Flipkart targets $8 billion in sales in 2015

It currently clocks $4 billion in sales

India's largest online retailer Flipkart aims to double the total value of goods it sells to $8 billion in 2015, two people with direct knowledge of the company's plans told Reuters, as it looks to widen the gap with rivals including Snapdeal and Amazon.com's India unit.

The company's gross merchandise values (GMV), or the value of the goods sold on its site, is currently $4 billion. 

GMV is calculated on monthly average sales.

Industry sources estimate Snapdeal and Amazon's India arm currently notch up gross merchandising values of around $3 billion and $1 billion respectively.

Online retailing is growing at a breakneck pace in India, which has the world's third-largest population of Internet users even with only a fifth of its population online.

Consulting firm Technopak estimates the Indian e-tailing market will be worth $32 billion in 2020, more than 10 times its value of $2.3 billion in October last year.

Flipkart aims to ship one billion units a month and to serve 100 million customers by 2018 fiscal year, according to company executives who attended a recent townhall meeting. Currently the company ships around 8 million units a month.

Industry sources value Flipkart, founded in 2007, at around $11 billion.