Online retail spending to touch USD 16 bn by 2018: Report

The online retail spending in the country is expected to reach USD 16 billion (around Rs 1 lakh crore) by 2018 with the number of people buying online touching 128 million, a report said today.
Billions of devices will be connectable with an ability to drastically enhance the quality of living and change the way products are experienced, the report by industry body CII and KPMG said.
"Digital infrastructure is a key enabling technology for a connected and instrumented world. It is expected to create tremendous opportunities for various technology players across verticals like smart cities, smart utilities, smart healthcare, smart transportation and more in India," KPMG India Partner K Raman said.

Industry players and society need to leverage digital infrastructure to create more opportunities and economic value, he added.
According to the report, there could be about 1.4 billion mobile sensing health and fitness app downloads worldwide by 2017.
"Also, Indian online retail spending will may reach USD16 billion by 2018, where online retail in India grew by 67 per cent in 2013. The number of Indian online buyers is expected to grow to 128 million by 2018," it added.

As digital infrastructure goes mainstream, there can be challenges like security, data breach and interoperability which may pose as a barrier for the overall framework, the report said.

Long-term success of digital infrastructure in a country like India could depend on the how well infrastructure operations work along with technological challenges, it said.
India, as a growing nation, could be looking to invest continuously in newer technologies and capabilities, while also driving their mass deployment, overcoming the challenges that manifest as hard and soft issues, it added.