Service Sector : Introduction

The tertiary sector of the economy (also known as the service sector or the service industry) is one of the three economic sectors, the others being the secondary sector(approximately the same as manufacturing) and the primary sector (agriculture, fishing, and extraction such as mining). The service sector consists of the "soft" parts of the economy, i.e. activities where people offer their knowledge and time to improve productivity, performance, potential, and sustainability. The basic characteristic of this sector is the production of services instead of end products. The tertiary sector of industry involves the provision of services to other businesses as well as final consumers. Services may involve the transport, distribution and sale of goods from producer to a consumer, as may happen in wholesaling and retailing, or may involve the provision of a service, such as in pest control or entertainment. The goods may be transformed in the process of providing the service, as happens in the restaurant industry. However, the focus is on people interacting with people and serving the customer rather than transforming physical goods. For the last 30 years, there has been a substantial shift from the primary and secondary sectors to the tertiary sector in industrialised countries. This shift is called tertiarisation. Examples of service sector employment include:

Government Public health Waste disposal Education Banking Insurance Financial services Legal services Consulting News medias, casinos Tourism Retail sales Franchising

Online service Sector : GROWTH

Providing services through internet is termed as on-line service sector.

1.RAPIDLY GROWING
Internet access in India is largely provided by the private sector and two state-run companies and is available in a variety of forms, using a variety of technologies, at a wide range of speeds and costs. The country has the world's fourth largest Internet users with over 100 million users (of whom 40 million use the Internet via mobile phones) as of December 2010.However, the Internet penetration in India is one of the lowest in the world and only accounts for 8.4% of the population compared to other counties where average penetration rate is over 50%.

In March 2011, India has witnessed an 18% rise in Active Internet Users among urban cities, amounting to 65 million across in country . Numbers of people who have Ever Used internet and are PC literates have also grown to 82 Mn and 114 Mn respectively. This growth is expected to continue and by September 2011, there will be 119 Mn PC literates and 88 Mn claimed Internet users of which there will be 70 Mn active Internet users who access Internet at least once a month.

As of September 2011, there were 112 Mn claimed Internet users in India. 88 Mn users are from urban cities and 18 Mn are from rural villages. It is expected that by September 2011, there will be 112 Mn Internet users in India 88 Mn from urban cities and 24 from rural villages

As of September 2011, there will be 112 Mn claimed Internet users: 88 million from urban cities and 24 Mn from rural villages o Compared to last year, there has been a growth of around 13%. The momentum is expected to hold up and by December 2011, it is expected that there will be 121 Mn claimed Internet users - Of 112 Mn claimed Internet users, there are 90 Mn (70 Mn in urban cities and 20 Mn in rural villages) users that use Internet at least once a month (i.e. active Internet users) o Home, as an access point, has grown by a large percentage compared to 2009. The usage of Cyber Caf for Internet access has reduced this year. Of the active Internet users in urban cities, 26.3 Mn access Internet through their mobile phones. This has been the most recent change in the access behavior. It is expected that this trend will continue to grow in the immediate future. - Youngsters in India continue to drive Internet Usage in India. In usage of School Going Kids has seen a substantial rise. This opens up the market for children aged below 18 year of age. - Internet usage in Smaller towns continue to spike their dominance over Top 8 metros with a combined usage of more than 60% - Penetration in Lower SECs continues with 25% with people from SEC C status and 11% for the ones with SEC D and E status. - Emails, Education, Social Networking, Music and Text chatting are the most popular activities amongst Urban Internet users. - Of 79 Mn active Internet users, 87% of Urban Internet users use internet at least once a week.

MAIN TYPES OF ONLINE SERVICES

ONLINE SERVICES

BANKING

TRAVEL AND TOURISM

CARRIER

STOCK TRADING

ENTERTAINMENT

INSURANCE

These services are discussed in detail:

ONLINE BANKING
Includes various banking activities conducted from home, business or on road instead of at a physical bank location. E-banking is a generic term for delivery of banking services and products through electronic channels,such as the telephone, the internet, the cell phone,etc. The concept and scope of E-banking is still evolving. It facilitates an effective payment and accounting system thereby enhancing the speed of delivery of banking services considerably.

E-banking has improved efficiency and convenience, it has also posed several challenges to the regulators and supervisors. Several initiatives taken by the government of India, as well as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), have facilitated the development of E-banking in India. The government of India enacted the IT Act, 2000, which provides legal recognition to electronic transactions and other means of electronic commerce. The RBI has been preparing to upgrade itself as a regulator and supervisor of the technologically dominated financial system. It issued guidelines on risks and control in computer and telecommunication system to all banks, advising them to evaluate the risks inherent in the systems and put in place adequate control mechanisms to address these risks. The existing regulatory framework over banks has also been extended to E-banking. It covers various issues that fall within the framework of technology, security standards, and legal and regulatory issues.

