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Introduction
There are many factors that point toward the potential for rapid growth of online shopping in India. With a $1.29 trillion GDP growing at an annual rate of 8.4 percent, India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world and the world's fourth largest economy in purchasing power parity with a GDP of approximately $3.36 trillion ([48] World Bank, 2010). These growth projections certainly hold true for the retail sector of the Indian economy ([42] Srivastava, 2008). In terms of education, India annually produces 2 million college graduates including approximately 200,000 engineers and 300,000 technically qualified graduates. The government of India has been heavily promoting investment in the telecom sector in recent years with the number of telephones increasing from 55 million in 2003 to 621 million in 2010. During the same period, broadband subscribers grew from .2 million to 8.8 million. Penetration of the internet, however, is comparatively lower at 6.9 percent of the population in 2009 compared to the world average of 26.8 percent ([15] Internet World Stats, 2010), pointing to growth potential in the Indian market. Electronic payment in India is also steadily increasing thanks to a large young population with growing disposable incomes. The growing popularity of e-payment in India is abetted by increasing adoption of financial cards. Although card payment and electronic transactions accounted for only 6 percent of total consumer payment transactions in India, the number of financial cards in circulation in India rose from 51 million in 2004 to 240 million in 2009 ([7] Euromonitor International, 2010). This, too, points toward substantial growth potential. In terms of internet shopping, a study shows that 78 percent of the Indian respondents have made online purchases and 55 percent have made at least one online purchase in the past one month ([3] Comiskey, 2006). There is evidence that the current economic crisis encourages online shopping as more and more Indian shoppers are motivated to compare prices among retailers ([33] Ravichandran, 2009). Another factor leading to growth in online shopping is the joint initiative between a number of state owned banks and the Indian Railways to passengers to transact ticket purchases online. Online shopping growth also overcomes weaknesses in the country's retail supply chain ([31] Nair, 2006). There is...