Does e-commerce require a separate regulator?
This question has begun to gain currency in the wake recent big ticket investment announcements by Flipkart, Amazon and Snapdeal. All of a sudden, the nascent e-commerce industry has created a big buzz around it.
Ashish Jhalani, Founder, eTailing India, which focuses on getting e-commerce companies together, feels that there is no need for a separate regulator for e-commerce. “This (e-commerce) is not something new. It is an extension of retail,’’ he said. Even in the U.S., there is no separate regulator for e-commerce, he points out.
“Even in the West, they aren’t been able to figure out how to control e-commerce,’’ says Mr. Jhalani. “It (e-commerce) is not about a city, a state, and a country. It cuts across the globe,’’ he points out.
eTailing India is holding its second edition of e-commerce conference and exhibition here on Thursday (August 7). Speakers from big names in the e-commerce space such as Flipkart, eBay, Amazon and the like are expected to figure in the conclave.
Does the sudden big money commitment into the e-commerce space augur well? Or does it bode ill for the industry? Mr. Jhalani brushes away the ‘bubble talk’. He is convinced that e-commerce is turning into a reality in India. He is of the view that the committed big money will flow into developing the infrastructure for building a robust e-ecommerce eco-system. He reckons that this will ultimately see the development of a mature customer and supplier base in the Indian context. Making it clear that India is vastly different from China as for e-commerce is concerned, he says, “eventually the fighting is about understanding the local market.’’ According to him, e-commerce in India constitutes less then one per cent of the total retail business. Quiz him on the fight between online and offline retailers. “This is not a war. There is enough room for everybody,’’ he avers. Discounting that is happening in the online retail space is nothing unfamiliar, and is akin to what happened in the U.S. This (discounting), according to him, is resorted to more as a customer acquisition strategy by e-commerce firms. “This is just a temporary phase,’’ he says. In the long-run, this will necessarily have to be sorted out, he feels, underscoring the co-existence of online and offline retailers.
