Term Paper

on

THE IMPACT ON INDIA’S E-COMMERCE INDUSTRY DUE TO THE PURCHASE OF

RELIANCE JIO’S SHARE BY FACEBOOK
Submitted to
Amity University Kolkata

In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the degree

of
BACHELOR OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
by
BARNINI CHATTERJEE
A90606418023
Under the guidance of
Mr. Suvobroto Banerjee
DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT
AMITY SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
AMITY UNIVERSITY KOLKATA, WEST BENGAL
 DECLARATION

I, Barnini Chatterjee, student of BBA (5-2018-2021) hereby declare that the project titled ​“THE

IMPACT ON INDIA’S E-COMMERCE INDUSTRY DUE TO THE PURCHASE OF

RELIANCE JIO’S SHARE BY FACEBOOK” which is submitted by me to Department of

Management ​Amity School of Business​, Amity University Kolkata, West Bengal, in partial

fulfillment of requirement for the award of the degree of Bachelor of Business Administration,

has not been previously formed the basis for the award of any degree, diploma or other similar

title or recognition.

The Author attests that permission has been obtained for the use of any copyrighted material

appearing in the Dissertation / Project report other than brief excerpts requiring only proper

acknowledgement in scholarly writing and all such use is acknowledged.

Date: __________________

BARNINI CHATTERJEE

A90606418023

BBA 5 (2018-21)

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 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that Ms.BARNINI CHATTERJEE, student of BBA has carried out work

presented in the project of the Term paper entitle “​THE IMPACT ON INDIA’S

E-COMMERCE INDUSTRY DUE TO THE PURCHASE OF RELIANCE JIO’S SHARE

BY FACEBOOK​” as a part of Third year program of Bachelor of Business Administration from

Amity University, Kolkata, West Bengal under my supervision.

_________________________

Mr. SUVOBROTO BANERJEE

Department of MANAGEMENT

ASBK, Kolkata.

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The satisfaction that accompanies the successful completion of any task would be incomplete

without the mention of people whose ceaseless cooperation made it possible, whose constant

guidance and encouragement crown all efforts with success. I would like to thank ​Prof

DEBARGHYA BAGCHI, Head of Department-Management, and Amity University for giving

me the opportunity to undertake this project. I would like to thank my faculty guide ​MR.

SUVOBROTO BANERJEE ​who is the biggest driving force behind my successful completion

of the project. He has always been there to solve any query of mine and also guided me in the

right direction regarding the project. Without his help and inspiration, I would not have been able

to complete the project. Also I would like to thank my batch mates who guided me, helped me

and gave ideas and motivation at each step.

BARNINI CHATTERJEE

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 ABSTRACT

Jio Platforms’ (a subsidiary of Reliance Industries) fund-raising blitz has raked up c. $20.2bn over

the past three months by divesting nearly 33% stake to an eclectic mix of 13 investors, including

Facebook, Silver Lakes, Vista, General Atlantic, ADIA, and the latest to jump on the bandwagon

- Google. But the biggest and perhaps the most significant investment remains the very first one

announced on April 22nd - the one by social media giant Facebook. Facebook’s $5.7bn

investment in Jio for 9.99% stake makes the social media giant the largest minority shareholder in

the Indian telecom sector and the biggest foreign direct investment (FDI) in India’s tech space.

The deal also marks the largest investment for a minority stake by a tech company in the world.

Needless to say, Facebook sees a lot of potential in this collaboration. India is the world’s largest

user base for Facebook. It is also the largest market for Facebook-backed messaging service,

WhatsApp, with over 400m monthly active users. And with 80m users, India is second only to the

US in terms of the number of users for its photo-sharing app, Instagram. Reliance Jio is the largest

telecom operator in India, both by subscriber base (369.93m users as of January 2020) as well as

revenue market share. And in due course, the “confluence of forces with common interests” could

create a behemoth.​ Facebook’s investment worth 5.7 billion dollars in Jio Platforms was the

largest deal in the first half of 2020. It highlighted India’s maturing e-commerce space and

attracted the interest of several global investors who then jumped on the bandwagon.

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 CONTENTS

DECLARATION……………………………………………………………………………………………1

CERTIFICATE…...………………………………………………………………………………………...2

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT……………………………………………………..……………………….…..3

Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………………………….4

Introduction………………………………………………………………………....…………………6 - 10

Commencement of e-commerce in India………………………………………….……………...11 -

13

Entry of social media in India…………………………………………………………….………..14 - 15

Social media trends…………………………………………………………….…………………..16 - 18

Most popular e-commerce companies…………………………………..………………………..19 - 24

Most popular social media platforms……………………………………...……………………….25 -33

Flipkart - Walmart deal……………………………………………………………………………..34 - 45

Reliance jio - facebook deal……………………………………………………..………………...36 - 43

Consumer perception on the reliance jio - facebook deal…………………………………….44 - 54

Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………………………...55

Reference…………………………………………………………………………………………..56 - 57

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 INTRODUCTION

E-commerce​ (​electronic commerce​) is the activity of electronically buying or selling of products on online

services or over the Internet. Electronic commerce draws on technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic

funds transfer, supply chain management, Internet marketing, online transaction processing, electronic data

interchange (EDI), inventory management systems, and automated data collection systems. E-commerce is in

turn driven by the technological advances of the semiconductor industry, and is the largest sector of the

electronics industry.

Modern electronic commerce typically uses the World Wide Web for at least one part of the transaction's life

cycle although it may also use other technologies such as e-mail. Typical e-commerce transactions include the

purchase of online books (such as Amazon) and music purchases (music download in the form of digital

distribution such as iTunes Store), and to a lesser extent, customized/personalized online liquor store inventory

services. There are three areas of e-commerce: online retailing, electronic markets, and online auctions.

E-commerce is supported by electronic business.

E-commerce businesses may also employ some or all of the followings:

● Online shopping for retail sales direct to consumers via Web sites and mobile apps, and

conversational commerce via live chat, chatbots, and voice assistants

● Providing or participating in online marketplaces, which process third-party business-to-consumer

(B2C) or consumer-to-consumer (C2C) sales

● Business-to-business (B2B) buying and selling;

● Gathering and using demographic data through web contacts and social media

● Business-to-business (B2B) electronic data interchange

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 ● Marketing to prospective and established customers by e-mail or fax (for example, with

newsletters)

● Engaging in pretail for launching new products and services

● Online financial exchanges for currency exchanges or trading purposes.

