India’s 2014 Budget has something for everyone – For Indian and for foreign companies. The current Finance Minister Mr. Arun Jaitely has announced that foreign companies manufacturing their goods in India can directly sell their products online through e-commerce channel. Though there is not much clarity on whether the FDI for e-commerce is allowed or not by foreign companies but the statement made by the finance minister – “e-Commerce sales in retail allowed without additional approval” brought cheers to industry experts who were looking for this for quiet a sometime. But close analysis of this statement ““FDI in the manufacturing sector is today on the automatic route. The manufacturing units will be allowed to sell its products through retail including e-commerce platforms without any additional approval.” According to this the foreign companies that manufacture their product or goods in India can greatly benefit from this announcement. It is expected that by 2021 e-commerce in India will be $90 billion market there is huge opportunity for companies who wants to board on this exponentially growing sector.
The year 2014 has been a year for e-commerce ventures, where investors pumped more money in e-commerce based venture this is evident from the fact that the previous quarter only 58 e-commerce based venture received funding compared to 74 companies in this quarter the deal volume increased by 27%. Brands like Puma, Benetton, Marks and Spencer, Decathlon can benefit from these announcements as some part of their merchandise and goods are manufactured in India.
