India's E-Commerce Market Entices World's Leading Online Operators

India’s e-commerce segment is attracting the world’s leading online companies, including China’s Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and US-based Amazon.com Inc., as well as local players Flipkart and Snapdeal. Currently valued at $25 billion, the local e-commerce market, which is considered as a virgin territory, is forecast to grow up to 40 percent each year. While India’s market is more open than China’s, there are factors that limit foreign operators’ ability to do business, including the limit on foreign ownership of retailers selling multiple brands and the variation in taxes on goods and services among the country’s regions.