance to

all business to their global presence.

In the year 2013,the graph of online shopping is raising quickly and steadily. Lots of
people prefer to purchase products online from the comfort of their home . today more
than 60% of the people shop online as it is comfortable mode of shopping by just click a
mouse. With the introduction of e-commerce business communication has become effort
less and has also changed a lot for in recent years for the better.

4.2. LIMITATIONS:-

You need to write limitations of your project, not the limitations of E-commerce.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Journals :-

 Comscore Assocham Report – (State of E-commerce in India).

 Re-Birth of E-commerce in India Report.
 E-commerce Times – E-Business Report.
 A Business Review of E-retailing in India.

Websites :-

 www.assocham.org
 www.iiste.org
 www.amazon.com
 www.ebay.in
 www.priceline.com
 www.tpn.geis.com

Books :-

 E-commerce (Prof. Dilip Kumar Chakraborty & Prof. Debdulal Chatterjee)

 Electronic commerce: The new business platform for the internet(By Debra
Cameron)
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