Closures:

Though the sector has witnessed tremendous growth and is expected to grow, many e-commerce

ventures have faced tremendous pressure to ensure cash flows. But it has not worked out for all

the e-commerce websites. Many of them like Dhingana, IndiaPlaza.in, eBay-India, Rock.in,

Seventy MM amongst others had to close down or change their business models to survive. In

March 2020, the ​Government of India​ restricted online sales of all goods except for critical items

including ​food​, ​pharmaceuticals​, and ​medical equipment​. Many Indian startups including Urban

Company, BookMyShow, ​Pepperfry​ and ​Nykaa​, which do not feature in the government’s list of

notified essential services, are running at a loss due to ​Covid-19​ pandemic.

Collaborations:

In light of the ​Covid-19​ pandemic, the Indian government issued a directive to stop delivery of

non-essential items by e-commerce platforms.​ ​This led to many e-commerce platforms to

collaborate and sell essential goods. For e.g. ​Myntra​ partnered with ​Wildcraft​ to sell protective

face masks. McCoy Mart partnered with ​Rossari Biotech​ Ltd to sell hand sanitizers. Flipkart

partnered with Uber for last mile delivery of essentials to its customers.

Infrastructure:

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There are many hosting companies working in India, some of which offer ​SaaS​ for hosting web

stores. India has got its own version of ​Cyber Monday​ known as ​Great Online Shopping Festival

which started in December 2012, when Google India partnered with e-commerce companies

including ​Flipkart​, ​HomeShop18​, ​Snapdeal​, ​Indiatimes shopping​ and ​Makemytrip​. "Cyber

Monday" is a term coined in the US for the Monday coming after ​Black Friday​, which is the

Friday after ​Thanksgiving Day​. Most recent GOSF ​Great Online Shopping Festival​ was held

during Dec, 2018. In early June 2013, ​Amazon.com​ launched their Amazon India marketplace

without any marketing campaigns. In July 2014, Amazon had said it will invest $2 billion (Rs

12,000 crore) in India to expand the business, after its largest Indian rival, Flipkart announced $1

billion in funding. In June 2016, Amazon agreed to invest another $3 billion to further pressure

rivals Flipkart & ​Snapdeal​ Amazon has also entered the grocery segment with its Kirana now in

Bangalore and is also planning to enter in various other cities like Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai

and faces stiff competition with Indian startups. A large proportion of traffic towards e-commerce

sites is driven by coupon sites.

Funding:

Examples of venture capital firms having invested in e-commerce companies in India are as

follows: ​Flipkart.com​ raised about USD 2.3 billion.​ ​On 10 July 2013, Flipkart announced it had

received $200 million from existing investors Tiger Global, ​Naspers​, ​Accel Partners​, and

ICONIQ Capital, and an additional $160 million from Dragoneer Investment Group, ​Morgan

Stanley Wealth Management​, ​Sofina​, ​Vulcan Inc.​ and more from Tiger Global.​ ​In February 2014,

online fashion retailer ​Myntra.com​ raised $50 million from a group of investors led by Premji

Invest, the investment company floated by ​Azim Premji​, Chairman of ​Wipro​. May 2014 also

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witnessed an acquisition of ​Myntra​ by ​Flipkart​ reportedly for 2,000 crores.​ ​In September 2015,

PepperTap​ raised $36 million from ​Snapdeal​ and others.​ ​In July 2020, Purplle raised $30 million

from ​Goldman Sachs​ and others.

Niche retailers:

The spread of e-commerce has led to the rise of several niche players who largely specialize their

products around a specific theme. As many as 1,06,086 websites are registered daily and more

than 25% are for niche businesses.​ ​During 2014, ​Royal Enfield​ sold 200 bikes of special series

Online. Online apparel is one of the more popular verticals, which along with computers and

consumer electronics make up 42% of the total retail e-commerce sales. Niche online

merchandising brands like Headbanger's Merch, Redwolf and No Nasties partner with and even

help sustain independent musicians.​ ​ Some established brands like Arvind are now creating

clothing lines just for the e-commerce markets. Some of the bigger online retailers like VoxPop

Clothing have secured multiple rounds of funding, the last round raising $1 million from Blume

Ventures in 2014.​ ​As these niche businesses get popular, they are slowly getting acquired by the

big players. BabyOye was acquired by Mahindra Retail, part of the $17 billion ​Mahindra Group​.

Ekstop was acquired by the ​Godrej Group​ to complement their offline chain of Nature's Basket

stores.

Regulation​:

Foreign e-commerce is subject to regulations in India; under local law, foreign companies are to

serve solely as marketplaces between vendors and their customers, and are forbidden from

holding inventory in the country. Under new regulations effective 1 February 2019, foreign

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companies will be forbidden from selling any products from vendors that they control or have

equity stakes in, and it is forbidden to enter into exclusivity deals between vendors and websites.

This regulation is seen as a counter to Amazon and Walmart's influence on the market, which

have given smaller traders a disadvantage in the market.

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 COMMENCEMENT OF THE ECOMMERCE INDUSTRY IN INDIA

Over the past few years, India has been going through a digital revolution of sorts. Over 50% of

the country’s populace, now has access to internet enabled devices, and owing to our massive

population, it translates to a user base of over half a billion people. These staggering numbers

have made India a hotbed for internet-based businesses, the largest gainer of which, has been the

e-commerce industry. A report by the India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF), projects that the

revenue generated from the e-commerce industry in the country is well on its course to breach the

US$100 billion mark by the year 2020. However, this was not always the case with online

businesses in India. In fact, there was almost some kind of reluctance among the masses, in

accepting all things digital.

The concept of e-commerce first formally came forth in 1991, a time when the internet practically

did not even exist in India. Even worldwide, very few could fathom that the act of buying and

selling goods and services over the internet, would be as widely accepted a practice, as it is today.

By the late ’90s, people became aware of this thing called the internet, but for a majority of them,

it remained a luxury they did not particularly need. In a truly Indian manner, it was only in 2002,

when the IRCTC introduced an online reservation system, that the public widely accepted the

internet as something fruitful, by which time a company named Amazon, was already beginning

to create a few murmurs in the US.

The first real stepping stone towards setting off the e-commerce juggernaut, was perhaps the

creation of Flipkart, when two engineers from IIT Delhi decided to sell books online from an

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apartment in the Koramangala area of Bengaluru. A business idea not too dissimilar to that of

Amazon. Little did they know that a decade later, US retail giants, Walmart, would acquire their

business in a US$ 16 billion-dollar deal, after a fierce bidding war with none other than Amazon.

