Profitable Biz Model, A Must For E-Commerce Firms: Pwc Director

NEW DELHI: The blooming e-commerce companies in India need to focus more on a business model that will be profitable in the short to long term for better survival, a senior functionary of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has said.

"The Indian e-commerce companies should establish a business model that is profitable in the short to long run. That is very important for survival, PwC's director, operations, Saurabh Srivastava, told IANS in an interview.

"If the companies do not become profitable, the private investors will run out of patience and unless the companies are profitable, they cannot get listed," Srivastava added.

Srivastava, who had earlier worked with Flipkart and McKinsey, said at present none of the Indian e-commerce companies are profitable.

Flipkart, India's largest e-tailer, recently got $1 billion funding, which took its valuation to a whopping $7 billion and made global headlines. Soon after, the US-based Amazon said it was investing $2 billion in India's e-commerce space.

With 243 million Internet users, India's e-commerce industry is growing at 38 percent year-on-year. Analysts expect the market, which is now $15 billion, to touch $100 billion in the next five years.

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