India’s e-commerce industry seen touching $90 billion by 2021

India's e-commerce industry, which is currently worth around $13 billion, is expected to touch $90 billion by 2021, recording a growth of nearly700 per cent, according to eTailing India and Internet Retailer.

A joint research project, which is tracking India's e-commerce sites, will be ranking the country's top 100 web merchants in February 2015, eTailing India founder Ashish Jhalani said.

Ranking India's 100 largest online retailers, based on their annual web sales and other metrics, will change the way organisations allocate internet advertising budgets in India, Jhalani said in a statement.

"E-commerce is a full-fledged industry today, from being ancillary part of the retail industry less than a few years ago. Much like Apple changed the music industry, e-commerce will not only impact retail, but also the advertising industry,'' Jhalani said.

"This is mission-critical data that will enable web merchants, vendors, investors and interested parties the world over to truly understand the trends and leaders that are growing the e-commerce market in India," says Jhalani. "With leading e-retailers such as Flipkart and others competing for a massive base of middle-class consumers with mobile devices, e-commerce in India is a force to be reckoned with. The India 100 reflects our continuing commitment to bringing competitive e-commerce information to this fast-growing market," he added.

Shoppers in India are increasingly using smart phones to buy products; sites such as Flipkart, Snapdeal and Shopclues have reported that that up to 35 per cent of their traffic comes from the mobile phone.

With rising smart phone penetration and improving internet connectivity, e-commerce firms are expected to reach millions of new users in the coming years, he said.

In line with the growth of e-commerce, one-third of the world's advertising revenue is also expected to go digital by 2018, Jhalani said.

Indian internet users will surpass the number in the US by the end of 2014 and around 500 million people will be online by 2018, according to Google India.