Payments - the oil for e-commerce

S Mohini Ratna, Editor, VARINDIA

The year 2020 has been an eventful year and many businesses have tried to replicate their in-person sales in digital storefronts—some for the first time. Even the e-commerce marketplace brings artisans, weavers and rural entrepreneurs to the platform. MSMEs are the most vibrant and dynamic contributors to our economy. At the same, the E-commerce Payment market has also shown a positive growth across the world, coronavirus has led to a 20% growth in revenues for digital commerce during the first quarter of 2020 than last year.

India is among the top two countries globally on the fast track of digital adoption. At the same time digital transformation and cybersecurity are the two new challenges faced by the financial sector. As the country moves towards a trillion-dollar digital economy with booming e-commerce, the pandemic has triggered consumers to shift to digital commerce and payments by default and reduce the use of cash. With more than half a billion internet subscribers, India is one of the largest and fastest-growing markets for digital consumers. The low-cost data revolution and the government’s digital push has made desi internet more diverse and inclusive, this brings a significant challenge to India's cybersecurity.

During Pandemic, Jio has emerged as the winner from changes in the way Indian consumers plug into a digital economy by bringing huge investments and there is a long queue of investors lining up to buy shares of Jio Platforms Ltd. Historically, the oil refinery and petrochemical businesses were the most profitable wings of the Reliance Industries. While we recall the statement of Ambani, it is clear on his vision how to make the group complete debt free. He has made a strong pitch for protecting Indians’ data. In this new world, data is the new oil and new wealth. India’s data must be controlled and owned by Indian people and not by corporates, especially global corporations.

Over the age, Jio has become a household name in India. The company has risen over $20 billion from a list of high-profile investors at a time when many companies are struggling to stay afloat. Jio has raised more money in four months than the entire Indian start-up ecosystem raised in 2019, combined. Now the tech conglomerates including Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Intel are part of the Jio and the platforms is the umbrella entity for all of Ambani’s digital and internet businesses, including mobile apps, broadband connectivity, smart devices, cloud computing, big data analytics, artificial intelligence, the internet of things, augmented and mixed reality, and blockchain.

A total of 13 global funds and companies have now invested in Reliance’ flagship company. Now, Jio has four strategic partners i.e. Facebook, Intel, Qualcomm and Google. These, besides bringing in cash, are also going to play a strategic role in shaping the future of Jio. Every investor has their own roadmap to grow with the help of Jio. I would say, right move @ right time, with unique combination. Jio has built a monster of data that could soon take India by storm.

JioMart, the digital commerce platform is eyeing to take on Amazon and Flipkart. Now imagine this combination. WhatsApp finally has a way to make money. And JioMart has an acquisition channel ready and waiting inside 400 million phones before it even launches. Similarly, Facebook gets payments. Jio gets a communication app. There are several reasons why this deal makes sense.

Going forward there will be a challenging time ahead for Jio as the company has positioned itself as a tech major, and has to deliver on promises through effective monetization. Connectivity, continuity, collaboration are the new adoption methodologies that will define business resilience and growth and digital transformation with the virtual and digital replacing physical in a big way. Adoption of scalable cloud, automation, AI, and AR/VR will surge. The ability to deploy computing power, bandwidth, the cloud, and cybersecurity will define winners. We will see many interesting developments in the coming year.

Last but not the least success will depend on continuous business model innovations with agile, open collaboration. The pandemic provides a good opportunity for organizations to reinvent, reshape and resize to augment resilience into their operations.

Thanks for sharing your valuable inputs during these difficult times on how the OEMs have performed. Let’s have a look into this year’s Channel Leadership survey 2020, which we term as the ultimate voice of Indian Value added Resellers.

Thank you again for your continued support and helping us bring the 21st Anniversary Issue.