However, even when Flipkart came into being, the internet still didn’t have the accessibility it

needed for such businesses to blow up. Reliance industries frontman, Mukesh Ambani, corrected

that in one stroke when he announced the arrival of Reliance Jio. If there is one thing Indians, or

anyone of any nationality unabashedly likes, it is free stuff. Perhaps, in what was one of the

greatest marketing strategies ever, Mr. Ambani handed out free sim cards as if he had stumbled

onto a secret dungeon with an endless supply of them, or at least a few months’ worth. He was

offering data services at a fraction of the cost compared to what his competitors were charging.

However, even when Flipkart came into being, the internet still didn’t have the accessibility it

needed for such businesses to blow up. Reliance industries frontman, Mukesh Ambani, corrected

that in one stroke when he announced the arrival of Reliance Jio. If there is one thing Indians, or

anyone of any nationality unabashedly likes, it is free stuff. Perhaps, in what was one of the

greatest marketing strategies ever, Mr. Ambani handed out free sim cards as if he had stumbled

onto a secret dungeon with an endless supply of them, or at least a few months’ worth. He was

offering data services at a fraction of the cost compared to what his competitors were charging.

Naturally, this move of Ambanis’ had several implications. For starters, all other network

operators were forced to slash down their prices to a significantly more affordable range. All of

this together culminated in the aforementioned fact, wherein the user base in the country just

exploded. At this time the e-commerce industry was already doing quite well in India. However,

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they were about to receive a massive push. ‘Data is the new oil’, screamed journalists and

newspapers. Of course, this also birthed a whole new set of cybersecurity risks, but as we have

witnessed, it’s a risk people are willing to take if they can have anything from milk to even a new

mobile phone delivered right to their doorstep.

What followed was a host of new policies, constructed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He

allowed for a 100% FDI cap, in B2B e-commerce businesses. Suddenly almost every business

had an online projection of itself. The existing e-commerce businesses were now worth their

weight in gold. India emerged as an e-commerce powerhouse, which will only grow in stature in

the times to come.

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 ENTRY OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN INDIA

India has embraced the internet with open arms, and its digital population has been rapidly

growing in the past decade with over 680 million active internet users . What started with simple

email correspondences, has expanded to a digital universe with social networking giants like

Google, Facebook and Twitter becoming a part of everyday life for millions of Indians.

Orkut was one of the first, big social networking websites in the country, owned by Google and

named after the employee who created it. In 2008, it was one of the most visited websites in the

country until its closing was announced in 2014. Not that this stopped Indians from keeping

socializing virtually – the country simply transitioned to Facebook. As of 2020, India had the

highest number of Facebook users across the globe with close to 300 million users.

As data packs get cheaper and the internet becomes more accessible, more Indians are embracing

the digital lifestyle. At the same time, smartphones are increasingly becoming the primary screen

for Indian customers. In fact, it seems that India entirely skipped the desktop generation and went

straight to mobiles. In 2019, a whopping 99 percent of the rural internet users in the country

primarily used mobile phones to access the internet. This means mobile phone applications are a

booming market in India.

As a gregarious country, Indians love their social networking apps. In 2020, the highest number

of WhatsApp and TikTok mobile app downloads in the world were from India. The average

internet user in the country spends over three hours per day on social media. And a large

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proportion of this user base were millennials and gen Z. In 2018, over 73 percent of Facebook

users in India were between 18 and 24 years of age.

Apart from social networking apps, video sharing platforms, specifically YouTube was widely

popular in India. YouTube consumption in India sky-rocketed with the Indian Premier League

streaming matches in 2010 with over two billion views per day. Of course, this doubled with each

season of the IPL thereafter. Around the same time, a relatively unknown (to the outside world)

Indian music record label, T-Series, was slowly but steadfastly making its way on YouTube by

sharing old Bollywood and indi-pop music. The content took off and today, T-Series was the most

viewed and subscribed YouTube channel in the world.

Estimates indicate that by 2023, there will be almost 450 million social network users in the

country, from a little over 326 million users in 2018. This rapid growth in the sector has also

given stimulus to the advertising industry. Today, India’s digital advertising industry is worth

over 160 billion Indian rupees, and it was estimated to reach 560 billion rupees by 2023.

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 SOCIAL MEDIA TRENDS IN INDIA

Just ​41%​ of India’s population is online, but it’s still one of the world’s largest social media

markets. There’s potential for growth as well. Thanks to ​developing infrastructure​, many rural

areas are about to go digital.

India has more Facebook users than any other country. YouTube’s Indian audience has grown

85%​ in the last year. And WhatsApp reached ​400 million​ users. The subcontinent is now the

largest market for all three networks.

That’s not all. Instagram boasts ​69 million​ Indian users, and LinkedIn has racked up ​56 million

users. Twitter and Snapchat have ​relatively small audiences​ (though Snapchat is growing in

popularity). The relatively new platform TikTok was banned by Indian courts in spring 2019,

lasting only three months. As of May 2020, India is the largest market for Tiktok, though it’s once

again ​facing scrutiny​ and another potential ban.

Hyperlocal​ ​competition​ is growing, too. As Indian audiences diversify, the demand for local

language content is increasing. Apps like LocalPlay, Local, and Awaaz are becoming popular.

They create video content focused on specific locales. Because of this, it’s best to plan your

Indian social media strategy on a city or state basis. This allows you to address local trends and

make regionally specific language choices.

There’s a lot to consider around social media in India. Here’s how to make the most of it.

60%​ of brands add an interactive element to their social media content. It’s an essential way to

stand out.

Take Samsung, for example. They launched a nationwide campaign called “​Real India​,” aimed at

Gen Z and millennials. The campaign encouraged users to share 60-second videos that break

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Indian stereotypes. The result? ​161.8 million​ engagements on Instagram and Facebook over four

weeks. This set the company up well for smartphone sales during the festive season.

Facebook’s been paying attention to the success of this approach. They’ve launched new

interactive ad formats in time for India’s festival season. (There are thirteen national and religious

festivals in ​October​ alone.) This includes augmented reality, poll ads, and stickers.

To stand out on social media in India, don’t just talk at your customers – interact with them.

The average Indian online user’s monthly data usage is 8 GB. Over 70% of that is used for

entertainment. In fact, Indians are among the biggest fans of online video in the world, spending

an average of 8.46 hours every week.

This is why social media in India has such a cinematic feel. Take British Airways’s “​Fuelled by

Love”​ story about an airline stewardess discovering India. Full of heartwarming moments, it’s an

epic 6:30 minutes long.

