Published: Nov 08, 2022

Source: India Today

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Money transfer democratised, digital commerce will grow 10-fold: Experts on India's e-commerce revolution

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The Indian Today Conclave is underway in Mumbai and experts have gathered to speak on a spectrum of issues surrounding India.

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In Short

• The startup story is the story of digital commerce

• Digital commerce space in India is estimated worth $50 billion by end of 2022

• E-commerce facilities are accessible in about 99% of India's pincodes

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By India Today Web Desk: The digital commerce revolution in India is set to grow ten-fold and money transfer in the country has been democratised with the UPI system, experts opined on Saturday at the India Today Conclave.

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Deepak Bagla, Managing Director & CEO, Invest India, T. Koshy, CEO, Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), and Dilip Asbe, Managing Director & CEO of National Payments Corporation Of India were at the Indian Today Conclave Mumbai. They spoke on democratising the future of digital commerce. They spoke on matters of key infrastructure and how digital commerce will impact consumer life going forward.

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Here's all that's happening at India Today Conclave Mumabi 2022

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It is worth mentioning that the digital commerce space in India is estimated worth $50 billion by the end of 2022 and $150 billion by 2027. India's online shopping base is expected to rise by 400-450 million and about 500 million use social media. The new shoppers largely come from tier III cities including Gen Z. The e-commerce facilities are accessible in about 99% of India's pincodes.

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WATCH INDIA TODAY CONCLAVE MUMBAI LIVE HERE

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Dilip Asbe, Managing Director & CEO NPCI said that digital payment is about 60% of personal expenditure in developed countries, and India at the moment, for a developing country is at 25%, and there is space for 10-fold growth and UPI will be core driver of this growth. Adding to the discussion, Deepak Bagla, Managing Director & CEO, Invest India said that for the first time in our history we have the ability where each citizen is able to participate in the growth and partake in that growth.

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"49% of real-time transactions happened in India last year and the real impact of digital commerce is that today a brand-new company can get 100 million new customers in 180 days. The ability to access that opportunity is huge. We have 107 unicorns and we are number two in startups. The startup story is the story of digital commerce," Bagla said.

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Meanwhile, T. Koshy, CEO, Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) expressed that while there is a democratization of money transfers, the penetration of e-commerce is still 6 per cent but the numbers are growing fast. "This democratisation has addressed two things, it is leading to humongous amounts of concentratation and in the coming time, we will reach where UPI is in four years," he added.

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Speaking on the future, Asbe said that while we are looking at 10X growth, we need reasonable revenue and the government of India has provided some incentives. "When we look at UPI we have started introducing credit on UPI and there is enough opportunity to leverage the system to provide fully digital credit," he added.

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The experts opined that there is penetration in tier II and III cities as well and now the QR codes have reached them, and there were over 50 million unique merchants accepting digital payments and the growth will be driven by the rural centres.

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