Here is a headline even a pessimist cannot doubt. Indian E-Commerce is on fire. The hottest e-commerce market in the world is not in US or China or but it’s in India. Experts predict that the industry is poised to grow at a phenomenal rate of at least 50% year on year for next four years. What is driving this change? We take a quick look at the underlying reasons for this change. We also explore how we can adopt our evolving online behaviour over our traditional way of investing.
E-COMMERCE IN INDIA
Today, technology is something that has the power to change history in a very short time and there are numerous industries which have changed their character. The most amazing transformation is being seen in how we shop. The e-commerce industry in India is expected to grow at 40% CAGR from US$ 5.9 billion in 2010 to US$ 34.2 billion in 2015E. One interesting observation is that the e-commerce wave has come after we became more comfortable with the social media sites. Today, the digital world has penetrated every aspect of our lives, from ordering grocery, booking hotels, making friends, buying homes, searching jobs, selling old items and of course finding your spouse. To make things even better, we now have mobile devices connected to internet so that we can do things at any time, anywhere. There are a number of factors behind e-commerce boom and here are some key enablers and trends that you would like to know…
- Rising household income and spending ability. Annual household income rising from $2632 in 2005 to estimated $3823 in 2015.
- The rise of the great Indian middle class. Estimates for 2015 predict the share of households under the bottom of the pyramid as 29% compared 64% in year 2006.
- Falling mobile & computing device prices, internet costs and the rise in internet speeds. Internet penetration is up from 5m in 2000 to 140m in 2012 and estimated at 400m in 2016.
- Credit and Debit Card penetration increasing along with the value of transactions. Together, they have risen from 4.5m cards in 1999 and expected to cross 420m in 2015.
- Phenomenal growth of mobile e-commerce. In 2016, mobile shopping likely to be 27 times of that in year 2012. Mobile shopping grew 800% in 2013 alone
THE CHALLENGES
However, there are also challenges that the industry faces. The above numbers may look very optimistic but the fact remains that in a huge country like India, the share of organised retail online was only 0.3% compared to 8.7% of organised retail off-line and 91% of unorganised retail. There are also challenges of internet broadband speed which is minuscule compared to the speeds in US, Japan or European countries. The infrastructure and logistics is also a big challenge for the players. There are also questions whether the ecosystem consisting of payment gateways, technology, skilled manpower, regulations, supply chains, etc. can match up with the opportunity. The good news is that 2014 also marked an inflection point in the Indian politics with the formation of the new government. Clearly there is new found optimism and confidence. The government is playing its’ cards well with initiatives like Jan Dhan Yojana, Digital India, projects like National Bill Payment System, National Optical Fiber Network, the focus on infrastructure coupled with policy & procedural revamp efforts. The initiatives are today laying foundation for a new, connected, efficient and digital India tomorrow.
UNLOCKING THE BEHAVIOURAL REASONS
There is no doubt a big sea change in how the Indian customer has evolved with time. Today he is not shy, afraid or illiterate to log on, create accounts, make posts, give orders and make payments. But what is driving this behavioral change? Here are some pointers that come to our mind…
- Need for Convenience: Ease, comfort, efficiency and time savingsby going online.
- Need for Choice: Availability is no longer an issue. Consumers can easily compare and choose from the many options available./li>
- Need for Freedom: To be free from any dependence on physical stores, freedom from mobility, time and geographical restrictions. Any one can now transact any time and any where.
- Need for Control: Being online is also about having a sense of control in your own hands at all times.
- Increased Confidence: Much improved confidence in online brands and payment gateways.
- Increased familiarity with technology: With almost everyone being a Facebook user, Indians are increasingly more comfortable with technology and are using same across different platforms.
EXPLORING POSSIBILITIES IN ONLINE INVESTING
Year 2014 saw the penetration of e-commerce to newer areas including health care, groceries, education, governance in India. However, there is one big area which is still relatively less penetrated – and its’ “investing” online. Though, among investment products, online investing or perhaps ‘trading’ in equities has been already there for some time, its’ suitability for retail investors has been in question.
Mutual funds, which is nothing but a vehicle to hold any asset class, is suitable for all kinds of investors. While India had very long ago shifted fully to the demat holding format for equities, mutual funds units are still being held by a vast majority in physical mode. Today one can hold mutual fund units in demat format just like shares. One can also very easily transact in mutual funds online. While we are very happy to benefit from ease of doing our transactions online and also fully understand the benefits of holding shares in demat form, a question must be asked – why are we reluctant to take the next step of transacting online in say, mutual funds?
No one can doubt the below list of the advantages that transacting & holding mutual funds and other financial products in online mode can offer…
- Any Time, Any Where Investing: freedom from dependence on your financial advisor for processing transactions. With the advice, you can transact at your own convenience within matter of few seconds. There would be no time or geographical or mobility restrictions.
- ncreased Accuracy & Efficiency: With freedom from paperwork, the chances of physical rejections, errors, etc. is almost eliminated and the overall system /data management gets much more efficient.
- Know Your Holdings: your actual holdings in the demat account can be easily and accurately known at any time at just one place.This becomes a big challenge when the holdings are in physical format.
- Better Information flow: With every online transaction, you can track the status of the transaction and also get instant alerts related to transactions requested. All information will be easily available on the online account.
WHAT YOU NEED TO DO?
It is high time that Indian investors truly adopt the online mode when in comes to managing their wealth. Today, in addition to equities, there are other products like mutual funds, Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs), Bonds, etc which are available in online mode. You can truly enjoy the benefits of freedom, convenience, control, choice and much more by taking the online route.
The journey of going online begins by opening of a Trading Account and Demat Account (NJ E-Wealth Account) with a registered distributor /broker. For this one time process, your financial advisor will help and guide you. After the opening of the Trading & Demat Accounts, you are good to begin transacting online in products of your choice. Your existing, physical mutual fund holdings can also be easily converted to the demat mode on submission of a simple request for mode conversion.
NJ E-Wealth Account with NJ
NJ India Invest Pvt. Ltd. a member of BSE & NSE and a registered DP with CDSL, also offers the services of Trading Account & Demat account with many unique features and benefits as listed below.
- Single Window Multiple Products– currently live segments are Mutual Fund & Capital Market. Even bidding for IPOs can be done through NJ NJ E-Wealth Account.
- Multiple modes of transactions (Online, Call & Trade, Mobile App and even Offline)
- Single access point for multiple AMCs and mutual fund schemes
- Inter AMC switch & STP is possible.
SUMMARY
We have been making giant strides in how we are connecting and transacting in our lives and are skilled in the usage of internet and mobile. Time has now come to also go digital and online with our investments. As we all know, the advantages are enormous and it is a matter of time that until the day when we all will be investing and managing our wealth online. And going by the trends, it feels like that time will be sooner than later. Many have already logged on, have you?
