Logistics company Gati said that it had e-commerce revenues of Rs 37.5 crore for the quarter ended September 30 (Q2 FY18). This was a decline of 19.53% from Rs 46.6 crore in the same quarter last year. E-commerce revenue has been declining over the past few quarters following demonetization and the introduction of the GST regime. In the preceding quarter, Gati's e-commerce revenues stood at Rs 42.2 crores. Therefore, H1's e-commerce revenues stood at Rs 79.7 crore. This is in stark contrast to the situation a couple of years. For context, the e-commerce division in Gati was its fastest growing segment in FY 2015-16 and it had revenues of Rs 207.8 crore for the year, growing 63.1% from the previous year’s Rs 127.4 crore. Note that the second quarter is generally a strong period for companies due to increased spending during the festivals. But it looks like the festival season hasn't panned as expected for the company. "First of all, there was an anticipation of a good September because the festival season started in September. In the start of the festival season, the e-tailers themselves were not happy about their performance," Bala Aghoramurthy, Deputy Managing Director, Gati Kintetsu Express Limited said in the analyst call. "There was a core correction thereafter happened in the second phase, which actually falls into October. Dussehra started at the end of September and then Diwali near the end of October so the start of the festival season was not good for the e-commerce industry by itself," he added. Change…
