Adopting disruptive technology and riding on the Digital India bandwagon, the e-commerce sector has survived the slowdown in 2017 and benefited from the note ban , which spurred online transactions.More than computer-based Internet penetration and broadband extension, the record growth of smartphones and the 4G network rollout made e-tailing popular even in secondary cities and towns across the country thanks to easy and quick access to information and data on products and services. "As commuting through heavy traffic and finding a place for parking becomes difficult, we are hard-pressed for time to shop offline. "The e-commerce retail market is estimated to be $12 billion in gross merchandise value (GMV) terms. "Cross-border shopping by Indians was Rs 58,370 crore ($9.1 billion) in 2016 and is expected to grow 85 per cent annually in 2017. The US, Britain and China are preferred countries for cross-border shopping," said the report.The Indian consumer Internet market is projected to grow 44 per cent annually to $65 billion in 2017 from $45 billion in 2016.Online travel agents have 70 per cent market share in the internet consumer segment, while the remaining 30 per cent is contributed by e-tailing, fashion, furniture, grocery, hotel, food tech, cab aggregators, education technology and alternative lending among others.

Source: Economic Times December 30, 2017 12:56 UTC