My following suggestion was sent to the NDA policy-makers , some
4 months ago ( 15 July 2015
)
If anyone doubts that the Ministers / Secretaries of NDA
government , listen to suggestions made by ordinary citizens , let him read
yesterday's announcement by DIPP , re E Commerce
hemen parekh / (M) 0 - 98,67,55,08,08
11 Nov 2015
www.hemenparekh.in >
Blogs
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July 15 2015
DEFINING E - COMMERCE
A report in Hindustan Times ( 15 July 2015 ) talks about a
series of
meetings expected to be held today between Commerce
Minister and
different stake-holders , to define " e-Commerce "
I am reminded of the story of the 7 blind men , each trying to
describe an
elephant by touching different limbs of the animal
It was obvious they could not arrive at a commonly agreed upon
description,
since their perceptions differed
Before trying to define " e-Commerce " , we must first
define " Commerce "
In pre-historic times , persons produced whatever they needed to
survive
Then they learned to " barter " things produced by
each other
The only concepts were , " need " and " surplus
"
That lead to introduction of a concept called " Value
" , which manifested itself in the form of a stick , a weapon , a goat or
a piece of animal skin , till it became , some sort of coin
When barter gave way to an exchange of some goods ( or service )
, for its perceived " Value " ( as measured in coins ) , it became
" Commerce "
So , we can conclude that :
" E - Commerce " is nothing more than " Commerce
" , where such exchange of values , take place electronically , as opposed
to physically . It still remains Commerce , even when perceptions differ
Hence , regulations / controls / taxation etc that govern
E-Commerce should , essentially remain the same as in case of Commerce
Ditto for FDI in e-Commerce
Mere elimination of an intermediary ( Distributor / Wholesaler /
Dealer / Agent / Stockist etc ) , from the " Supply Chain " , itself
cannot be the determining criteria
A few years back , when General Motors , tried to sell its cars
to end-customers , directly from its own web site , thousands of its
Brick-and-Mortar dealers protested and even threatened General Motors
GM had to back-out against the vested interests !
But when Michael Dell started manufacturing computers in his
garage , he took orders on his telephone and later , on his own web site.
He never appointed any dealers . This model became a
roaring success and heralded the beginning of E-Commerce era ( read , "
Direct from Dell " )
Under present guidelines , I suppose , India would allow Dell to
set up a wholly-owned , local manufacturing facility , with 100 % FDI
Now , if Dell starts selling those India-made computers ,
directly to end-consumers , from its own web site , would not that be
E-Commerce ?
An e-Commerce with 100 % FDI ?
And what about 100 % FDI by FoxConn ( Taiwan ) , wanting to set
up 10 factories in India , to manufacture electronics goods , not only for
Foreign giants like Apple / Samsung etc but also for local brands such as
Micromax ?
Shall we insist that FoxConn cannot deliver such goods directly
to Indian consumers , based on orders received on , not only web sites of
Amazon / e-Bay but also on local web sites of Flipkart / SnapDeal etc ?
It is unfortunate that we , in India , always look-up to the
discoveries / inventions taking place in the West ( - and in Japan / South
Korea etc )
Had we encouraged Prof Jhunjhunwala ( IIT - Madras ) , we could
be today , delivering internet thru common electric outlet in every home , at
speeds of 100 mb ! That would have Digitized India , 5 years ago !
When ISRO sent MOM ( Mars Orbiting Mission ) , it did not call
it a " Space Ship "
As long as the concept of " Ship " defines our thought
processes , we will continue to " Sail in a Sea " - never to traverse
the " Space " !
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