Data on Internet penetration in India backs the scales of operation.

There are currently some 250 million Internet users in the country. As per various estimates, the e-commerce industry, now valued at $16 billion, is growing at 30-40 percent each year and will top $100 billion in the next five years.

To serve them, there are some one million online retailers - small and large - which sell their products through various e-commerce portals, according to a report by the commerce ministry-promoted India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF).

The year, however, did not pass without some hiccups.

Flipkart had to face much embarrassment when its "Big Billion Day" October 6, meant to attract online shoppers with steep discounts, crazy deals and lucky draws on a range of products, boomeranged as its website crashed and social media was abuzz with allegations of cheating against the company.

Flipkart apologised to the people for the inconvenience. But it also announced that it had got a billion hits and sold products worth $100 million (Rs 600 crore) that day including some 500,000 mobile phone handsets, an equal number of clothes and some 25,000 TV sets within minutes of starting sales at 8 am.

This set the regular retailers thinking and fuming as well.

The Confederation of All India Traders, an umbrella body for regular retail trade industry, cried foul and urged the commerce ministry to regulate the e-retail business, look into their trade practices, which they alleged were not exactly as per rules, and create a level-playing field.

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