A decade more for Indian e-commerce giants to become large business, says Google India head

Indian e-commerce giants, like Flipkart and Snapdeal, might be country’s most valued internet companies, but they have almost a decade ahead of them to transform into mega businesses, says Rajan Anandan, head of Google India and Southeast Asia. He cites the lack of purchasing power of consumers today as the reason behind this.

As per an ET report, he added that even though there is a rise in the number of internet users in the country, these start-ups are yet to come up with ways to attract this new set of customers.

"(India has a) very large (internet) user base but a very small addressable market for the businesses we have decided to build so far," said Anandan at an event organized by IDG Ventures India.

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As per Anandan, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba had its business boomed when China’s GDP per capita reached $4000 in 2009, and for India, that is "is exactly 10 years away."

"That's when we will be able to build companies that not just have large user bases but have large revenues, and most importantly large profits," he added. As of now, India's per capita GDP is estimated at about $1800.

"Every single Indian Internet company that we have tried to build till date has tried to mimic a US or a Chinese business model, which actually have significantly higher households with disposable incomes," he cautioned.

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