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Growth Potential with e-Commerce

If we look at the numbers - mainly the rural GDP - we realize that if we double the per capita rural GDP, we would not just be creating immense wealth in the rural areas, but because today's income is essentially a sustenance income, the new income would be spent on new goods and services;
this would create a large market - the extra Rs. 10,000 multiplied by 700 million people would be the new market. Inevitably, such huge markets will impact not just the rural but also the urban economy. We can, thus, look at increasing the rural GDP by providing education, health facilities and promoting entrepreneurship, with the help of e-commerce initiatives.

Enablers of e-Commerce

At the forefront of the e-commerce revolution is the internet and the ICT. ICT or the Information and Communications Technology is the fusion of computers and telecommunications. Computers enable people to work creatively. But they are limited by what they can access. Adding a communications channel, such as the Internet or other information services, significantly extends the capability of the computer. It allows it to be not only an inexpensive communications device but can also become a means of obtaining education, information, and working creatively with others irrespective of geographical barriers.

Various manifestations of ICT are Simputer (a simple, robust handheld computer), Internet Kiosks and ATM machines (that are made available at much lower prices by IIT Chennai, as compared to standard ATM machines).

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* Contributed by: -
Shruti Rustagi,
Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow.