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By:

Bhaskar Nath Biswal

13 May 2026 at 8:30:30 pm

E-Commerce’s Hidden Threat

The modern Indian marketplace no longer echoes exclusively with the chaotic bustle of traditional bazaars. Instead, it thrives within the silent, instantaneous clicks of smartphone screens. From monthly groceries to high-end electronics, digital retail has fundamentally altered how households across the country consume goods. This transition has undoubtedly unleashed unprecedented convenience, democratizing access to products for millions living outside metro cities. However, this...

E-Commerce’s Hidden Threat

The modern Indian marketplace no longer echoes exclusively with the chaotic bustle of traditional bazaars. Instead, it thrives within the silent, instantaneous clicks of smartphone screens. From monthly groceries to high-end electronics, digital retail has fundamentally altered how households across the country consume goods. This transition has undoubtedly unleashed unprecedented convenience, democratizing access to products for millions living outside metro cities. However, this hyper-connected landscape has also exposed a deeply troubling reality. As digital storefronts expand, so does the shadowy ecosystem of cybercriminals eager to exploit the trust and vulnerabilities of unsuspecting shoppers. The digital transaction, once celebrated as a triumph of modern engineering, is increasingly fraught with unseen hazards. Protecting consumers from e-shopping fraud has now become an urgent national imperative. Fraud Surge The sheer scale of India’s e-commerce revolution provides vital context for why online shopping has become such a high-stakes arena. Recent market estimates indicate that India’s e-commerce economy has surged well beyond $140 billion, driven by over 300 million active digital shoppers. Projections show this user base rapidly swelling toward 400 million, largely fuelled by deep internet penetration, affordable smart phones and seamless payment infrastructure like the Unified Payments Interface across Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities. Yet, this remarkable surge in commercial volume has been mirrored by an equally dramatic escalation in cybercrime statistics. Official records from the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal reveal that citizens have filed over 3.8 million cyber fraud complaints, representing staggering financial losses exceeding Rs. 36,000 crore, with a significant portion stemming from fraudulent online retail schemes. Perhaps most alarming is the historical recovery rate, where less than one percent of stolen funds is successfully returned to victims once transactions cross cyber borders. Despite the pervasive presence of online threats, digital consumers frequently fall into predictable traps that expose them to severe risk. A primary misstep is the failure to maintain basic password hygiene, with millions of shoppers reusing weak or identical passwords across multiple e-commerce platforms and email accounts, enabling attackers to execute swift cascading breaches. Furthermore, shoppers frequently bypass critical verification steps in pursuit of speed, such as failing to verify whether a website domain uses secure, encrypted connections before typing in card credentials. Another widespread oversight is performing financial transactions over unsecured public Wi-Fi networks in cafes or transport hubs, which allows bad actors to intercept sensitive data packets in transit. Many consumers also neglect regular software updates on their smartphones, leaving unpatched security vulnerabilities wide open to malware. Above all, emotional urgency remains the greatest weakness. Impulsive buyers frequently ignore glaring red flags, such as suspicious payment requests or unverified seller profiles. Decoding Scams Recognizing that awareness is the frontline of defence, key industry players and digital safety advocates have begun taking structured action. A prominent example is the consumer handbook, ‘Your Guide to Safe Online Shopping’, developed by Safer Internet India and commissioned by Amazon. The initiative aims to demystify complex cyber security concepts and provide consumers with actionable, real-world tools to navigate the digital marketplace safely. The handbook shines a bright light on the most prevalent fraudulent tactics currently plaguing buyers. To combat these threats, the safety guide emphasizes a multi-layered approach to consumer protection. It urges shoppers to verify web addresses meticulously, refrain from sharing one-time passwords and avoid conducting transactions off authorized brand platforms. Equally important, the guide bridges the gap between technical vigilance and legal empowerment by outlining explicit consumer rights under Indian laws and detailing formal grievance redressal mechanisms. A sustainable defence against online shopping fraud requires an integrated, multi-stakeholder strategy that aligns consumer awareness, corporate accountability and robust law enforcement. E-commerce platforms must continue investing aggressively in advanced artificial intelligence tools to detect cloned websites, eliminate fake merchant accounts and intercept suspicious payment flows before they reach consumers. Concurrently, regulatory authorities and law enforcement agencies must strengthen real-time intervention frameworks, expanding initiatives like the 1930 cyber crime helpline and emergency account-freezing protocols to minimize financial damage when breaches happen. On the demand side, continuous public awareness campaigns, modelled after comprehensive handbooks, must reach deep into semi-urban and rural regions where first-time internet users are most susceptible to manipulation. Ultimately, building a safe digital shopping environment is about preserving trust. Only when digital literacy keeps pace with technological innovation can India truly reap the economic rewards of its e-commerce revolution without sacrificing the security of its citizens. (The writer is a former college Principal and Founder of Supporting Shoulders, an Odisha-based non-profit Trust. Views personal.)