Major banks in India providing online facilities :

Axis Bank HDFC Bank ICICI Bank IndusInd Bank Kotak mahindra bank Yes bank Allahbad bank Andhra bank State bank of India Bank of India syndicate bank Bank of Baroda Indian overseas bank Punjab national bank

Punjab and Sindh bank Bank of maharashtra

ADVANTAGES OF ONLINE BANKING

Internet banking does offer many benefits for both banks and their customers. So the banks are doing what they can to encourage customers to try it. 1. An internet banking account is simple to open and use. You just enter a few answers to questions in a form while sitting comfortably in your own home or office. To access your account, you establish security measures such as usernames and passwords. To complete the set up of your account, you just print, sign and send in a form. 2. Internet banking costs less. Because there are fewer buildings to maintain, and less involvement by salaried employees, there is a much lower overhead with online banks. These savings allow them to offer higher interest rates on savings accounts and lower lending rates and service charges. Even traditional brick and mortar banks offer better deals such as free bill paying services to encourage their customers to do their banking online. 3. Comparing internet banks to get the best deal is easy. In a short time, you can visit several online banks to compare what they offer re savings and checking account deals as well as their interest rates. Other things you can easily research are what credit cards are available, credit card interest rates, loan terms and the banks own rating with the FDIC.

4. Bouncing a check (accidentally) should be a thing of the past because you can monitor your account online any time, day or night. You can track your balance daily, see what checks have cleared and when and know when automatic deposits and payments are made. This is all possible by simply going online to the banks website and logging into your account. 5. You can keep your account balanced using your computer and your monthly statement. Your bank account information can be downloaded into software programs such as Microsoft Money or Quicken, making is easy to reconcile your account with just a few mouse clicks. The convenience of the data capture online makes it much easier to budget and track where your money goes. Your internet bank account even allows you to view copies of the checks you have written each month.

6. With the ability to view your account at anytime, it is easier to catch fraudulent activity in your account before much damage is done. As soon as you log into your account, you will quickly see whether there is anything amiss when you check on your deposits and debits. If anyone writes a check or withdraws funds from your account and you know it wasn't you, you will see it right away. This lets you get started on correcting the problem immediately rather than having to wait a month to even have a clue it is happening as would be the case with a traditional bank. 7. Internet banking offers a great deal more convenience than you could get from a conventional bank. You aren't bound by 'banker's hours' and you don't have to go there physically in your car. Time is not wasted when you have work to do because you can do your office's banking without leaving the office. No matter where you are or what time it is, you can easily manage your money.

There are sound reasons why internet banking is growing. The economic advantages have encouraged banks to provide an increasing range of easy to use services via the internet. Customers have found doing business online simple and speedy and have become very comfortable with the arrangement. Internet banking gives people more control over their money in a very convenient way that they find enjoyable and reassuring. Other advantages are as follows: Offer international capital raising ,trade and services and special services for international trade
50 0 1 st Qtr 1 00 Ea st North

Several online banks allow their customers to view images of all incoming cheques,invoices etc.

Pay bills quickly Transfer money to different account or bank User can bank online while travelling

DISADVANTAGES
Internet banking services provide a number of benefits to consumers. But while it has its advantages, customers wishing to join the trend need to know its disadvantages as well. Despite the growing popularity of internet banking, it cannot be denied that some people still remain hesitant doing transactions online especially where money is concerned. Amidst the aggressive marketing made by the numerous financial institutions that have gone online, some sectors of society are still doubtful about this type of banking notably on the aspect of security. Impersonal. Doing transactions on the internet can be very impersonal. In other words, you only do business with the use of a computer. No individual to receive and check your money or correct some wrong information that you might have written on a certain form. And so for people comfortable dealing with real people who provide personalized services and using paper and money, internet banking is not ideal. Lack of trust. Many people still don't trust the internet. For the new users who have performed financial transactions for only a few times, they may still have this doubt whether or not they did the right thing such as clicked the right button and so on. They can only be comfortable once they print the transaction receipt and the transaction appeared on the bank statement. Difficult for first timers. For a first time user, navigating through a website of an internet bank may be hard and may take some time. Opening an account could also take time as some sites ask for numerous personal details including a photo identification which can inconvenience the potential customer. Because of this complexity, they may be discouraged to use this internet banking service. Tutorials and live customer support may be provided, though, to help the client in his or her needed tasks so it's best to take the time to know the virtual environment. Security fraud. Many people shy away from internet banking because of the security threat. They can't help but worry about this aspect what with news on fraudulent bank transactions that pop up every now and then. However, this should not be a problem as banks that provide internet banking services prioritize security above anything else. Since they value their customers, they always use the most advanced security technology in protecting their websites. In addition, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is also standing behind them.

