India’s e-trade to grow at 35% as malls continue slide

India's e-commerce industry is likely to clock a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 35 per cent and cross the $100-billion mark over the next five years from $17 billion at present, according to an Assocham-PricewaterhouseCoopers study.

Riding on the strong growth momentum of 2015, the e-commerce sector is estimated to see a 72-per cent jump in the average annual spend on online purchases per individual in 2016, from the current level of 65 per cent, the study said.

In contrast, shopping malls are attracting fewer footfalls leading, to around 25 per cent vacancy rate, along with a 30-per cent drop in rentals in the last one year, according to the study.

The trend in Indian malls is in line with the declining number of footfalls in retail space in over 200 shopping malls across the US, the UK and other countries.

In the US, malls are facing a 46 per cent vacancy rate, whereas it stands at 32 per cent in the UK, it said.

''Online shopping has shown a handsome growth while brick-and-mortar malls are witnessing a slowdown. The growth in e-commerce looks impressive because of a low base and rising penetration of the Internet,'' Assocham secretary general D.S. Rawat said.

Besides, with improvement in infrastructure such as logistics, broadband and Internet-ready devices, there is likely to be a significant increase in the number of consumers making purchases online, the study said, predicting around 65 million consumers in India to buy online in 2015, as against around 40 million in 2014.

Some 45 per cent of malls in India are expected to be converted into non-retail space in the next 15 years, which would be replaced with movie theatres, restaurants, discount retailers and the like, the study projected.