The government will allow the old players to participate in the upcoming 2G auction, Milind Deora, Hon'ble Minister of State, Ministry of Communications & IT said at an Assocham event held in New Delhi. The upcoming auction for 2G will be open to all players including incumbent and new operators whose licenses have been canceled by the Supreme Court order, said Minister of State. "For more clarity in sector, we come up with new unified licenses regime and also assure the transparency in this sector. The government is hopeful that not only Indians but foreign investors will also invest in the sector", he said while addressing the 2nd National Conference on e-Commerce organized by The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM).
"We are confident that foreign companies will also come for bidding and will join hands with Indian companies, said Deora. Speaking on the occasion Manoj Malhotra, CEO, Avantha Group IT/ITeS Business President BPO Association of India said an increasing number of global companies are eyeing the rapidly growing e-Commerce market in India as improvements in infrastructure are made and India's economy grows. 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 eBusiness organizations' lists of key international markets. Malhotra also highlighted that internet penetration is low at just 10% of the overall population, the government is building infrastructure to improve and enable connectivity in metropolitan and rural areas.
Currently, shoppers in metropolitan India are driving eCommerce: These consumers are primarily buying travel, consumer electronics, and books online. And although spending per online buyer remains low, some 59% of online consumers in metropolitan India already make purchases online at least monthly. Consumers in non-metropolitan areas will also help fuel growth; unlike online consumers in cities, they are more likely to shop online for goods that are unavailable at local stores, said Mr. Kedar Gavane, Director, ComScore India while releasing an Assocham- comScore study titled ‘State of e-Commerce in India'.
The social and mobile trends that are prominent worldwide are also underway in India. With 51 mn Facebook users (5 mn of whom joined in the past three months alone), India is ranked as Facebook's third-largest audience in the world after the US and Brazil. Social networks have not been major drivers of eCommerce transactions in other markets, yet these sites play an important role in driving consumers online and getting them to engage with brands, add the paper. The paper also highlighted that large retailers are looking to build an online presence. Some brick-and-mortar retail operations are also recognizing the opportunity online in India.
For example, Croma, one of India's largest consumer electronics stores, moved online to sell its full range of products. And global multibrand, multichannel retailers like Walmart that are currently restricted by India's foreign direct investment (FDI) laws are anxiously following developments to take advantage of opportunities as they arise. Others who spoke during the conference were Mr. Praveen Sinha, Co-Founder, Jabong.com, Mr. Abhay Johorey, Head, Airtel Online, Mr. Vikram Sehgal, VP & Research Director, Forrester Research and Bikky Khosla, Chairman, ASSOCHAM National Council on e-Commerce & CEO, tradeindia.com