Presentation: E-commerce sector is powering India's SME growth

The Snapdeal and KPMG report titled 'Impact of e-commerce on SMEs in India' compares the e-commerce-led growth trajectory of SMEs in India vis-à-vis other emerging and developed economies.

Snapdeal and KPMG have partnered to release a study titled 'Impact of e-commerce on SMEs in India'. The study examines the macro-impact of the e-commerce sector on the growth of SMEs in India and identifies remaining gaps in the ecosystem.

The report compares the e-commerce-led growth trajectory of SMEs in India vis-à-vis other emerging and developed economies. Additionally, it outlines different roles that participants like the government, industry bodies and e-commerce companies can play in making the SME ecosystem more robust.

Speaking at the release of the report, Kunal Bahl, co-founder and CEO, Snapdeal, said, "At Snapdeal, we are working towards building the most impactful digital commerce ecosystem in the country and SMEs form the foundation of this ecosystem in many ways. With over 200,000 sellers operating on our platform, we felt the need to conduct a systematic unbiased study to identify opportunities and challenges to further accelerate the growth of the sector. We have taken a number of initiatives like seller training programs, seller financing program - Capital Assist and Snapdeal Seller Advisor Program, with an aim of creating life-changing experiences for over one million sellers in the next three years. This study has given us deeper insights into what more we can do to enable small businesses become more successful online."

Some of the key findings of the study are:

• 85 per cent of the SMEs who adopted e-commerce believe that it is a cost effective medium to grow sales.

• SMEs using internet for business saw 51 per cent higher revenues and 49 per cent more profit

• 73 per cent SMEs felt that e-commerce enables them to understand their markets better

• 46 per cent SMEs reported increase in business through listings on online marketplaces

• e-commerce enabled SMEs reported 60 per cent to 80 per cent reduction in distribution, marketing and sales spends to get incremental business

Richard Rekhy, CEO, KPMG India, said, "The fast paced growth of the e-commerce industry in India represents an unprecedented opportunity for SMEs. We hope that the findings of this report will assist policymakers, industry bodies and e-commerce companies to strengthen the support ecosystem, which enables SMEs to ride the e-commerce growth wave successfully."

This report is the first in a series of initiatives that Snapdeal has undertaken for creating an ecosystem for SMEs and leveraging e-commerce for their growth.

Founded in February 2010, by Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal, Snapdeal.com is an online marketplace which claims to have an assortment of 15 million plus products across 500 plus categories from regional, national and international brands and retailers. In its journey till now, Snapdeal has partnered with investors and individuals such as SoftBank, BlackRock, Temasek, eBay Inc., Premji Invest, Intel Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners and Ratan Tata, among others.

KPMG India is the Indian member firm of KPMG International and was established in September 1993. It claims to provide services to over 2,000 international and national clients in India and has offices in Mumbai, NCR, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad, Pune and Kochi.