Indian E-Commerce Scenario – An Overview

Nowadays e-commerce has become an important part of daily life. The Indian e-commerce industry has been on an upward growth trajectory and is expected to surpass the US to become the second largest e-commerce market in the world by 2034. The E-commerce market is expected to reach Rs 13,97,800crore (US$ 200 billion) by 2027 from Rs 2,69,076.5 crore (US$ 38.5 billion) in 2017. India's e-commerce market has the potential to grow more than four folds to Rs 10,48,350crore (US$ 150 billion) by 2022 supported by rising incomes and surge in internet users. Internet penetration in India grew from just 4 per cent in 2007 to 34.42 per cent in 2017, registering a CAGR of 24 per cent between 2007 and 2019. In FY19, internet penetration in India was 48.48 per cent. Internet penetration in rural India is expected to grow as high as 45 per cent by 2021 compared to the current rate of 25.36 per cent. Components of e-commerce sectors, like logistics, warehousing, ITs, are expected to create direct employment for around 1.45 million of workforce by 2021, a significant jump from the 23,500 jobs which existed in 2012. The contribution of e-commerce to total GDP of India increased significantly, from 0.13% in 2009 to 0.22% in 2018. With this increasing contribution to GDP, it strengthens the Indian economy. According to statista.com, there will be more increase in e-commerce sales in India and thus will contribute 2.5% of GDP by 2030. The contribution of agricultural sector in e-commerce is only less than 3 per cent, and only 14 per cent of farmers have registered on the National Agriculture Market (e-NAM). Of those who have registered, 51 per cent have not benefited from the trading platform. Data from the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare revealed that 1.64 crore farmers and more than 1.24 lakh traders have registered on e-NAM. Of the registered farmers, about 80 lakh (49 per cent) got the benefit of trading on the platform. Nearly 26.31 crore workers are engaged in the farm sector. This includes 11.89 crore cultivators and 14.43 crore workers. But e-NAM has not reached the majority of farmers even as it promotes better marketing opportunities through an online competitive and transparent price discovery system and online payment facility