<div><em>The e-commerce companies like Flipkart and Snapdeal continue to run in losses. Are heavy discounts and high degree of returns the way to run e-commerce, asks <strong>Vishal Krishna</strong></em><br><br>Flipkart and Snapdeal are the flagbearers of the Indian e-commerce boom. Along with Amazon India they have make over 2 crore deliveries per annum. This number is only going to grow provided they have capital supporting the heavily discounted industry which also has a high degree of returns. The reader should see this profit and loss account and judge for himself. Is this the way an e-commerce company can be built? Crores of rupees have been spent in acquiring customers. If this trend continues, we see that the Indian ecommerce business will consolidate by benefiting only the investors and not the consumer. We at BW|Businessworld pitch for long term capital to support the Indian businesses. Meanwhile, let us look at their current state of affairs. We present to you the P&L of Flipkart as a basis for judging the ecommerce business in India.<br><br><img alt="" src="http://bw-image.s3.amazonaws.com/flipkart-lrg.jpg" style="width: 620px; height: 492px; margin: 1px;"></div>