TRAVEL AND TOURISM SERVICES

A travel website is a website on the world wide web, that is dedicated to travel. The site may be focused on travel reviews, the booking of travel, or a combination of both. Approximately seventy million consumers researched travel plans online in July 2006. Travel bookings are the single largest component of e-commerce, according to Forrester Research. Many websites take the form of a digital version of a traditional guide book, aiming to provide advice on which destinations, attractions, accommodations, and so on, are worth a visit and providing information on how to access them. Some travel websites cater specifically to the college student audience and list exclusive airfare deals and travel products. StudentUniverse offers exclusive airfare for college student and faculty, as well as 18-25 year-old youth travelers. Members must verify that they are enrolled or are faculty at an accredited college or university. Individual airlines, hotels, bed and breakfasts, cruise lines, automobile rental companies, and other travel-related service providers often maintain their own web sites providing retail sales. Many with complex offerings include some sort of search engine technology to look for bookings within a certain timeframe, service class, geographic location, or price range. MAJOR TRAVEL SITES IN INDIA INCLUDE :

Make my trip Yatra Travel guru Meratrip Indiatimes Clear trip Flight raja

www.makemytrip.com www.yatra.com www.travelguru.com www.meratrip.com www.indiatimes.com www.cleartrip.com www.flightraja.com

INCREDIBLE INDIA CAMPEIGN

The first marketing initiative of its kind, Incredible India was conceptualized in 2002 by V Sunil (while he was Creative Director, O&M Delhi), and Amitabh Kant, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Tourism. The primary objective of this branding exercise was to create a distinctive identity for the country. This resulted in the iconic Incredible !ndia logo, where the exclamation mark that formed the I of India was used to great effect across all communications. The campaign successfully established India as a high-end tourist destination, generating a 16% increase in tourist traffic in the first year. In the second year, the Incredible India campaign focused on spiritual tourism, resulting in a 28.8% increase in tourist traffic and a no.1 ranking in the Travel+Leisure readers survey. In 2003, Cond Nast Traveller selected India as one of the top ten preferred destinations for the discerning traveller. Indias results are very exciting and show the countrys increasing popularity amongst sophisticated travellers. It also reflects very positively on the individuals involved in promoting India as a premium tourist destination. Sarah Miller, Editor, Cond Nast Traveller, 2003. In January 2004, Lonely Planet conducted a survey in 134 countries to select the worlds favourite destination for individual travellers. India was ranked among the top five favourite international destinations in the global survey (the other four were Thailand, Italy, Australia and New Zealand). According to Lonely Planet, the respondent for the survey was todays independent traveller professional, with a degree or post-graduate qualification who is aged 25 to 34. The 2003/04 campaign went on to win many prestigious awards, including Gold at PATA and the Bombay Ad Club.

Incredible response from online campaign

The Government of India Ministry of Tourism wanted to promote India as the destination of choice among international travellers from the UnitedStates, Europe, and Asia Pacific. The marketing strategy, which went beyond the traditional media mix, integrated online marketing so the Ministry could reach the increasing number of people who research their holiday destinations online. The Ministry understood the need for an interactive and engaging campaign to ensure message retention, as tourists choose international holiday decisions months ahead of actual travel dates.

Campaign Results
The campaign produced a 24 percentage point jump in favourability for India as a destination from those who saw the campaign, plus a 19 percentage point increase in likelihood to visit within two years. Both these findings reinforced existing Incredible !ndia branding, and demonstrated Microsofts power to execute across multiple markets. In fact 83 percent of survey respondents thought MSN is a good way to reach international travellers. Almost 60 percent of those who saw the campaign were more likely to holiday in India More than 75 percent of the response sample perceived India as an attractive destination Holiday decision makers comprised 84 percent of the response sample 90 percent of the response sample used the internet for planning leisure travel

ADVANTAGES OF ONLINE TRAVEL SERVICES

Tremendous amount of information
A travel agent will tell you what he can do for you, but there are no guarantees that there are no better deals that he didn't find. Booking online gives you the opportunity to do your own research. Comparing prices and offers from many different sites may come up with a better deal. There are no guarantees, but you are more motivated to save money than your agent is, so you may have a better chance of beating his deal.