Facebook has also gained exclusive digital rights for ICC (International Cricket Council) events.

It will promote match recaps, key in-play moments, and other features.

Placing locally relevant and authentic storytelling at the heart of your content will delight your

customers. To turn conversations into conversions, some brands link social campaigns to their

physical locations.

For example, Burger King launched a successful ​#SayCheese​ campaign. Customers who sent in

photos featuring Burger King burgers could win vouchers.

Social commerce is also booming, especially outside the big cities. Startups like ​GlowRoad​ and

Meesho​ support female sellers with services in local languages. In the last year, 1.8 million

women sold ​$8 billion​ worth of goods in India. And the number of resellers is set to grow to 30

million by 2022.

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Currently, social media in India is ​overwhelmingly male​. Reaching a female audience can mean

supplementing social strategy with other channels. But this is starting to change. So connecting

with female sellers to turn them into brand ambassadors puts brands in a great position to reach

the growing female audience. In 2015, ​Epigamia​ launched India’s first Greek yogurt with a

five-part original series called “What the folks.” It was “a journey of modern families breaking

stereotypes, overcoming generation gaps, and growing to love one another, despite starkly

different world views.” And a great example of two strong themes in Indian social content: family

and changing social attitudes.

Politics isn’t off-limits in India either. During the 2019 general election, many brands campaigned

on the importance of voting. For example, United Colors of Benetton launched #UnitedByVote.

The campaign video featured politicians making promises. Then, an “inked” finger appears in the

frame. The message is clear: voters hold power.

WhatsApp launched a campaign against misinformation, called “​Share Joy, Not Rumors​.” The

content produced ​284,000 views​ on YouTube alone.

If your brand has a clear social purpose, shout about it. It could be the key to connecting with

your customers on social media in India. Social media is a crucial way of building brand

awareness in India. Go big and interact with your audience with locally relevant, authentic,

cross-platform content if you want to be heard. Win over customers by championing your brand

purpose. And prepare for the future by embracing India’s ever-changing digital demographics.

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 MOST POPULAR SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES IN INDIA

1. Facebook

Hands down Facebook has been ruling on the top for quite a long time now. Almost the third of

the world’s population uses Facebook, which is 2 million users using it every month. This is only

the active user count, the user base is as big as 400 million users and it keeps on increasing day by

day. It is super easy to sign up and use. The user interface is very convenient to learn and

nowadays it is also the base for the new-age trend of digital marketing as you can create ads and

run promotions too. You can feature your business page on Facebook.

2. Whatsapp

This app has become the lifeline of Indians. This app was launched in 2010 and it managed to

have a user base of above 250 million users from India alone. A lot of people now totally depend

on WhatsApp for being connected to the world. It allows you to exchange messages, send

pictures, call, video call, put up statuses, and even send documents and attachments. No matter

how huge the database is, it is used to be in touch with your loved ones.

3. Instagram

Another social network that became popular in a short span. It has become a haven for influencers

and also businesses. You can make an account of anything and everything on Instagram. It allows

you to share a wide range of content such as photos, videos, stories, and live videos. It has also

recently launched IGTV for longer-form videos. An Instagram business profile will also offer you

rich analytics that will help you get your target group and customer base.

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 4. Twitter

If you are a fan of news, entertainment, sports, politics, and more, then the most popular social

networking site is Twitter. Every little news becomes super-viral and the view count increases

tremendously on Twitter. Another unique characteristic of Twitter is that it only allows 280

characters in a tweet (140 for Japanese, Korean, and Chinese), unlike most social media sites that

have a much higher limit. So, if your style of portraying messages is in a short and a crisp way,

then give Twitter a go.

5. LinkedIn

All of us need a professional website too, so for all your job searches and corporate connection,

the perfect site is LinkedIn. It has also become a place for businesses to establish their thought

leadership and authority in their industry and attract talent to their company. It also allows other

people to observe you in a professional way. It’s also a way to be open with your audience and

allow LinkedIn users to see a simple description of what your company does, what it stands for,

and how it’s run. It also lets you put details of your entire educational background, experience

background, a little summary about you, and a lot of other details.

Top 10 eCommerce Companies in India :

1. Amazon: Amazon is an American based eCommerce web portal founded by Jeff Bezos in

1994. According to Alexa, Amazon.in is a 3rd rank website in India based on global

internet traffic and engagement.

2. Flipkart: Flipkart is an Indian based eCommerce web portal founded by Sachin Bansal and

Binny Bansal in 2007. Now Flipkart is a part of Walmart. Walmart acquired Flipkart in

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 2018. According to Alexa, Flipkart.com is a 6th rank website in India based on global

internet traffic and engagement.

3. Myntra: Myntra is an India based eCommerce web portal founded by Mukesh Bansal and

Vineet Saxena in 2007. Later, Mintra was acquired by Flipkart in 2014. According to

Alexa, Myntra.com is a 78th rank website in India based on global internet traffic and

engagement.

4. Paytm: Paytm is an India based eCommerce online payment app founded by Vijay

Shekhar Sharma in 2010. According to Alexa, Paytm.com is a 122nd rank website in India

based on global internet traffic and engagement.

5. SnapDeal: SnapDeal is an India based eCommerce web portal founded by Rohit Bansal

and Kunal Bhal in 2010. According to Alexa, Sanpdeal.com is a 159th rank website in

India based on global internet traffic and engagement.

6. AJIO: AJIO is an Indian based eCommerce web portal founded by Mukesh Ambani and

Reliance Industries Limited in 2016. According to Alexa, AJIO.com is a 189th rank

website in India based on global internet traffic and engagement.

7. Alibaba Group: Alibaba Group is a Chinese based eCommerce web portal founded by

Jack Ma in 1999. Alibaba Group is one of the oldest companies in the eCommerce

business. According to Alexa, Alibaba.com is a 267th rank website in India based on

global internet traffic and engagement.

8. ShopClues: ShopClues is an India based eCommerce web portal founded by Sanjay Sethi,

Radhika Aggarwal, and Sandeep Aggarwal in 2011. According to Alexa, ShopClues.com

is a 424th rank website in India based on global internet traffic and engagement.

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9. Paytm Mall: Paytm Mall is an Indi based eCommerce platform founded by One97

Communications in 2016. According to Alexa, PaytmMall.com is a 565th rank website in

India based on global internet traffic and engagement.