KaleidThe Hidden Cost of Doing Too Muchoscope

A few days ago, I was stuck near Ghodbunder Road in one of those slow, crawling patches where the car keeps moving, but you still don’t feel like you’re getting anywhere.


That’s the best metaphor I can offer for many business owners I meet. Everything is moving. Everyone is busy. Calls, approvals, meetings, follow-ups, WhatsApp messages, late-night fixes. The day is full. The week is full.


And yet… progress feels strangely flat. As we step into 2026, it’s worth asking a blunt question: Are you actually building momentum or just running a very expensive routine?

Effort Is Not The Problem

Most founders don’t struggle because they’re lazy. They struggle because they are too reliable.


A second-generation business leader I met recently (closer to home, in the Mumbai–Thane belt) told me:


“We are working nonstop. Sales is on. Delivery is on. I’m involved everywhere. Growth should follow, right?” He wasn’t wrong about the effort. But he was confusing motion with momentum.


When you keep doing more, without redesigning how the business runs, you don’t create scale. You create a bigger version of the same struggle.


The Quiet Truth

There’s a myth many of us carry, especially in family-run and founder-led businesses: If I’m always available, I’m responsible. If I’m involved in every decision, I’m committed. If I’m in every loop, the business is “under control”.


But what really happens over time is more uncomfortable: The business starts depending on your effort instead of your design. And then your presence becomes the glue holding everything together. That glue works… until it doesn’t.


In the Mahabharata, Abhimanyu enters the Chakravyuh bravely. He fights hard. He holds his own. But he gets trapped because he knows how to enter, not how to exit. That’s the founder version of “doing too much”.


You enter every loop: You approve every discount. You rewrite every client email. You jump into every operations fire. You personally “close” every stuck situation.


Not because your team is useless. But because the exit path was never designed.


And slowly, the business becomes a Chakravyuh of your own making where the only way things move is if you are in the middle of it.


Hidden Cost Is The Team

Here’s what over-effort quietly does: It trains the team to wait. Every time you step in “just this once”, you teach people that escalation is the real workflow.


It shrinks initiative. People stop thinking ahead. They focus on keeping you updated, not solving the issue. It creates decision fatigue. You start carrying hundreds of micro-decisions. Even small things feel heavy. It blocks succession … emotionally, not just structurally. Because the team never builds confidence without you.


I’ve seen this pattern so often that I started noticing it in myself too outside business. When I over-function, the system around me under-functions. Not because people are incapable. But because my behaviour quietly tells them, “I don’t trust the process unless I touch it”. That’s a hard thing to admit. But it’s also a freeing realisation.


Now contrast Abhimanyu with Krishna. Krishna didn’t win by doing more. He shifted outcomes by designing decisions: Who acts, when. What gets escalated, and what doesn’t. What “done” looks like. What happens if someone is unavailable.


That’s what mature leadership looks like in a growing business. Not more involvement. More architecture.


If you want a different 2026, change the lens. Most people enter a new year with new goals.


A better question is: What are you still personally compensating for inside your business?


Because if your calendar is packed and your mind is always “on”, it usually means one of these is missing: Clear ownership. Clear escalation paths. Clear “done” definitions. Clear decision windows When those are missing, effort becomes the default strategy. And effort is a poor substitute for structure.


Abhimanyu fought hard and got trapped. Krishna stayed out of the fight and shaped the field. So, here’s the question to carry into 2026: Are you building a business you can exit… or a loop you keep re-entering?


And if things feel heavy even after all your hard work, maybe the answer is not “work harder”. Maybe it’s: design better.


(The author is Co-founder & Principal Consultant at PPS Consulting and works with growth-stage founders to replace high-effort leadership with system-led scale. Views personal. Reach him at rahul@ppsconsulting.biz.)

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