Elimination of travel agents

All travel agents charge fees for their services. The charges are built right into the prices. Some online sites may charge a nominal fee for booking, but if you shop directly with the airlines or other transportation sites, there will be no booking fees charged.

Comparison Shopping
Booking online gives you the chance to immediately compare prices from many different airlines or resorts. You can use one of the aggregate sites, like Expedia, Travelocity or Orbitz to get a range of prices from different sites all at once. For even better prices, go to the actual airline sites themselves. Often the airline website has the absolute lowest prices anywhere.

Convenience
Your computer in your home is always convenient, 24 hours a day. You can book travel online in the middle of the night without leaving home. You won't spend any gas for travel to the office, and you won't waste time finding a travel agent.

Discount Sites
There are many sites online that offer discount coupon codes for travel of all kinds. Whether your vacation is to a family amusement park or relaxing on a beach, there may be a discount code that applies to some part of your travel plans. Do a search in your favorite search engine for "travel discount" and see what sites you can find.

DISADVANTAGES

Disadvantages of online travel service are:

Reliability
All the online travel agencies are not reliable and it becomes impossible to find the travel agency which is most reliable. There is always risk to depend on online travel agencies.

Wrong tickets
Sometimes booking of the tickets by the staff members is done without care and problem arise when you are about to leave. They usually commit mistake and book the ticket of wrong destination

Hidden charges
Sometimes the hidden charges of the travel agency cost a lot and you avoid the travel agency for booking the travel again

No improvements
The arrangements made by the travel agencies are not satisfactory and you complain a lot to the authority but no improvements are made in the direction.

Complex trips
Complex trips require specialized knowledge and arrangements which must be done by a conventional travel agent.

ONLINE CAREER SERVICES

employment website is a web site dealing specifically with employment or careers. Many employment websites are designed to allow employers to post job requirements for a position to be filled

Other employment sites offer employer reviews, career and job-search advice describe different job descriptions or employers. Through a job website a prospective employee can locate and fill out a job application or submit resumes over the Internet for the advertised position

Top 10 websites in India that are essential for all job seekers: Naukri Monster India Times Jobs JobsAhead Devnetjobs India CareerBuilder India Bixee.com Clickjobs.com CareerAge.com Freshersworld.com

Statistical data on online job seekers

Fifty cities account for almost 90% of the jobseekers, and the top 20 cities account for nearly 81%. This, more than anything else, is a clear indication of the skewed distribution of online jobseekers. There are several reasons behind this, the key ones being economic opportunities and Internet penetration Women The gender difference probably reflects the workplace gender difference (in the kind of 19rganizations that online jobseekers work). As many as 23% of the online job seekers are women. However, the proportion of women among the online job seekers varies greatly across cities. In Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai and Pune, the proportion of women is significantly higher than the all-India average, whereas in Delhi and Ahmedabad, it is well below the all-India average

Online stock trading

A Stock Exchange is the place where investors go to buy/sell their shares

Once a company's public offering is complete, it gets listed in a stock exchange. After listing it would be available for trading to all investors in the stock exachanges where they are listed. In India we have two major stock exchanges. They are: 1. The National Stock Exchange (NSE) & 2. The Bombay Stock Exchanges (BSE) National Stock Exchange: The NSE is India's largest and the worlds third largest stock exchange in terms of Transaction volumes & amounts. The NSE is based out of Bombay. The NSE has set up its trading platform as a nation-wide, fully automated screen based system. This enables anyone in any part of the country to trade on shares listed in the NSE. NSE Index or NIFTY: The NSE Index or the Nifty Index as it is popularly known, is the index of the performance of the 50 largest & most profitable, popular companies listed in the index. Each company that is part of the index has its own weightage in the value of the Index. The value of the Nifty Index is the weighted average of the prices of these 50 companies. Bombay Stock Exchange: The BSE is the oldest stock exchange in Asia. It is situated in Dalal Street in Mumbai. It is the third largest stock exchange in south Asia and the tenth largest in the world. BSE has over 5000 companies that are listed in it. The objectives of the BSE are similar to that of the NSE.