10. Tata Cliq: Tata Cliq is an Indian based eCommerce web portal founded by Ashutosh

Pandey in 2016. According to Alexa, Tatacliq.com is a 2477th rank website in India based

on global internet traffic and engagement.

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 TOP E-COMMERCE COMPANIES IN INDIA

Now, I'm continuing to list the top 10 eCommerce websites in India in 2020. All the eCommerce

websites we will contain according to the traffic ranking given by Alexa Internet. Here is a list of

the top 10 eCommerce websites in India:

S.N. Domain Rank

1 Amazon.in 3rd

2 Flipkart.com 6th

3 Myntra.com 78th

4 Paytm.com 122nd

5 Snapdeal.com 159th

6 Ajio.com 189th

7 Alibaba.com 267th

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 8 Shopclues.com 424th

9 Paytmmall.com 565th

10 Tatacliq.com 2477th

What are the Top 10 eCommerce Apps in India For 2020?

Now, I'm proceeding to list the top 10 eCommerce apps in India in 2020. All the eCommerce apps

we will contain according to the traffic ranking provided by Google Play Store. Here is a list of

the top 10 eCommerce apps in India:

1. Amazon
2. Flipkart

3. Myntra
4. AliExpress
5. Paytm
6. Shein
7. Ajio

8. Snapdeal
9. Jabong
10. ShopClues

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 MOST POPULAR E-COMMERCE COMPANIES

Typically, the sharing economy was meant for voluntary sharing of resources (for eg.

Couchsurfing) but has now transformed into powerful platforms shaping entire markets and even

economies (Amazon, Uber, Airbnb etc.)

E-commerce in India makes up only 1.6% of retail sales as of today. But this market is going

through significant changes, particularly through the impending merging of online and offline

retail with Big Tech investments in retail networks. We are looking at a future where digital

technology through e-commerce platforms can determine the future of all commerce in India.

This report looks at two phenomena. One is the tendency of e-commerce platforms to

infrastructuralism: that is, to become ubiquitous, accessible and reliable in a way that resembles

infrastructure. The other is the tendency of e-commerce to platformise existing infrastructure: that

is, to capture, fragment, and privatise infrastructure.

Implications of infrastructuralisation of e-commerce in India:

The key characteristics of infrastructure as ubiquity, accessibility and reliability, among other

parameters. E-commerce in India does not as yet fit these descriptors. In 2019, e-commerce made

up only 1.6% of retail sales in India. The corresponding ​global figure​ was 14%. On accessibility

too, e-commerce falls short. India has 504 million active internet users, which is about 36.5% of

the population. These users tend to be young, urban and male. Since Covid- 19 lockdowns, the

reliability of e-commerce has also taken a hit.

25
It is much more helpful than to look at the tendency of Indian e-commerce towards

infrastructuralisation. The literature on infrastructure recognises monopoly provision as a

characteristic of infrastructure. Is Indian e-commerce a monopoly market today? It is clear that if

the relevant market is retail in general, e-commerce is not a significant proportion of this market.

Within the e-commerce market itself, there exists a duopoly. As of 2018, Walmart-owned Flipkart

(with Myntra and Jabong) ​controlled​ 38.3% of the e-commerce market, and Amazon controls

about 31.2%.

The more relevant question is if e-commerce will continue to be a monopolistic market as it

grows outwards into all retail. In 2019, Amazon announced a billion-dollar investment in India to

help small and medium-sized businesses come online. This naturally means that these businesses

will be supported to sell on Amazon’s own platform. Amazon is also working on turning

neighbourhood shops into e-commerce delivery centres. Facebook’s investment in Reliance Jio is

meant to primarily bring small businesses online via WhatsApp. Google’s $10 billion Google for

India Digitization Fund to help accelerate India’s digital economy involved a significant

investment in Jio as well.

From these recent developments in investment, it is safe to assume that the share of e-commerce

in retail will continue to grow through ‘new retail’, a term coined by Alibaba founder Jack Ma to

denote the blurring boundaries between online and offline retail. It involves the digitalisation of

physical stores among other ways of integrating online and offline shopping. Investments from

Amazon, Facebook and Google described above are examples of new retail.

26
With this growth trajectory of e-commerce in mind, we now look at some of the existing

economic relationships prevailing between e- commerce platforms and participants on these

platforms, that is, sellers and customers. We analyse these economic relationships in terms of

value adds and dependence.

Key findings:

E-commerce adds value to third-party sellers’ business by providing access to new domestic

markets (84.6% of Amazon sellers, 77.6% of Flipkart sellers) and improving price discovery

(67.7% of Amazon sellers, 58.6% of Flipkart sellers changed their price after going online). It

adds value to consumers with helpful product reviews (70% of consumers), lower prices (79% of

consumers), and brand discovery (70% of consumers).

Chart 1: Why do you sell on Flipkart?

Chart 2: Why do you sell on Amazon?

27
Chart 3: Motives for shopping online

E-commerce creates dependence, with a majority of sellers (92.3% of Amazon sellers, 84.5% of

Flipkart sellers) making fundamental changes to their business practices to accommodate the rules

of the platform or optimise operations on the platform. On average, sellers depended on Amazon

for 50.4% of their total revenue and on Flipkart for 39% of their total revenue. Most sellers did

28
not feel “locked in” to a particular platform, but the indication was that they were locked in to

e-commerce in general. Most sellers also felt that the commission they paid platforms was low or

adequate (93.9% for Flipkart, and 87.5% for Amazon), showing that e-commerce in India is still

in early stages of market-building.

Policy recommendations:

Policymakers can choose among the three recommendations below. The choice must be such that

it preserves the value-adds of e-commerce:

1.​ Allow concentrated e-commerce markets to continue, but then undertake one or more of the

below:

Disallowing the fusion of online and offline retail, or limiting the growth of this fusion under

monopoly conditions;

Regulating platforms to minimise chances of breakdown, because third-party sellers also have an

interest in the platform not arbitrarily shutting down;

Restricting the change of policies on platforms that may adversely affect platform participants

without duly informing or consulting with the latter.

2.​ Maintain a minimum level of competition to allow switching between platforms for third-party

sellers;

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3.​ Promote public ownership or democratic control of e-commerce platforms to correspond with

its infrastructural nature.

Infrastructure that e-commerce is platformising:

Key findings:

Platformization of the marketplace is taking place through control over market conditions –

e-commerce firms both regulate and act as participants in the marketplace, thereby exerting

inordinate amounts of control over the marketplace.

In the survey, most sellers did not have an issue with their appearance in search rankings. This

indicates that despite the platformization of the marketplace, it is perhaps premature to ask for

algorithmic fairness in e-commerce; but algorithmic transparency is still needed.

