E-commerce in recent times has been growing rapidly across the world. According to Report of Digital–Commerce. Industry sources indicate that this growth can be sustained over a longer period of time as e- commerce will continue to reach new geographies and encompass new markets. E-commerce means sale or purchase of goods and services conducted over network of computers or TV channels by methods specifically designed for the purpose. Even though goods and services are ordered electronically, payments or delivery of goods and services need not be conducted online. E-commerce transaction can be between businesses, households, individuals, governments and other public or private organizations. There are numerous types of e- commerce transactions that occur online ranging from sale of clothes, shoes, books etc. to services such as airline tickets or making hotel bookings etc.
The growing e-commerce industry can have a positive spillover effect on associated industries such as logistics, online advertising, media and IT/ITES. Currently e-commerce accounts for 15-20 percent of the total revenue for some of the big logistics companies. The revenue for logistics industry from inventory based consumer e-commerce alone may grow by 70 times to USD 2.6 Billion (INR 14,300 crores) by 2020. Currently, the inventory based consumer e-commerce model alone provides direct employment to approximately 40,000 people and is estimated to create 1 million direct and another 0.5 million indirect jobs by 2020. Low entry barriers have attracted many young and enterprising individuals to try their hand at entrepreneurship. Major domestic e-commerce companies are Flipkart, Snapdeal, Fashionandyou, Myntra, inkfruit, Dealsandyou, Homeshop18 etc.
Although many factors support the growth of e-commerce in India, the fledgling industry is faced with significant hurdles with respect to infrastructure,