eCommerce in India is estimated to be around $1.9 billion by the year end of 2008, according to eMarketer with 66% growth from 2007. Though these figures look good on paper, but when compared with some of the Asian counterparts, they are not encouraging. The eCommerce growth in India is being hindered by various drawbacks and bottlenecks.

Computer Illiteracy: Only 65 million people are computer literates in India as of September, 2007, according to eMarketer. Here, computer literates mean people who can operate or use a computer without any aid. The number is too small for a country with a population of over 1.1 billion and out of those 64.5% are literate as on 2007. That means the percent of people who can operate computer are just above 10% of the total literates.

Poor PC Penetration: India has only 36 PCs for every 1000 people as of 2007 according to Gartner. This is one of the lowest in the Asia-Pacific region where India stood at 49th position after the countries like China with 122 PCs, Philippines with 89, Vietnam with 78 and Indonesia with 37. Affordability and lack of awareness among the common people are the main reasons for these discouraging figures.

Low Internet Penetration: Internet penetration is only 5.3% as of 2007, according to InternetWorldStats, which is again one of the lowest among the other Asian countries. When it comes to the number of Internet subscriptions, India has 11.09 million subscriptions as on March, 2008, according to TRAI. It is also noted that the growth rate of the Internet subscriptions is decreased by 0.56% when it is compared to the previous quarter.

Poor Broadband Connectivity: According to the latest TRAI’s report, there are nearly 4.15 million broadband subscriptions in India as of May, 2008. The broadband penetration rate is a mere 2.65%, which is far less than the comparable China which has 14.35% of penetration. In 2007, the broadband policy released by GOI has set a target to achieve 20 million broadband users by 2010. India has a lot of catching to do even to reach at least 75% of this target.

Expensive Broadband: Broadband rates in India are relatively high when compared to US and UK. The Indian ISPs charge from 47% to 56% of the per capita income for a broadband connection of 512KB speed, which is 6 times slower and 25 to 50 percent costlier than in US. ISPs in India are irresponsible and are indulged in high profiteering rather than providing better broadband connectivity to the last mile.

Whether in the consumer products or manufacturing industry, Asia is the market which many keen investors have their eyes trained on.

Experts warn that despite the overall positive outlook on the Asian investment market, investors should be selective as to where they put their money. Predictions and valuations can be stretched and sometimes the expectations are unrealistic. In 2006, Credit Suisse said that the market for investment continues to offer incredibly profitable and positive opportunities. It is reported, then, that the world can expect a consistent growth in the Asian market for the next three to four years from 2006… Thus, investment opportunities in the Asian countries continue to be aplenty.

Governments in countries like Japan, China and India have shifted their focus from consuming imported goods to exploiting local and domestic products, thereby helping to boost their local economies. This has given small, growing companies in these Asian countries room and opportunity for growth… from the investor’s point of view, this is extremely good news. The Asian economy is set for robust growth and expansion in the long run which providing lucrative returns for foreign investors.

Countries like China, India, Korea, Singapore and Taiwan have sent many unknowing stock market players into silence in recent years because of the dramatic rise in their economic conditions. Each of these countries presents different investment opportunities for investors and the range of their expertise has narrowed down. While some people would argue that Asian investment in China and India would be the most lucrative, others would prefer to techno-friendly countries like Korea, Taiwan and Japan where they already have a strong following for their electronic products and gaming technology as well as household products. Japan and Korea looks to be nose-to-nose for the communications sector too, so, in the near future, the pendulum could swing either way, depending on the number of foreign investors and growth of their domestic markets.

While the US market limps back to health, investors from other parts of the world, particularly countries in Europe, Canada and Australia are eyeing potentially profitable long-term partnerships with companies from these countries. US consumers are generally swallowed by the grave need to save money and reduce the cost of living, the Asian and European market continues to stride ahead. Not long ago, the US market determines the performance of other markets, particularly Asia.But now,the reverse are true. As long as the US market continues to post health growth and do not suffer prolong recession, Asia will continue to grow and provide foreign investors with many investment opportunities.