30
The survey also found that over 70% of consumers now search for goods they are buying directly

on the platforms instead of using search engines. This makes it clear that if there were to be an

issue with algorithmic fairness in search results in the future, it would affect nearly all of online

product search, not just product search on a particular platform.

When you decide to buy a product online, where do you usually first search for it?

Platformization of the marketplace also takes place through private labels. Both Amazon and

Flipkart use sales and other data generated on their platform to introduce their own products

(private labels) for sale on the platform. This is egregiously anti-competitive as third-party sellers

do not have access to the data generated by themselves and which is used to develop and market

private labels. A majority of sellers (63.1% for Amazon and 58.6% for Flipkart) said that they

saw platform-branded products as competitors to their own products.

Platformization​ ​of logistics​: ​Logistics in India is an infrastructural service that is being

platformised by e-commerce through platform envelopment. A phenomenon where a player in

31
one platform market captures users in another platform market by bundling its services or

functionalities. It is able to do this by gaining network effects in a new type of market with its

existing user base. E-commerce providers in India use such bundling often. In fact, telecom

provider Reliance Jio’s bid to enter e-commerce is itself an example of an attempt at platform

envelopment. Logistics is perhaps the sector that is most vulnerable to platform envelopment

from e-commerce. About 20-25% of the e-commerce logistics market is controlled by

e-commerce firms’ own entities. Amazon Transportation Services, in particular, has a strong

presence in the sector. In 2018, KPMG estimated that 70% of the deliveries of large e-commerce

platforms were made by their in-house delivery arms. Platformization of logistics is evident in

over half of surveyed sellers (63.1% for Amazon and 53.4% for Flipkart) claiming one of the

reasons for selling online is shipping provided by the platform. Sellers and consumers both

preferred bundled services (sales and shipping provided together by the platform), showing that

such platformization of logistics is likely to continue. About 20-25% of the e-commerce logistics

market is controlled by e-commerce firms’ own entities.

Policy recommendations:

Third-party sellers must have access to the same sales data that is used by the platform to compete

against them. Mechanisms for mandated sharing of non-personal data sharing should be built for

e-commerce.

Currently, platforms with FDI are effectively disallowed from selling their own products as well

as third-party products. This separation of intermediation and sale has to be imposed on domestic

32
e-commerce entities in multi-brand retail above a certain firm size as well. It should not remain

limited to e-commerce entities receiving foreign investment.

Third-party sellers should be able to know why their products have a certain rank in search results

on the platform. Algorithmic regulation should include a minimum level of transparency about

how algorithms rank results on e-commerce sites, with evolving standards for fairness. To

regulate broader economic effects, lending rules in the logistics sector should account for the

growing market share of e-commerce firms in logistics.

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 FLIPKART- WALMART DEAL

Walmart announced​ over the weekend that it has completed a $16 billion investment in Flipkart

that sees it become the majority owner of the Indian e-commerce company.

The deal was first revealed back in May and now it has closed after receiving the necessary

approvals. It sees Walmart take a 77 percent share in the company, buying out a number of prior

investors in the process and expanding its rivalry with Amazon to a new horizon. The investment

capital also includes $2 billion in new equity funding which will be used for growth while the

transaction was structured so that Flipkart itself can still go public. That latter point could mean

that the Indian firm must go public within four years, as TechCrunch previously reported.

Flipkart ​ will continue to be run by its leadership with Tencent and Tiger Global retaining board

seats. Those two have remained investors in the business, alongside others that include Flipkart

co-founder Binny Bansal and Microsoft. Walmart previously suggested that other allies would

come aboard as investors. Google was strongly mooted, but so far there have been no strategic

additions.

Walmart ​ said that its plans for India will include investments that “support national initiatives

and will bring sustainable benefits in jobs creation, supporting small businesses, supporting

farmers and supply chain development and reducing food waste.”

As we previously reported, it also plans to use Flipkart as a “key center of learning” for the rest of

its business across the world, and that includes its home market.

“Not only is [Flipkart] innovative [with the] problem-solving culture that they have, but they are

doing some great work both in the AI space, how they are using data across their platforms but

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particularly in terms of the payment platform that they’ve created through PhonePe. All of those

things we can learn from for the future and see how we can leverage those around the

international markets and potentially into the US as well,” Walmart COO Judith McKenna said

back in May when the deal was announced.

Flipkart’s business could also get a whole lot more transparent since its quarterly results will be

reported as part of Walmart’s earnings. Although they will be part of its international business so

that might provide some protection from direct scrutiny.

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 RELIANCE JIO - FACEBOOK DEAL

Facebook’s purchase of a ​nearly 10% stake​ in Reliance Industries’ digital business unit Jio
Platforms brings one of the world’s largest Internet companies on the table with India’s largest
telecom player. The $5.7-billion deal, which values Reliance’s digital operations at around $66
billion, pushes the Indian conglomerate ahead in its plans of de-leveraging its balance sheet while
accelerating the launch of its ​new commerce business​.

Further, it not only marks Facebook’s long-pending formal entry into India’s telecom sector but
also catapults it to a place among the biggest foreign investors in India’s technology space

What does the deal mean for Reliance Industries?

Back in August 2019, while addressing the company’s shareholders at the annual general
meeting, Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani had said the group had prepared a
roadmap for becoming a zero net-debt company within 18 months. The Facebook deal
significantly contributes to that plan by paring about Rs 43,574 crore from its outstanding debt as
of September 2019 of Rs 2.92 lakh crore. The other primary contributors to the debt-reduction

plan will be a potential $15 billion (around Rs 1.05 lakh crore) deal with Saudi Aramco for a 20%
stake in Reliance Industries’ refining and petrochemicals business and Rs 7,000 crore from a 49%
sale in its fuel retail joint-venture to British firm BP. However, experts believe the Aramco deal to
be under threat on account of the oil prices crash caused by the COVID-19 outbreak.

Besides the balance sheet deleveraging, the timing of the deal with Facebook is significant for

another reason: online platforms selling essential goods have suddenly witnessed an upsurge in

demand. For example, before the outbreak, just 1% of the Rs 80,000-crore grocery market in

India was represented by online players. After the lockdown, online platforms started to account

for 50% of the grocery demand in the country by some estimates before it was corrected. “We’re

36
one of the few industries that has got more than enough business but not enough resources,” said

Hari Menon, CEO of India’s largest online grocer Bigbasket.

