Mumbai : The recent demonetisation has the potential of taking the m-commerce industry to the next level of growth, due to increase in m-payment. After e-commerce, there is a new revolutionary way of doing business that is m-commerce – it is expected to change the landscape of business. Furthermore, m-commerce is expected to surpass e-commerce as the preferred method of digital transactions as it is faster and is more secure, stated Grant Thornton- CII in a report.
The report had also pointed that disruptive business innovations along with ease of use technology would act as an enabler in transforming traditional business to m-commerce. During a session on M-payments: banking & security, State Bank of India, digital and e-commerce, general manager, Sunita Handa said, “There is a mini-revolution underway due to demonetisation. Times are changing for m-payment.” This payment method will help the m-commerce to flourish future. Adding to this, BOB Capital Markets Ltd, SVP and head supply chain finance, Litesh Majethia said, “E-payment has become active due to demonetisation.” According to the report, subscriber base of Paytm amd MobiKwiK increased by 15 million and substantial increase in user base post demonetisation. Over the past four years, mobile wallet transactions have jumped from Rs 10 billion (60 million transactions) in 2012-13 to more than Rs 490 billion (600 million transactions) in the year 2015-16. Initiatives such as digital India and Jan Dhan Yojna which added over 110 million debit cards are expected to act as key enablers of this m-commerce transformation. India, is all set to witness a massive surge in the adoption of digital payments in the recent future.
Noting this massive growth, there has been a huge investment made in digital by private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) firms. In last three years from 2014-2016, various segments like retail, travel, transport, logistics, discovery platforms, fin tech, food tech, on-demand service and others, has inked a deal worth over USD 13,000 million. Post demonetisation, m-commerce will further witness increase in investment coming PE/VC firms. Grant Thornton India LLP, partner, Dhanraj Bhagat said, “We are ready to invest into any m-commerce company who come with a great idea.”
The report revealed that 31 per cent investment has gone in retail; 18 per cent in travel, transport and logistics; 14 per cent in discovery platform; 7 per cent in Fin Tech; 4 per cent in Food Tech; 4 per cent in on-demand services and 21 per cent in others like Paytm, Hike and Bookmyshow and so on. In Fin Tech, investment in online payments and wallets like MobiKwik, Freecharge, Mswipe, Ezetap and Citrus payment attracted more than half of the investment in 2016(January-October). The total investment stood at USD 206 million.
