Online auction portal eBay Inc. is considering outsourcing key business functions to its Indian subsidiary in Mumbai, according to an executive of the company. EBay already outsources some work to third party service providers in India. John Ribeiro IDG News Service-Bangalore Bureau Updated: Apr 28, 2005 09:52 AM
Online auction portal eBay Inc. is considering outsourcing key business functions to its Indian subsidiary in Mumbai, according to an executive of the company. EBay already outsources some work to third party service providers in India.
"Some of the functions we are considering moving to India such as customer relationship management, product development, trust and safety, and network management operations are critical to our business, and we are evaluating whether we should do it in house in India," Avnish Bajaj, country manager of eBay India said Wednesday in Bangalore.
EBay India, formerly Baazee.com India Pvt. Ltd., was acquired by eBay in August last year. In March, the Baazee.com platform was integrated with eBay's platform, giving Indian users access to the eBay global marketplace, Bajaj said. EBay India has over 1 million registered users spread over 240 cities in the country.
The Indian subsidiary now plans to provide access to its online auction portal to artisans in Indian villages, according to Bajaj. The company may even provide computers and Internet connectivity if required, Bajaj said. Although this initiative aims to primarily fulfill the company's social responsibility objectives, down the line eBay expects online sales by artisans and people in other trades in Indian villages to be a significant revenue stream for the company, he added.
EBay India will also provide facilities to enable people such as freelance software engineers or Web site designers to offer their services on line. This may take the form of an auction category for services, or a separate site for clbuttified advertising.
In a move to expand beyond online auctions, eBay Inc. of San Jose, California, began running Web sites earlier this year that offer clbuttified advertising. The Web sites, where users can sell services, were launched under the brand "Kijiji," which is Swahili for "village". Although auctioning of services has been tried by some sites in the U.S., the tendency is for people to want to talk to the service provider after seeing the clbuttifieds, rather than quickly buy services online, Bajaj added.
EBay India is cooperating with the cybercrime cells of the Indian police, and has offered to report information of any infractions on its auction site to an e-mail address provided by the police. Last year loveographic video compact discs (VCDs) showing two Delhi school students engaged in a loveual act were put up for sale on Baazee.com by a student. Bajaj was arrested by the Delhi police for Baazee's role in that event, and later released on bail.
The decision by eBay India to pbutt on information of infractions to the police is in line with eBay policy in other countries, Bajaj said. In the case of the loveographic VCDs, the company took the auction off its site as soon as it was informed, he added.
