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Employment

Employment is not a direct benefit from e-commerce but comes from the point mentioned previously. As and when, companies move to rural areas, they create job opportunities for a large number of people.
One of the reasons for a company to do the same is gain access to lower transaction cost as mentioned earlier. Another reason is to narrow its supply chain and move closer to its main raw material producers, removing intermediaries. This is evident from the e-choupal initiative of ITC. Lastly, companies move to rural areas to get access to specific skilled labor or cheap labor in general. All the above mentioned reason directly of indirectly create a number of jobs for rural populations. All this has been made easier for companies by the means of e-commerce and internet.

Services to Public

E-commerce can cause a profound change in rural India in key service areas such as government services, banking, education and health. It promises to provide faster, better, cheaper and more flexible service delivery and this is irrespective of where the customer resides.

Online education is a new channel for delivering traditional distance education services, with the bonus of immediacy, interactivity, and easy access to a wealth of online information resources, including bibliographic databases. Discussion groups allow students to share information and debate ideas with each other, enhancing the learning process through peer-support and active engagement with the material. This is particularly important for geographically isolated students who are unlikely to have anyone physically available who is studying the same subject.

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* Contributed by: -
Nishant Waghela,
Alumni of IIM Ahmedabad,
Working at SBI, Mumbai.