Advantages of online stock trading

Once upon a time, the only way to trade stocks was through a stockbroker. These high-powered men and women would take stock orders, make suggestions and then handle the entirety of the actual buying and selling of stocks. With the proliferation of the internet, brokers have become a commodity that is only used by those who intend to trade large quantities of stock usually either very wealthy individuals or businesses. The average person no longer needs a broker because they can trade online. There are numerous benefits to online stock trading, especially for casual traders.these are :

Cost:

The first benefit of online stock trading is cost. Brokers make their living working with

stocks and bring advanced degrees in business as well as years of experience to trading. All that can make them very effective, but also very costly. Often they will charge not only a brokerage fee, which is an up-front fee for their services, but often they take a percentage of any earnings. They may also have other fees added into the exchange, depending on the stockbroker. Online brokerage firms charge flat rates for each transaction, which are usually extremely inexpensive by comparison.

Control:

The second benefit of online stock trading is that you have full control. This was

always one of the biggest complaints when brokers held a stranglehold on the market. They would often refuse to perform a trade they thought was a poor investment. If they saw any flaws in an investment, they had full authority to deny the trade to their clients. While this could save the potential client from making a bad investment, it could also prevent them from taking a risk that would pay off enormously. Online stock trading removes the middleman between traders and the stocks they want.

Immediacy: The third benefit of online stock trading is immediacy. Using the daisy chain
of investor to broker to trade to payoff was sometimes too time consuming to execute the trade in time, which is a danger in the world of stocks where time is money and seconds count. Trading online allows immediate trading for the investor and real-time updates regarding a stocks performance. The lag between the investor's purchase and the actual time the stocks are bought has been reduced to nil.

Volume of investment:

The fourth benefit of online stock trading is being able to

make as many or as few trades as you desire. Brokers usually required a minimum trade allotment, which meant that an individual could not make a single trade for a paltry sum. They were forced to adhere to the brokers guidelines. This prevented casual traders from being able to trade whatever volume of investments they wanted.

DISADVANTAGES
Real Money
In recent decades, people have become very accustomed to doing both work and play in front of a computer monitor. When you're so immersed in an online task, it's possible to become detached. This can cause users of online investing firms to forget that they are using real money as they trade on the brokerage's website. Investors may make mistakes because they make trading decisions too quickly and get caught up in the ease of using the technology.

Lack of a Broker/Investor Relationship

When you invest with a traditional brokerage firm, there is a relationship with the broker, who can become an investing mentor. The broker provides advice and guidance to the investor. This is beneficial relationship to both parties, as the investor gets the broker's financial expertise and the brokerage firm gets extra fees from clients if its portfolio grows in size. With an online trading firm, all portfolios are self-directed, which means users need to have at least a working knowledge of the financial markets to make informed decisions. Many investors simply don't have enough time to follow the financial markets, especially on a daily basis. This can cause them to make inappropriate investments due to a lack of complete information.

No Time to Learn Online Programs

Online brokerage firms claim their software is easy, but this isn't always the case. Often, the software is complicated, with several different options and calculators, and no instructions on how to actually use them. People who don't learn software quickly may not master all the ins and outs of the program. Without complete knowledge of the program, investors may not make the right decisions because they won't know what all of their options are. Also, taking the time to learn the technology means spending money, which is often too high of a cost for many people. As a result, they will use only the sections of the site they feel comfortable with, another limitation.

Online Stock Trading Companies in India

Some of the popular stock brokers in India Financial Market are:

1. ICICI Securities Pvt Ltd.

ICICIDirect (or ICICIDirect.com) is stock trading company of ICICI Bank. Along with stock trading and trading in derivatives in BSE and NSE, it also provides facility to invest in IPOs, Mutual Funds and Bonds. Trading is available in BSE and NSE. ...

2. Sharekhan
Sharekhan is online stock trading company of SSKI Group, provider of India-based investment banking and corporate finance service. ShareKhan is one of the largest stock broking houses in the country. S.S. Kantilal Ishwarlal Securities Limited (SSKI) ...

3. Indiabulls Securities Ltd

Indiabulls Securities (ISL) is one of the India's capital markets companies providing securities broking and advisory services. Indiabulls Securities is promoted by Indiabulls Group, is one of the country's leading business houses with business inter...

4. 5Paisa
5paisa is Online Stock Trading Company of India Infoline Securities Private Ltd., Owner of popular business portal Indiainfoline.com. Besides high quality investment advice from an experienced research team, the site offers real time stock quotes, ma...

5. Motilal Oswal Securities Ltd

Incorporated in 1987, Motilal Oswal Securities Ltd is a well diversified financial services firm offering a range of financial products and services such as Wealth Management, Broking & Distribution, Commodity Broking, Portfolio Management Services, .

