Celebrating Investment Growth In Indian E-Commerce at The Golden Cart Summit & Awards

The much awaited The Golden Cart Summit & Awards - an initiative of BW Businessworld, is celebrating India's e-commerce sector today (August 25) at The Leela Ambience Mall, Gurgaon. The summit aims to discuss, debate and deliberate the strengths, opportunities and challenges of the Indian e-commerce sector.

The event was inaugurated by Anurag Batra, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief, BW Businessworld. Then there was a fire chat between between Amarjit Singh Batra, CEO, OLX, and Anurag Batra about the Indian e-verticals and how their presence in the market is changing the way people think and buy. Amarjit Singh shared his views on the same that it is a work in progress as the business ideas that did not existed a decade ago have made a mark for themselves faster than we thought, interestingly without advertising on the older media. The discussion brought out various angles like how low-touch business are defining our lives today.

Then the second interactive panel discussion was based on FinTech and Online retail. The panelists included Rahul Chandra, Co-founder and Managing Director, Helion VC; Naveen kukreja, CMO, PolicyBazaar.com; and Akash Gupta, General Manager, MobiKwik.

While commenting on the business models and investment opportunities in the market, Rahul Chandra said, "Things like looking at data makes it easy for the money markets and managers to deploy the capital into the market. I personally feel that in B2B commerce that the days of building easy business models are over."

Taking forward the discussion, Naveen Kukreja pointed, "Financial services can come into play as a middle order services. We are looking at a massive transformation and every new consumer lending platform in fin-tech is seemingly exciting for a lot of people at present."

Speaking about the competition in the market, Akash Gupta added, "For surviving the competition perspective we need to keep in mind the needs of every customer and category. As we get closer to to the unorganised sector ideas like 'Mini Gullaks' can be of help."

In the third panel discussion, different panelists like Harish Bahl, Founder, Smile Group; Deepak Gaur, Managing Director, SAIF Partners; Vikram Gupta, Founder & Managing Partner, IvyCap Ventures; Siddharth Talwar, Partner, Lightbox Ventures; Aayush Jain, Principal, Unicorn India Ventures; and Karan Mohla, Executive Director, IDG, talked about the investment in Indian e-commerce spectrum. They discussed various factors that give the startups edge over others to win the race of acquiring investments in e-commerce space.

Harish Bahl initiated the panel discussion and said, "Is capital chasing proven business models? Are investors after financially disciplined business? How important do you think is GMV as a parameter? What is the real bucket challenge investors are looking at?"

Talking about how to make money in a business, Deepak Gaur added, "I think there is a decent truth in funding proven business model, but the time leverage needs to be given to all. See if we are innovating or not, that's the biggest point. It takes times for investors and business are trying to connect and customize according to each other. Let's take the example of Swiggy!"

Vikram Gupta stated, "What measures to use, what metrics to use is in every different business model. One needs to look at who is making in the contributors. For example in the food-tech sector, so effectively GMV does not make sense in that way. It is very easy to state the numbers of people but encouraging the new buying patterns is also an achievement, just as 'cash on delivery' technique did for India."

Siddhartha Talwar added, "GMV today functions at so many distinct levels, as companies have grown it is very difficult to not use as a multiple, we must go beyond those multiples too. If you get the user to change his behaviour, we can get the customer without paying cash."

Aayush Jain commented, "Let me take you guys to the 90's for a while. There were not many consumption stories in India and today we are at a billion something, the revolution is coming faster to us… Cheaper, better, faster!

Further Karan Mohla mentioned, "We need to look at what kind of companies are getting funded, giving the growth of all can't be at the same pace. Ensuring that the discipline around in finance does not mean one is wrong, one is right. The kind of business you are building is the key to not getting infatuated with a big number."

Discussing how business in a global scenario can grow phenomenally, the panelists summarised critical points and collective concerns of startups in India. They also concluded that if a business is built with a strong idea and disruptive techniques, there will be always investors somehow to support you, whether proven or not proven! However, new businesses like hospitality, travel and consultancy are some sectors which lag behind slightly because of some unfamiliarity on the bases.

At the end of the session, they highlighted that GMV is necessary to change consumer behaviour as well as for consumer adoption. They concluded that the businesses which are raising more and more money, are not proven model. With investment, you also need to focus on other key factors which are necessary for a business success like market competition, team, product etc.