India's online market set to soar, says Technopak study

India's e-tail market will reach 76 billion dollars

(Rs 4,40,268 crores) by 2021, says a study by Technopak. Sales of goods online accounted for only 6 percent of the country's total e-commerce market, valued at 10 billion dollars (Rs 57,928 crores) in 2012.

The Technopak's study says, e-tailing has the potential to grow more than 100-fold during the next nine years. The country's growing Internet-savvy consumer base, which will comprise 180 million broadband users by 2020, along with a burgeoning class of mobile Internet users, will drive the e-tailing market, it says.

India's total retail market is primarily served by offline retailers, which hold 93 percent share, while corporatised brick-and-mortar retailers hold 7 percent. E-tailing shares currently stand at only 0.1 percent. However, it is expected the shares could grow to 5.3 percent by 2021. “E-tailing will emerge as a viable third alternative by which corporatised retail can expand its share of the total retail pie. The key reason for this disruptive growth lies in the fact that the market-enabling conditions and ecosystem creation for e-tailing will outpace the same for corporatised brick-and-mortar retail. This growth will offer many advantages to the Indian economy, besides bringing in immense benefits to consumers,” says Technopak.

As Internet-habituated consumers increase across India, e-tailing has the potential to grow as well. “This dispersion does not allow accumulation of enough demand for brick-and-mortar retailers to open stores. Yet these same consumers, aggregated at a pan-India level, become an attractive opportunity for e-tailers,” it said.