Experts have said the arrangement among Reliance Retail, Jio Platforms and Facebook-owned

WhatsApp to offer consumers the ability to access the nearest kiranas, or grocery stores, which
can provide products and services to their homes by transacting with ​JioMart​ using WhatsApp,
has come at a very opportune time. WhatsApp boasts 400 million users in India. Further, using
WhatsApp’s base also allows Reliance Retail to promote its services to users of Jio’s rival
telecom players.

What does the deal mean for Facebook?

Facebook has been trying for years to get its finger in the Internet pie. In 2015, it experimented
with Free Basics, which provided free access to basic Internet services as a partnership with

service providers. However, criticised for being a walled garden, it soon pulled out of the idea
after differential pricing was disallowed by the telecom sector regulator.
It had even looked at the possibility of beaming free Internet from the air using a solar-powered
drone called Aquila, and enabled low cost high-speed Wi-Fi in some remote parts of India with an
initiative called Express Wi-Fi. But data was expensive in those times, and free access to the

Internet was envisioned as the easiest way to bring the next billion users online. Then, Reliance
Jio happened. It launched with data rates so low that they became the industry standard in one of
the largest online markets in the world. Jio alone helped bring 388 million users online, well over
a third of what Facebook had planned.
The partnership with Reliance could also help Facebook navigate the regulatory environment in

India, where it has had ​several skirmishes​ with the authorities, including for its major initiatives
such as ​WhatsApp Pay​.

What does it mean for India’s Internet ecosystem?

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The deal also marks Facebook’s entry among elite investors in India’s technology space, joining
the likes of SoftBank, Amazon and Google that have together poured in billions of dollars in

Indian tech startups and their own ventures over the years. Prior to Jio Platforms, Facebook had
invested around $20-25 million in social commerce platform Meesho in 2019, and participated in
a $110 million funding round for edu-tech company Unacademy earlier this year.
The deal with Reliance also gives Facebook access to the latter’s bouquet of digital apps. These
include in-house apps such as Jio Money, Jio TV, etc in addition to the young startups acquired

by Reliance or its subsidiaries across categories such as logistics, e-commerce and artificial
intelligence.

What does it mean for Reliance’s data localisation principles?

In January last year, speaking at the Vibrant Gujarat Summit, Ambani had stressed that India’s
data “must be controlled and owned by Indian people – and not by corporates, especially global
corporations”. “For India to succeed in this data-driven revolution, we will have to migrate the
control and ownership of Indian data back to India – in other words, Indian wealth back to every
Indian,” he had said. While some have raised the red flag over Facebook’s track-record on data

privacy issues, executives of both companies said Wednesday that data sharing was not a part of
the deal. “There will be areas that we will collaborate in but there will be areas where we will
potentially not agree with each other,” a Jio official said. Facebook, on the other hand, maintained
its stance in favour of an open ecosystem for data to flow across boundaries.

​Analysts Prediction For Jio Mart

Earlier launched in May, RIL’s online gross merchandise value (GMV) will reach $35 billion in

FY25 with a 31% share of the e-commerce market from around 1% now, according to Goldman

Sachs. Here GMV represents the total value of merchandise sold over a given period and

considered as a measure of growth. In the second quarter of this fiscal, RIL’s retail business

38
recorded a robust growth across consumption baskets. They have posted a sales of Rs 41,100

crore, which definitely shows the growth from Rs 31,620 crore which was reported in the June

quarter. During the pandemic-induced lockdown, 85% of the country's grocery stores were shut.

For Jio Mart, the grocery segment, staples and processed food drove the growth.

JioMart Emerging As Multi Segment

In a 2 November note, UBS said, “JioMart is evolving into a multi-segment e-commerce play. It

will not be restricted to just food and grocery but would also include electronics, fashion and

lifestyle and pharma products. This would make JioMart a full-fledged ecommerce player with an

assortment comparable to or even wider than Amazon and Flipkart,”RIL’s own infrastructure of

‘Trends, Digital and Jewels’ stores, as well as acquisitions such as Netmeds, Grab and Fynd,

would help in a seamless integration and faster ramp-up of JioMart, the note said.As per the

SensorTower data, the company is witnessing strong app downloads for JioMart (grocery) and

Ajio (apparel). In addition to that, Ajio’s revenue increased four times. On the other hand, the

contributions from digital electronics sales and grocery e-commerce through JioMart have also

become sizable. RIL’s e-commerce is the approval for WhatsApp Pay to go live on the UPI

platform will also aid its growth.Additionally, WhatsApp’s integration with JioMart will

strengthen the offering for the 60 million small merchants.It will also strengthen the telecom

operator Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd.

COVID-19 Pandemic, Lockdown Have Accelerated E-Commerce Growth

Goldman Sachs said the COVID-19 pandemic is the key driver for the acceleration in the

adoption of numerous technologies and consumer behaviours, mainly e-commerce.It said, “What

started at first with panic buying, hoarding and nest feathering out of necessity has turned into an

39
array of adaptations that have driven e-commerce penetration from 16 per cent of retail spending

in the US in 1Q19 to over 40 per cent in May driven by year- over-year growth of nearly 70 per

cent.” The report ‘Global Internet: e-commerce’s steepening curve’ formulated by Goldman

Sachs said the COVID-19 pandemic and the resultant lockdowns has been a driving force for the

penetration of e-commerce globally with categories such as consumer packaged goods driving as

much as 3 years of penetration growth in 3 months. It said, “We forecast India e-commerce will

reach USD 99 billion by 2024, growing at a 27 per cent CAGR over 2019-24, with grocery and

fashion/apparel likely to be the key drivers of incremental growth in our view.”As per the study,

the e-commerce penetration in the country is expected to reach 10.7% by 2024 compared to 4.7%

in 2019. The firm said that the penetration into grocery or Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG)

will be the contributing factors for growth in India’s e-commerce. It is also expected to improve

the payment ecosystem and ease of shopping through WhatsApp among others. Goldman Sachs

said adding the last 500 basis points of the increase took 4 years, “We expect non-grocery

e-commerce penetration to see a sharp increase of 500 basis points over the next two years to

reach 16.1 per cent by 2021.” As of 2019, the online extent in India for consumer electronics was

high at 40%. Though there has been significant growth in online penetration in other categories

like apparel, appliances, health and personal care, India is far behind from its peers like China.It

said, “As far as incremental growth in e-commerce is concerned, we expect grocery to be the

biggest driver with 40 per cent contribution to incremental e-commerce GMV (gross merchandise

volume) between 2019 and 2024.” “However, online penetration currently stands at less than 0.5

per cent (absolute size USD 2 billion), one of the least among categories,” it said. While giving a

silver lining the report also stated that the online grocery market in India to grow by 20 times over

the next 5 years, to reach USD 29 billion in value (5.1 %penetration) by 2024. The firm said that

40
it is forecasting online grocery orders to grow from 300,000 per day in 2019, to more than 5

million per day by 2024. On a global scale, e-commerce would grow 24%, the firm forecasts.

