India continues to attract big business houses around the world. A large and burgeoning English-speaking middle class, stable democratic political climate make it an ideal place to do business. Alibaba has over 40 million users stretching across 190 countries. India has become the second most important country after China for Alibaba Group while America and Europe are a distant third and fourth respectively.
Alibaba.com, which is a Business to Business (B2B) extension of Alibaba Group, aims to double its user base in India in the coming years by taking on board over five million businesses on its wholesale trading pattern.
The B2B extension of Alibaba.com connects buyers and wholesale suppliers globally and has 440 million users across the globe. It has 4.5 million users in India.
Alibaba.com’s Head of Global Business Development, Timothy Leung told reporters that India is a very important destination for Alibaba. SME or small and medium enterprises are a very important contributor to an economy. Leung added that his company expects to take on board more than 10 million businesses from India.
As a step in this direction, Alibaba.com will be partnering India organization to launch an online platform, Small and Medium Industries Leveraging Export (SMILE).
It seeks to provide Indian SME’s access to global business and trading entities as well as a trading solution that include financing, domestic and cross-border logistics, inspections, certifications and other allied activities under one roof.
SMILE program financing, software, online lending, transportation will be done by ICICI Bank, Crisil Rating, Tally, Capital Float, Jeena, Kotak Mahindra Bank, SGS, Mypacco.
SMILE program hopes to simplify and make easier cross-border trading helping more than 110 million SME’s in India and help them explore global trading opportunities in a much economic way.
