OPERATIONS AND SCM QUIZ

August 2013 - Quiz

The Quiz event organised by OPEP - The Operations and Supply Chain Management Club at IIM Raipur on the 18th of August 2013 saw overwhelming response from the participants. The event witnessed over 30 teams taking part, including both first year and second year students.

Operations in E-commerce Environment

E-commerce is one of the fastest growing markets globally and nationally. Indian e-commerce market was approximately worth $2.5 billion back in 2009 and it went up to $14 billion in 2014. Business Travel (airline tickets, railway tickets, hotel bookings) is a major part in Indian e-commerce market, holding 75% of the market whereas online retailing (e-tailing) contributes only 12.5%. In Indian Retail Market, online contribution is only 0.47% whereas the global Industry average is 4%, which shows that there is huge potential in this market. Online shoppers in India are growing at a rate of 30% every year as compared to the global growth rate which is 8-10%.

With such a high growth rate and the kind of massive potential there is, a number of new e-commerce stores are entering into the market and expanding quite rapidly. With increasing competition most of the e-commerce stores are using discounted prices and attractive coupons as a tool to attract customers which thereby creates a price war and hence shrinks the margins for business. In a situation of reduced margins where the objective is to provide high level of Customer satisfaction through improved services and to run a sustainable business, proper Operations Management plays a vital role in the success of the business.

Different tasks for Operations Management in e-commerce are

• Product / Service Quality
• Forecasting demand
• Inventory Management
• Scheduling Management
• Purchasing Management
• Supply-Chain Management
• Human Resource Management
• Reengineering and Consulting

Role of manufacturing sector in improving India’s Trade Balance

Facts & Figures about India’s Trade Balance:

Cumulative value of exports for the period April-March 2012 -13 was US $ 300.57 billion (Rs. 16.35 lakh crore) as against US $ 305.96 billion (Rs 14.66 lakh crore) registering a negative growth  of  approximately 1.7 per cent in Dollar terms and growth of 11.5 per cent in Rupee terms over the same period last year.

Cumulative value of imports for the period April-March, 2012-13 was US $ 491.48 billion (Rs. 26.73 lakh crore) as against US $ 489.32 billion (Rs. 23.45 lakh crore) registering a growth of 0.44 per cent in Dollar terms and growth of approximately 13.9 per cent in Rupee terms over the same period last year.

The trade deficit for April - March, 2012-13 was estimated at US $ 190.92 billion which was higher than the deficit of US $ 183.36 million during April -March, 2011-12.

Now let us have a look on India’s Foreign Trade Balance to get better idea.

         India’s Foreign Trade Balance               (US $ Million)  

	March	April -March
	Exports (including Re-exports)
2011-12	28839.36	305963.92
2012-13	30849.65	300570.58
% Growth 2012-13/ 2011-2012	6.97	-1.76
	Imports
2011-12	42380.68	489319.50
2012-13	41164.71	491487.22
% Growth 2012-13/ 2011-2012	-2.87	0.44
Trade Balances
2011-12	-13541.32	-183355.58
2012-13	-10315.06	-190916.64

                  Source: Ministry of Commerce, Government of India

Above-mentioned data clearly states that there is very minimal increase in trade balances as compared to previous year in terms of US $.

Oil imports during March, 2013 were valued at US $ 13.33 billion which was 16.56 per cent lower than oil imports valued at US $ 15.97 billion in the corresponding period last year.Import bill of petroleum crude & product have declined in international currency in March 2013 as compared to March 2012. Though, in terms of domestic currency, the import has been increased.

Photo: www.thehindubusinessline.com

 Similar is the case evident even for Non-oil imports also. Non-oil      imports during April - March, 2012-13  were valued at US $ 322.23 billion which was 3.62 per cent lower than the level of such imports valued at US $ 334.35 billion in April - March, 2011-12. However in terms of Rupees there is significant increment in Non-oil imports.A depreciating rupee makes import of various things more expensive, which leads to an increase in the operating expense of the companies which depends on many such commodities, Thereby hitting the profit margin of all such companies.