ONLINE ENTERTAINMENT SERVICES

Online Entertainment consists of any activity which provides a diversion or permits people to amuse themselves in their leisure time through internet . Entertainment is generally passive, such as watching a show on a TV or a movie.. Entertainment may also provide fun, enjoyment and laughter. The industry that provides entertainment is called the entertainment industry. There are many forms of entertainment for example: cinema, theatre, sports and games. The most common example is the website www.bookmyshow.com

BOOK MY SHOW

Bigtree Entertainment's BookMyShow is India's largest entertainment ticketing website. Headquartered in Mumbai, it is the only destination for movie and non-movie options like events, plays and sports. Within a decade of its inception, BookMyShow poses a 40% CAGR in revenues and over 90% market share in the online entertainment ticketing space. With offices in India, New Zealand and Malaysia, BookMyShow aims to present their clients with endless options to purchase tickets for the latest movies, music concerts, plays, stand up comic acts, and major sporting events to name a few. Tickets can be booked through various platforms like internet, mobile application, WAP and the in - house call center.

With ticketing for over 850 screens across 87 cities, BookMyShow has partnerships with all major Indian production houses and studios with real time ticketing for major cinema chains like Inox, Big Cinemas, Cinemax, Fun Cinemas etc. 75% of all cinema tickets sold online are booked on bookyshow, resulting in sales peaking up to 1 million tickets. The customer spends of over Rs.100 million, on an average every month, only on movies the recent ticket sales have been over a whopping Rs.6 crores for Dabangg, Rs.8.9 crores for Avatar and over Rs.9.5 crores for 3 Idiots. BookMyShow has ticketed for over 1,500 plays online and is the exclusive and permanent ticketing partners for theatre venues like Prithvi Theater, Mumbai, NCPA Mumbai, Indian Habitat Centre Delhi and Rangshankara Bangalore. With more than 20 million page views per month, BookMyShow has ticketed for more than 300 live large format events and sport events such as ICL, city Marathons, etc. BookMyShow.com was the official ticketing partner for Mumbai Indians, Kings XI Punjab and official online ticketing partner for Delhi Daredevils in season 2010. BookMyShow introduced a number of innovative features to make cricket viewing a pleasurable and more comfortable experience for their customers this season with on ground tie ups with various retail chains like Reliance Fresh, Reebok and Caf Coffee Day for sale of tickets. BookMyShow was also the official ticketing agency for the prestigious Yonex - Sunrise Badminton Asia Tournament, hosted in the capital for the first time in April 2010 and ticketing partner for the India v/s Australia 2nd test match in Bangalore. BookMyShow recently launched pre-booking for upcoming films and the ticket booking application for Blackberry smartphones.

BigTree Entertainment, the Network18 subsidiary which owns the movie ticketing site Bookmyshow.com, reported revenues of Rs 16.09 crore for the year ended 31st March 2011 (FY11), up 32.36% from Rs 12.16 crore in FY10. Alongwith the growth in revenues, the company has reported a significant reduction in losses: compared with the Rs 1.52 crore loss in FY10, the company reported a loss of Rs 41.31 lakh for FY11. Network18, for the last few quarters, has been talking about strong revenue growth for the company, and had said in the third quarter of that fiscal, BookMyShow had reported an EBIT profit.

ONLINE INSURANCE
Online insurance refers to the buying and selling of insurance online. Insurance is subject to the principle of utmost good faith, which makes it convenient for people to conduct the business online, as both the parties have absolute duties to disclose all material facts otherwise any contract concluded is void. Conducting a complete insurance transaction can be difficult for most commercial businesses, due to the necessity of underwriting, sales, and a whole network of employees to ensure the contract is up to company standards. For this reason, many types of personal insurance are now sold online, including car insurance, travel insurance, and medical insurance In recent times, many online insurance providers now provide not only an insurance quote online, but perform the remainder of the selling process manually, and takes a large amount of paperwork out of the process. Some international insurance companies still require an actual physical process to take place. An example is purchasing car insurance in Dubai, where it is mandatory to give an Arabic certificate of insurance before registering the car. The certificate should bear a physical stamp of the issuing company, which means that the transaction cannot be completed online.

Advantages of buying online insurance

Read the policy in details:

You can check the reviews along with reading the terms and

conditions of the insurance policy in details.

Save time:

If you browse online, then youll be able to compare a number of insurance policies in

relatively less span of time

Take help of insurance directories:

You can use insurance directories to find out your

available options regarding a specific insurance. Insurance directory is a platform where several insurance providers gather in order to offer you a wide choice of policies.

