Alibaba to enter Indian Ecommerce in a bigger way

Just last week, Alibaba had announced its investment India’s PayTM. It apparently seems like this was only a precursor to Alibaba’s larger plans. According to reliable sources,  Alibaba’s prolific founder Jack Ma plans to visit India this August to explore the possibility of entering Indian ecommerce. This would probably mean that Alibaba wants to get into multi-channel online retail, as it is already involved in the wholesale sector in Indian ecommerce.

Impending investment

Ma had earlier visited India in November. However, his arrival was kept low-key unlike the visits of other like celebrities including Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos of Amazon. Apparently, Alibaba’s foray into Indian ecommerce could bring in investments worth billions of dollars. One of the biggest shareholders in Alibaba, Japan’s Softbank, has already pledged a $10-billion investment in India.

Since Alibaba has been the pioneer in driving ecommerce growth in China, could its presence in India mean similar progress for the country? For now, all we can do is to wait and watch!