Jack Ma’s Alibaba eyeing the Indian E-Commerce Market

China’s e-commerce giant, Alibaba, is planning to enter the Indian market this year by expanding its operations.

This was pronounced when Michael Evans, President of the group and K Guru Gowrappan, the Global Managing Director, met Ravi Shankar Prasad, Communications and IT minister and highlighted the company’s interest in India.

From the word that is going around, Alibaba seems to be very keen on coming to India especially in the e-commerce sector. It is still being decided whether they will partner with someone or go on their own way.

“E-commerce is a rising phenomenon in India, growing at 50% plus, with a huge catchment area, which shows the potential of a big aspirational market,” Prasad was quoted saying after the meeting. He also said that Alibaba will be given full cooperation in India.

Alibaba chiefs also suggested interest in the offline market in India to which Prasad said that they would be most welcome to adopt the same strategy in India too – both online and offline.

In the past, Alibaba has made noted investments in India’s e-commerce sector. Paytm and Snapdeal are two major companies in which Alibaba owns a stake.

The founder, Jack Ma, has visited India three times during the span of last few months.

India stands at an amazingly advanced stage as compared to what China was when Alibaba had started. Estimations suggest that e-commerce in India will be worth a whopping $38 billion by the end of 2016. It is 67% more than the previous year. The revenue is said to grow 5-fold to 7-fold.

On one hand, the entry of Alibaba will prove really fruitful for the Indian economy, but on the other hand, it will end up increasing the competition for the startups entering this phase. This is no surprise that the big guns of e-commerce in India like Amazon and Flipkart will need to bring their guard up.