So who is taking the responsibility for what's happening to the e-com industry in India today?

Don't get me wrong, this is not a witch hunt. Rather, it is an attempt to figure out whether there are sufficient lessons learnt from the most recent experiences in the start-up / e-com world so that future investments are used wisely. 

Let's play a small game... Which of these come to your mind, when you read the 10 quotes or adages? Options - a) Founders, b) VCs, c) Board Members, d) CEOs, e) "Trophy Hires", who were often appointed for obnoxiously high salaries (am I sounding jealous?).

1. Easy come, easy go.
2. If you look after the pennies, the dollars will look after themselves.
3. One man's loss is another man's gain.
4. The best things in life are free.
5. Never spend your money before you have it. ~Thomas Jefferson
6. There is a very easy way to return from a casino with a small fortune: go there with a large one. ~Jack Yelton
7. Always borrow money from a pessimist, he doesn't expect to be paid back. ~Author Unknown
8. If you lend someone $20, and never see that person again, it was probably worth it. ~Author Unknown
9. Money that is obtained without effort is spent without conscience. ~Dr. Idel Dreimer
10. Rule No.1: Never lose money. Rule No.2: Never forget rule No.1. ~Warren Buffett

As you would have guessed, there are no winners in this game, barring perhaps the advertising and logistics industry.

Media and advertising, which clearly one of the happiest folks as these players had to resort to obscenely high marketing budgets, to acquire customers. They were just doing their job - offer space and eyeballs for a fair sum. They didn't force the advertisers who went on a relentless pursuit to prove 'mine is bigger than yours'. But they did play a role - they are the ones who gave the ego boost by showering praise and awards to the founders who today send apology letters to their customers and employees. Well at least they had the grace to do that. But I am raising doubts on the calibre of the jury members and the media houses who shouldn't have scratched the surface and asked the right questions, while there was time.

End game - Proposition with "no uniqueness"; Business with "no profits"; Customers with "no loyalty"; and as you would have guessed, Future with "no visibility".

The most unfortunate fall out is job losses and an imminent collapse of a perfectly legitimate and promising start-up phenomenon which leaves behind a trail of 'could've, should've, must've'.

I started with a rhetorical and didn't expect any answers, and I am closing with another rhetorical - how many dot-com busts, banking system collapses and e-com flops will it take for "logic", "judgment" and "ethics" to finally find their place in business school curriculum?