E-commerce bouncing back after a spell of layoffs

NEW DELHI: Indian e-commerce and startup scene began to cool down in 2016 after years of growth, some of which was just wild exuberance as was shown later by several big markdowns, shutdowns and layoffs. But many believe Indian startups would only emerge stronger out of this bust. The Employment Outlook Report by TeamLease seems to indicate this.

E-commerce & technology startups is one of the leading sectors in the employment outlook index. The outlook for the sector is up by 2 points from 91 in October 2016-March 2017 period to 93 in April 2017-September 2017 period when the overall employment outlook has dipped sharply by 6 percentage points.

The Net Employment Outlook is the difference between the number of respondents who are inclined to hire and the number of respondents who are disinclined to hire. The outlook is expressed as a percentage of the total number of respondents.

According to the TeamLease report, jobs in e-commerce & technology startups are likely to grow 14.94%.

"Notwithstanding last half-year’s meltdown, the sector is back up on its feet again and is already hiring, albeit in relatively modest numbers. The after-effects of demonetisation and the ushering in of GST are expected to push more brick and mortar retailers on to the ecommerce bandwagon, generating even more talent demand," says the report.

Despite layoffs, shutdowns and valuation markdowns, e-commerce companies and startups hold a lot of jobs potenial. E-commerce can create net 12 million new jobs across the country over the next 10 years, according to a research report by HSBC. With the rise of online purchases, e-commerce could create 20 million 'gross' jobs across logistics & delivery (70%), customer care, and IT & management (30%).

According to another report by KPMG and Snapdeal, e-tail is expected to create nearly 1.45 million employment opportunities by 2021, led primarily by more than 1 million jobs projected to be created by logistics and warehousing sector.

Economictimes.Com partnered with TeamLease to prepare a set of reports on the employment situation in the country. This story is part of the series based on data from the Employment Outlook Report of TeamLease. Part of ET Jobs Disruption Report, these stories scan various aspects of the employment situation at different levels of city, sector, profile, etc.