Check several umbrella policies:

Internet insurance resources help you to check several

umbrella policies; it help you to reduce the premium cost by purchasing multiple policies from a single provider.

Assess companys financial strength: Online resources help you to assess whether or not

the company is financially sound. You can check the ratings given to the insurance companies by leading rating agencies like BBB (Better Business Bureau), A. M. Best, Standard and Poor, etc.

Get immediate answers to your queries: You can get your queries answered through 24/7

customer support facility. If you want, you can also participate in several forums to clear your doubts before purchasing your insurance policy.

DISADVANTAGES
In an Online policy you are more vulnerable to fraudsters, The cost effectiveness of
online plans is because there is no intermediary and it saves you a lot of time and money. However you need to verify If the site is a legitimate site and also check if the address existed outside the virtual world. You will need to protect yourself from fraudsters as there are many on the Internet who will rob you of your identity. Beware of the information that you give, as in an insecure site, you will be unknowingly selling your personal details to fraudsters.

Absence of interpersonal communication one of the downsides of lack of interpersonal

communication is that the answers to your queries will not be real-time. It is only expected that you would have questions regarding the policy that you are eyeing on. If you are doing the correspondence electronically, you would have to wait for a few hours before your queries are addressed. There are firms which designate a representative who would provide chat support, talking to the clients who pay the site a visit. However, it may be interfered with your connections downtime

Leaving you on your own if you would obtain term life insurance quotes online, you are also
on your own especially if the website does not contain enough information or data that you need about the policy. You cannot ask someone about a term that may be foreign to you so you would have to determine it by yourself.

SCOPE OF ONLINE SERVICES IN INDIA

URBAN POPULATION

302 Mn individuals live in the urban cities. Of these, 38% know how to operate a computer. This number has grown from 32% in 2009. 72% of the computer literates claim to have used the internet ever. 79% of these are actively accessing the internet, at least once in the past one month. The penetration of claimed internet users has grown from 24% in 2009 to 27% of the total urban population.

Among rural villages in India, basis the projections over NRS 2006, there are 603 Mn individuals live in the villages who are more than 12 years of age. Of these, 8% know how to operate a computer. 36% of the computer literates claim to have used the internet ever. 78% of these are actively accessing the internet, at least once in the past one month. The penetration of claimed 1 internet users is really low (around 3% ).

CYBER FRAUDS :MAJOR PROBLEM OF

USING ONLINE SERVICES
The invention of the computers has opened new avenues for the fraudsters. It is an evil having its origin in the growing dependence on computers in modern life. Though there is a great talk about the cyber crimes there is nothing called cyber crime. The crimes such as frauds, forgery are traditional and are covered by the separate statutes such as Indian Penal Code or alikes. However the abuse of computer and the related electronic media has given birth to a gamut of new types of crimes which has some peculiar features.some examples are :

Speak asia online fraud 2011: The first arrests have been made in the Rs 1320 crore Speak
Asia fraud case. Mumbai police have arrested the online survey company's COO Tarak Bajpai and four other officials into custody. But the Singapore-based owner of the ponzi scheme company is still absconding. "We have registered an FIR under cheating and criminal conspiracy (section 120b)," said Joint Commissioner of Mumbai Police (Crime) Himanshu Roy. Based on a subscription model, Speak Asia collected Rs 11,000 from each member. The members were then paid for completing the surveys commissioned by various companies.

While many companies deny commissioning such surveys, the Mumbai police estimates that the total amount collected could well be over Rs 1320 crore. A case was also filed in the Economic Offences w

Intellectual Property crimes

These include software piracy, copyright infringement, trademarks violations, theft of computer source code etc. In other words this is also referred to as cybersquatting. Satyam Vs. Siffy is the most widely known case. Bharti Cellular Ltd. filed a case in the Delhi High Court that some cyber squatters had registered domain names such as barticellular.com and bhartimobile.com with Network solutions under different fictitious names. The court directed Network Solutions not to transfer the domain names in question to any third party and the matter is sub-judice. Similar issues had risen before various High Courts earlier. Yahoo had sued one Akash Arora for use of the domain name Yahooindia.Com deceptively similar to its Yahoo.com. As this case was governed by the Trade Marks Act, 1958, the additional defence taken against Yahoos legal action for the interim order was that the Trade Marks Act was applicable only to goods.

Forgery

Counterfeit currency notes, postage and revenue stamps, mark sheets etc can be forged using sophisticated computers, printers and scanners. Outside many colleges across India, one finds touts soliciting the sale of fake mark sheets or even certificates. These are made using computers, and high quality scanners and printers. In fact, this has becoming a booming business involving thousands of Rupees being given to student gangs in exchange for these bogus but authentic looking certificates.Some of the students are caught but this is very rare phenomenon.

