It offers businesses a cost-effective way to expand into global markets

It lowers the transaction costs of businesses by dealing directly with overseas suppliers and customers

It streamlines the rural business processes and Production, marketing and delivery mechanisms can be revolutionized, opening up new opportunities.

It reduces procurement costs for seed, feed and chemicals and maximize prices for products. Decision-making can be aided by detailed Web-based information such as weather, marketing and industry reports.

The middleman who takes away huge margins would be marginalized, and the artisans' vulnerability replaced with empowerment.

More regularization due to systems that track down sales and maintain quality controls.

Some of these programmes still need strategies for sustainable development, generation of social capital, and Internet branding for local industries .However a result of all these projects will be bringing into the fold artisans and other rural folks who have so far been denied the opportunity to participate in and benefit from the progress India is making, by reversing the dissipation of our rich products and offerings. For example: In a report titled, "Putting Australia on the New Silk Road", the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Australia offers an example of a group of farmers in Victoria profiting from the immediacy of e-commerce transactions by retailing custom orders of fresh produce at premium prices directly to Asian markets. Email and electronic funds transfer enabled the elimination of intermediaries, higher responsiveness and flexibility, and the consequent reduction in transaction costs and increase in profit margins.

Bottlenecks for E-Commerce in Rural development

The factors influencing e-Commerce vary from country to country and some of these factors attract while some other deter a vendor from carrying business with rural areas on focus. The top barriers to e-commerce as a medium to fuel rural growth are: -

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* Contributed by -
Lijo Isac,
MBA (FT), Batch of 2006,
Faculty Of Management Studies,
Delhi University, Delhi.