NEW DELHI: Retail e-commerce sales in India are expected to reach $17.5 billion (105,120 crore) by 2018, from $5.3 billion (Rs 31,800 crore) in 2014, according to data analysed by eMarketer, a digital-research firm, but only two of 10 internet users in India shop online.

India's e-commerce market is intensely competitive, with US giant Amazon establishing its presence in India in 2013 and Alibaba, the Chinese giant, planning to start selling by August this year. Flipkart, India's largest e-commerce firm, recently raised $550 million (3,300 crore) at a valuation of $15 billion (90,000 crore).

Despite having the third-largest internet user base in the world with 200 million users at the end of 2014, India does not feature in the top 10 e-commerce markets in the world, according to an eMarketer report. The reasons centre on low Internet reach, slow internet speeds outside the metropolitan cities and poor customer services. India's e-commerce sales in 2014 were $5.3 billion (31,800 crore) -- 80 times smaller than China's $426.26 billion (2,557,760 crore) and 58 times smaller than U.S.' $305.6 billion (1,833,900 crore).

"If you look at Japan, China and US, e-commerce became popular as early as 2002-2003. It has taken them about 12-13 years to reach where they have reached. E-commerce really took off in India only in 2012-13. It will take India also that much time to reach there," Rajnish (he uses only one name), a technology expert, said.

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