E-coommerce provided employment at warehouses and couriers but that barely scratches the surface of the festering unemployment problem

In both urban and rurban India, it is a common sight to see young delivery boys riding motorbikes with a huge sling bag bursting at its seams on their lumber region. They are ‘out on delivery’ from 9 in the morning till as late as 8 in the evening, carting supplies ranging from a lowly underwear to a pricey smartphone.

The courier company attached to the ecommerce outfit makes sure there is a small compartment to house a portable card payment machine for customers who have opted for COD but prefer the comfort of card payment.

Yes, e-commerce has been India’s longest lasting fad and has had the distinction of attracting the largest Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in 2015.

Yes, it has also provided employment at warehouses and couriers but that barely scratches the surface of the festering unemployment problem (estimated at 9% roughly going by a Wikipedia article).

To be sure, the Modi government at center has been active but with not much concrete results to show on the ground. Prime Minister Modi has been unleashing a charm offensive on world leaders as well as on the Indian diaspora but alas seems to have forgotten to address the concerns of the constituency that voted him to power in 2014---the youth whose potential to give the nation demographic dividend he never tires of acknowledging.

Modi has missed plucking the lowest hanging fruit both literally and figuratively. The UPA II allowed an FDI upto 51% in multi brand retail with sensible conditions including 50% of the investments being backend. If Modi can look askance at the feelings of hawks in his party and its ideological mentor the RSS by flirting with Pakistan from time to time, equally he can look askance at the trader lobby of the party and showcase at least in the BJP ruled states what FDI in multi brand retail can do to the nation.

Its pluses have been too well documented to bear repetition but offering support to farmers and providing employment are the most important advantages germane to this article.

Contract farming done for big stores such as Walmart ensures regular offtake of economical quantities at a fair price. McDonald provides quality seeds to its contract potato and tomato farmers. Making farming viable must be one of our top priorities.

FDI in retail can considerably facilitate this. Wastages would be minimized not only thanks to efficient cold storage and quick transportation but also by setting up food processing units as a part of backend investment commitment or through sheer catalytic role of such investments.

Rural roads would also get a facelift. PURA (provision of urban amenities in rural areas) an obsession with our late President Abdul Kalam can indeed stop the exodus to urban areas from rural as a spinoff of such FDI.

And their front end stores in urban and rurban areas would also generate huge employment opportunities of both blue and white collar varieties. Indian retail chains such as Big Bazaar have been whining that ecommerce has made life difficult for them but given political will and the willingness to embrace foreign retail chains, the Indian shopping scape can change dramatically for the better. An NDTV.com story in September 2012 estimated creation of 10 million jobs through FDI in retail over a period of ten years. Only mindless xenophobia is stopping this low hanging fruit from being plucked.

The accent on low hanging fruits is not for just ease of accomplishment. Big ticket investments in manufacturing including in the defence sector is some time away with the world not entirely free from the recessionary bear hug. Apart from FDI in retail, another low hanging fruit possible in the circumstances is physical infrastructure. Roads can create massive employment opportunities and bring the nation closer.

The roads minister Nitin Gadkari must restore roads the pride of place the Vajpayee government had accorded by building an envious 14 kms every day at least in its twilight years. The short point is if Modi wants to be voted in again in 2019, he has to deliver on the promise of employment.