Cyber Defamation:
This occurs when defamation takes place with the help of computers and / or the Internet. E.g. someone publishes defamatory matter about someone on a website or sends e-mails containing defamatory information to all of that persons friends. Indias first case of cyber defamation was reported when a companys employee started sending derogatory, defamatory and obscene e-mails about its Managing Director. The e-mails were anonymous and frequent, and were sent to many of their business associates to tarnish the image and goodwill of the company. The company was able to identify the employee with the help of a private computer expert and moved the Delhi High Court.

CYBER FRAUDS :PREVENTION TIPS

Use Secure Portals
If you do not take care to ensure that the site you are visiting for making an online payment is technically secure, your passwords and credit card details can be compromised and a duplicate credit card bearing the same data as yours can be generated. A typing error while entering the website address may lead you to a fraudulent website specifically created to capitalise on such errors which is why you need to make sure the website address is correct before you initiate a transaction.

Exercise Caution
While making purchases online, you need to ensure that you are doing business with a reputable Internet merchant, and study the websites privacy policy carefully. A reputable website often has a clearly stated privacy policy at an accessible place. Your computer browser can tell you if the place where you are about to send the information is secure. If you cannot determine this, do not put your

payment card information over the Internet, advises Barry Wong, senior business leader and regional head, security and risk services, Asia/Pacific, MasterCard Worldwide.

Watch Out For Phishing

Never respond to phishing emails asking for your personal information and passwords. You need to remember that no bank or financial institution will ask for such sensitive information over email. Installing an anti-virus software application would also go a long way in keeping your computer and, thereby, all your private information secure.

Know Your Rights

If you ignore the fineprint of your bank and credit card documents, it deprives you of the knowledge of your rights. For example, if you see a transaction on your credit card statement which you havent executed, you have the right to raise the issue with the bank, says Mr Srinivasu. For this purpose, you need to constantly monitor your statements. With the advent of bank and card statements, many tend to neglect going through the documents, unlike earlier, when the good-old habit of updating the pass book kept them abreast of their account details.

CONCLUSION
IMPACT OF ONLINE SERVICES ON THE GDP OF INDIA
(McKinsey report; year 2010)

The Internet is a critical element of growth. In India, Internet services contributed 3.2%growth out of five per cent to the growth of gross domestic product in the last five years, two percentage points higher than the average three per cent for BRIC economies, said a McKinsey report. In India, a strong trade balance powers the impact of the Internet. Net foreign trade accounts for 47 per cent of the total economic contribution from the Internet. BRIC stands for Brazil, Russia, India and china.

1. Internet accounts for, on average, 3.4 percent of GDP in the 13 countries (including India) that were studied. Internet has more than 2 billion users worldwide and it continues to grow rapidly. It is interesting to note that internet-related consumption and expenditure is now bigger than agriculture or energy.

2. The internet is a critical element of growth. In the mature economies, the internet accounted for 10 percent of GDP growth over the past 15 years. And its influence is expanding. And if all the 13 countries are taken into consideration, the internet contributed 7 percent of growth over the last 15 years and 11 percent in the last five years. This clearly is a reflection of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) receiving a performance boost from the internet. 3. The internet is a powerful catalyst for job creation. It is interesting to learn that internet created 2.6 jobs for every 1 job it destroyed. 4. The internet drives economic modernization. One of the main impacts of internet is the modernization of traditional activities. Almost all industries and sectors have benefited from the internet. In the survey of SMEs, it was discovered that 75 percent of the economic impact of the internet arises from traditional companies that do not define themselves as pure internet players. For the last 30 years, there has been a substantial shift from the primary and secondary sectors to the tertiary sector in industrialised countries. The online tertiary sector is now the fastest-growing sector in the west and is soon catching pace in india. 'India service Online' sector is estimated to grow drastically in coming years. Online businesses like financial services, entertainment and travel are likely to expand soon. McKinsey-Nasscom report revealed that the fiscal year 2008 witnessed a hike in e-commerce transactions in India and touched around $100 billion. Indian middle class comprise 288 million people which is equivalent to entire U.S. consumer base makes India a lucrative market for online business. There has been an increase in the number of firms opting for online business. Even the top-notch Indian portal sites has reallocated their focus to online business rather than depending on revenues generated from advertising. The arrival of stock exchange online has paved way for proper online business transactions in India