Alibaba posts profit, sales fall

Alibaba India had a profit after tax of about Rs 1 cr in 2012-13, when its gross income was about Rs 20.29 cr

Alibaba has made a profit in its India operations during 2013-14, in a departure from the rest of the e-commerce sector in the country.

According to its latest filings with the Registrar of Companies (RoC), the gross income of Alibaba.com India E Commerce Pvt Ltd fell close to 90 per cent at about Rs 2.1 crore, but its profit rose to Rs 1.3 crore in 2013-14. Alibaba India had a profit after tax of about Rs 1 crore in 2012-13, when its gross income was about Rs 20.29 crore.

The Chinese e-commerce giant, which made news for its recent $25 billion initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange, is yet to get into online retailing in India. Its India operation is restricted to sourcing and business-to-business dealings.

Founder and executive chairman of Alibaba, Jack Ma, who was on a short visit to India, said on Wednesday he was keen to invest more in the country.

Alibaba entered India in 2010 via EasyBusiness India E-Commerce and then renamed it Alibaba.Com India E commerce Pvt Ltd.

Big Indian e-commerce players like Flipkart, Snapdeal and Amazon are running substantial losses.

There are more than a million suppliers listed on Alibaba's Indian website. In China, there are 8.9 million active sellers on its platform. Flipkart, Snapdeal and Amazon have more than 50,000 sellers each in India. Flipkart is aiming to get 100,000 sellers in the next 18-24 months.

The UAE, Americas and Europe are key exporting destinations of Indian goods for Alibaba; while the majority of its imports are from China, the US, the UAE and Indonesia. According to experts, the number of sellers does not necessarily mean higher sales, as order sizes are still small in India compared to China and other countries.

Ma's visit to India was seen as a sign of Alibaba's intention to enter India in a more proactive way. In India for only about 24 hours, Ma said he would be back soon.

Snapdeal recently received $627 million in funding from Softbank, the Japanese telecom and internet corporation.  SoftBank is also the biggest shareholder in Alibaba. Masayoshi Son, the 57-year-old founder and  chief executive of SoftBank, visited the Snapdeal office last month and addressed employees of the company.  Snapdeal is one of the three e-commerce companies in which Ratan Tata, former chairman of the Tata group, has invested his personal money.