NEW DELHI: It's still a small component of India's Rs 38 trillion ($600 billion) overall retail trade industry. Yet, the e-commerce format with sales of Rs 1 trillion ($16 billion) managed to create a buzz in 2014 like never before - not just with mega promotions but also with mergers, acquisitions and some crazy valuations.

Earlier in December, the Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group sold its 16-per cent stake in Yatra.com, a leading leading consolidator of travel products, for an eye-popping 12-fold jump in initial investment made in 2006, to value the portal at $500 million.

This was followed by a $700 million fund-raiser by Flipkart, that came over and above the $1 billion the company had raised in July - that had taken its valuation to a whopping $6 billion overnight. Flipkart also decided to merge Myntra, another leading e-retail firm, into it.

Similarly, one saw Japan's SoftBank make a commitment in October to invest $627 million in Snapdeal, a major player again in the Indian e-commerce space, and pick a $210-million stake in Ola that offers car rentals in 19 Indian cities through its mobile platform, website and call centres.

Not to be outdone, the U.S.-based Amazon said it will invest $2 billion in India's e-retail space.

"It was a roller coaster journey," Ashvin Vellody, partner for management consulting with KPMG in India, said in reference to the year that was for the country's e-commerce space.

"I think we have seen a lot of twists and turns in the industry in 2014 and more will follow in 2015. The good thing that emerged from this was that the customer is winning. There is pressure from every side and the customer is benefiting from that," Vellody told IANS.

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