Will Amazon and Flipkart Rekindle Hope for India's Future in E-Commerce?
 
May 19, 2017
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There has been some heated controversy going on amid the successful start of Amazon in India. The marketplace giant launched with better than expected numbers coming in, but Flipkart, Amazon’s major rival in India, has made an amazing turnaround and so the race is on. For the past several years the economy in India has been staggering a bit, and so these two marketplaces just might rekindle hope for India’s future in e-commerce.

India’s Continued Growth Overall

The race may be on, but will it really matter who comes out the winner if their efforts can bring about the changes needed to put India back on the map again as a key player? Thought to be the most promising of all emerging nations, this nation with 1.25 billion inhabitants is quickly gaining momentum because of the entrepreneurial spirit of the largest portion of the population – India’s young adults.

While there have been some setbacks, they pale in comparison to those which many of the world’s superpowers are experiencing. Uncertainty still looms over Brexit in the UK and it is unclear what the highly controversial US president will do for the economy of the United States, so India is in a prime position for massive growth. Amazon and Flipkart are just two of the reasons why there is hope for the future.

India’s Youth Answering the Call

Since such a large portion of the population is young and with a high priority placed on education, India is in a prime position to literally explode in the technology sector. As e-commerce expands, India just might set the pace for the advancement of a digital economy in the region, according to US marketing agency Single Grain. With China also making a move towards expansion in the free-market, these two nations may soon enjoy a place of global dominance in the technology sector once dominated by Japan.

The reason why India is looking towards the younger generation isn’t only because of their sheer numbers but because of their thirst for knowledge and a will to succeed. Saying India’s youth have a pervading entrepreneurial spirit is an understatement at very best. It is more of a passion for working towards a better future for their impoverished country and Amazon and Flipkart might just set the stage for this generation to elevate the GDP far above where it now stands at less than a quarter of China’s per capita.

E-commerce Offers a Better Future

As one of the world’s poorest nations and sadly one of the four most populous, India lacks the infrastructure that many other emerging nations now enjoy. Pumping money into the system will enable the Indian government to update that very same infrastructure that is holding the nation back.

With travel and communications often hindered by this very lack of updated infrastructure, e-commerce takes on greater significance. Startups can work from home with just a computer and an Internet connection, and that is likely the one factor that will bring India up to the ranks of finally being a ‘developed’ nation and a global presence to contend with.