India not among top global e-tailing markets

Even though numerous studies have are gung-ho about

the growth of e-commerce in India, AT Kearney’s ‘Global Retail E-commerce Index’, has pointed out that the country does not feature even among the top 30 markets for online retail investment.

Reason: A significantly low internet penetration and poor financial and logistical infrastructure. To be sure, the index is a compilation of sales of physical products and excludes services. In 2012, the global survey ranked only the top 10 developing countries in online retail investment, and India did not feature in that list. For 2013, the consulting firm ranked both developed and developing countries in its survey.

India’s online population is close to 205 million according to an October report by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and IMRB International. Of the 900 million people with mobile subscriptions, only 10 percent use smartphones and can access the Internet. The report says that the Indian online shopping market stands at 1.5 billion dollars (Rs 9408.45 crores), where online shopping portals such as Flipkart, Jabong and Myntra retail books, electronics and fashion labels, whereas Amazon, the world’s largest online retailer, is present in India through a marketplace model called Junglee.com.

China at 64 billion dollars (Rs 40,339 crores) continues to be at the top for the second year in a row for online market attractiveness, followed by Japan with 52 billion dollars (Rs 32,716 crores) and the US with 177 billion dollars (Rs 1,11,563 crores), according to the global index.