Facebook-Jio Deal A Key Driver For the Growth In Online Shopping In India?

Amidst the coronavirus outbreak, Facebook, world’s biggest social network bought 9.99% stake

in Reliance Jio, the telecom wing of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL). RIL’s e-commerce

venture, JioMart plans to use Facebook’s WhatsApp to connect local grocery stores with the

consumers. The report also said, “The biggest near term theme in India internet, in our view, is

the foray of Reliance Industries (India’s largest market-cap company with presence across sectors

such as energy, telecom, and retail) into e-commerce, and the company’s tie-up with WhatsApp

for online grocery.” Online grocery has been escalating at over 50% year-on-year (Y-O-Y) for the

last couple of years. The report stated with the COVID-19 lockdown coupled with JioMart, more

customers have shifted to online grocery shopping and the growth is expected to accelerate to

81% CAGR during 2019-24. RIL’s foray into the e-commerce space via JioMart by using its

large of?ine distribution capabilities and also with the Facebook-Jio deal, ability to order

groceries through WhatsApp – a platform with more than 400 million users in India.Goldman

Sachs said, “We believe RIL’s partnership with Facebook could result in the company becoming

a market leader in the online grocery space, with more than 50 per cent share by 2024.” It added,

“Having said that, we do see grocery as a large category for two or more players to co-exist over

time.”In the Facebook FDI in Reliance Jio deal, the benefit and cost calculations show that both

partners gain, adding to our foreign reserves, and so it’s commercially a sensible deal.That is why,

on the same principles, the BJP government at the Centre has permitted Amazon and

Walmart-Flipkart to function in India, but unfortunately so far and till now, there was no other

competitor. This has led to some allegations of under and over invoicing in their local

41
transactions. Such irregularities, if any, can be efficiently blocked only by deep-pocket

competitors. The collateral benefits of the Reliance Jio-Facebook deal are many. Firstly,

Facebook, which includes WhatsApp and Instagram, caters to about 400 million users. Reliance

Jio also has about the same number of clients, with some overlap. But since JioMart has been

formed by RIL, the company is planning to enter in a big way to start the e-commerce business

and e-payment services. Thus, besides the private gain to RIL of being able to use the fund

infusion of Rs 43,570 crore to vastly reduce its debt (Jio by itself has Rs 40,000 crore as debt), the

Jio-Facebook combine can compete with others in the e-commerce and e-services areas for which

the vast WhatsApp and Instagram subscribers will add to JioMart’s reach to compete, reduce

margins, and, therefore, prices for the consumers. Secondly, already JioMart has begun trial runs

in Navi Mumbai, Thane, and Kalyan besides RIL ownership in 6,700 big and small cities of

10,900 retail stores, employing 1,25,000 people. WhatsApp is also connected to small businesses,

taking orders from customers, and promoting offerings through the internet and cellphones. Thus,

Facebook and Jio combined will have huge market reach and consumer convenience. Thirdly,

households will be able to reach by cellphones the nearest kirana stores and place orders for home

delivery, Here too, Jio-Facebook can reach this way millions of traders and kirana merchants on

the cellphones and internet and thus save consumers from having to make the trip physically for

purchase. Fourthly, the Jio-Facebook combine can now easily explore, with government

concurrence, the introduction of a cryptocurrency network. The government of India has already

approved blockchain technology. The final step of digital currency may have to wait because the

regulatory infrastructure has not yet been set up. When that happens, black money will become

impossible to use as legal currency in circulation. Illegal transactions via cryptocurrency and

blockchain will be impossible without detection. A word of caution though: the United States has

42
very strict laws about national security implications arising from lack of privacy and data security.

At present India does not have any such reciprocal law on privacy, and hence the huge data that

would be generated by the Facebook-Jio collaboration would travel just one way: from India to

the US. The government of India ought to have passed a Privacy Act long ago as well as on the

security of the servers when Amazon and Walmart’s Flipkart were permitted to operate in India.

Now is another opportunity to show greater sensitivity about data protection and privacy, which

the government has not shown since Aadhaar was introduced. For a comparison, we may examine

the US Export Control Reform Act of 2018, whereby the US Congress directed the American

President to start an inter-agency process to identify “emerging and foundational technologies

essential to the national security of the United States”. The Facebook-Jio alliance is within the

purview of the US government’s department of commerce list of transactions. Hence, I welcome

the Reliance-Facebook FDI decision as good for both, and, subject to fulfilling the legal

requirement on a Privacy Act to be passed by Parliament, good for India too.

43
 CONSUMER PERCEPTION ON RELIANCE JIO - FACEBOOK DEAL

Here is a detailed survey report analytics on the consumer perception on the Reliance Jio-

Facebook deal:

DATA OF THE CONSUMERS FROM THE SURVEY:

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 CONCLUSION

While retailers and e-commerce platforms may feel intimidated by the biggest cross-country deal

of this year between Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio and Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook,

homegrown digital payments platform Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma claims that this

could actually be beneficial to the firm. The Jio-Facebook deal may mark a change in consumer

behaviour, and the whole industry will benefit from this, Vijay Shekhar Sharma told CNBC

TV-18. “It takes a huge amount of capital to change customer behaviour and it took us tens of

thousands of crores to make users pick up the phone and scan a QR code. We spent more money

than government programs cumulatively to change the behaviour,” he said.

However, one thing that Paytm hasn’t been able to do is business around online-to-offline, he

said. On the other hand, JioMart is incepted on the premise that an item will be sourced from a

local store and will be later shipped to a customer’s home. “Jio-Facebook partnership may be

calling the country where consumers start to place orders to neighborhood stores. Once this takes

off, everyone in the industry will benefit and we will also be a beneficiary,” Vijay Shekhar

Sharma added. After the announcement of Facebook-Jio deal, Paytm had also later announced its

plan to bring kiranas into play as the company looks to ramp up hyperlocal deliveries in about 100

Indian cities.

Limitation - ​This is a s​ubjective and descriptive research, I further intend to analyse as per

influential research methodology.

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