Shoppers will have to log on to the site and fill up a form after which a plastic card with a unique ID number will be shipped to them. After they shop with it, they can find one eRupee credited to their account for each Rs 2 that they spend while shopping just the way they would do traditionally. This, and the opening bonus of 500 eRupees, can be encashed for buying anything from among 1,000 products and services listed under 13 categories put together by the company in its catalogue. These products will bear an eRupee price tag. However, the Netwala promoters refused to give the actual worth of a eRupee saying this was crucial to their business model.

The company claims it will not be dependent on advertising revenues and not take on huge warehousing overloads upon itself a la Amazon. Hence, the actual shipping of a product bought by users online against their accumulated eRupees will be directly shipped by the respective member establishments. Its chief operating officer Amlan Bhattacharjya told eFE that the company hoped to break-even by the end of 2001.

The company was floated in December last by a group of professionals with experience in finance, technology and marketing who were earlier based in the USA. It received $15 million as angel investment from another set of Indian Americans based in Virginia in February, followed by a strategic investment by PSINet. ``The exact details of the deal are still being worked out. PSINet has committed to invest much more in a phased manner. We will go in for valuation of the company in August after which a clearer shareholding pattern will emerge,'' said Bhattacharjya.

The site has tied up with 2,000 retail outlets already in 15 cities and is targeting to raise the number to 12,000 in 25 cities by December. It has also roped in 500 cyber cafes who will put Netwala.com as their default home page. ``Our concept is based on the assumption that people do not want to be forced to change the way they are used to shopping over the years. What we have is a offline business driven by an online engine,'' said chief executive Safdar Khan. The company would get its revenue by charging a certain fee from the member establishments for each transaction made with a Netwala registered user. However, they won't be charged a franchisee fee.

It also plans to get some revenue from ISP reselling and cross-marketing fees with these member establishments. According to Bhattacharjya, Netwala would target a user base of between 7.5 lakh and 10 lakh.