"It'd be a mistake to expect explosive growth"

India's premier B-to-B infomediary-indiamarkets.com-has created a virtual marketplace. It is an aggregation of 26 vertical supplier communities representing over 135 diverse product categories. Rohan Ajila, CEO,   details the need for virtual exchanges.

Why is the B-to-B E-commerce not to the  expectations generated by various surveys and reports?

Goldman Sachs projects around Rs 7,000 crore of B-to-B E-commerce in India by 2003. Given the current growth rates, this target appears realistic. Of course, it would be a mistake to expect explosive growth. The transition will be evolutionary rather than revolutionary, since we are talking of a change in the traditional mindset and business practices.However, we believe that the economic benefits of online commerce and its cost saving potential will result in its growing acceptance.

What is the quantity of transactions done through your site? And how?
Our site has provided a platform for the coming together of potential trading partners. So a transaction is initiated, rather than completed on our site. We generate 150 product inquiries on a daily basis.

What roles do the Web exchanges offer and why are they becoming prominent for the growth of B-to-B E-commerce in India?
Very few companies actually have a well-planned B-to-B strategy. They are making the mistake of assuming that E-commerce is synonymous with having a Web site, which is, of course, not true. In an economy like ours, only a few individual companies would have the wherewithal to invest in B-to-B infrastructure of their own, which is where E-marketplaces such as indiamarkets.com come in. These E-marketplaces will provide the platform for companies, however small, to become E-commerce-enabled.

Simultaneously, some of the large firms will invest heavily in a B-to-B infrastructure to enhance their process efficiencies. As a result, vendors and distributors linked to these large organisations will also be forced into early adoption of E-commerce. While large companies are definitely looking at E-commerce probably with the top-down approach or an industry-sponsored marketplace, they also have the hangover and large bills on
account of the ERP era. Hence some of them are cautious about investing too much upfront, and this could prove advantageous for neutral marketplace like ours.