AFP, New Delhi :
With 100 million new internet users every year, Amazon is betting big on India, but a major new investment in homegrown rival Flipkart means the battle to dominate the fast-growing e-commerce market is set to heat up.
Flipkart announced this week that top international companies including Microsoft, eBay and China’s Tencent had pledged investments totalling $1.4 billion, among the largest sums ever raised by an Indian start-up.
The 10-year-old e-commerce company needs all the help it can get to compete with Amazon after the Seattle-based giant made India’s 1.25 billion inhabitants a global strategic priority, earmarking $5 billion in investment funds.
“They need to have a substantial amount of cash in order to fight in the market with Amazon,” said Jaideep Mehta, South Asia director at the International Data Corporation.
Every three seconds, an Indian connects to the internet for the first time, according to Google.
One in three Indians currently uses the internet, but the number is forecast to swell by 300 million by 2020, mainly due to growing smartphone use.
McKinsey analyst Ashish Tuteja said 70 percent of online sales in India were done on a smartphone.
With 100 million new internet users every year, Amazon is betting big on India, but a major new investment in homegrown rival Flipkart means the battle to dominate the fast-growing e-commerce market is set to heat up.
Flipkart announced this week that top international companies including Microsoft, eBay and China’s Tencent had pledged investments totalling $1.4 billion, among the largest sums ever raised by an Indian start-up.
The 10-year-old e-commerce company needs all the help it can get to compete with Amazon after the Seattle-based giant made India’s 1.25 billion inhabitants a global strategic priority, earmarking $5 billion in investment funds.
“They need to have a substantial amount of cash in order to fight in the market with Amazon,” said Jaideep Mehta, South Asia director at the International Data Corporation.
Every three seconds, an Indian connects to the internet for the first time, according to Google.
One in three Indians currently uses the internet, but the number is forecast to swell by 300 million by 2020, mainly due to growing smartphone use.
McKinsey analyst Ashish Tuteja said 70 percent of online sales in India were done on a smartphone.
