Alibaba keen to invest more in India, says founder Jack Ma

Alibaba founder and China's wealthiest man is impressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and India's business potential. On his first visit to India, where e-commerce is booming with the likes of Amazon and Flipkart on a fund-raising spree, Jack Ma said on Wednesday that he is impressed by Modi and keen to invest more in the country and work with technology entrepreneurs.

Praising Modi's leadership, Ma said that it is the best time for India and China to work together. At India-China (Zhejiang) Business Cooperation Conference, organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) in New Delhi, Ma-the founder of world's biggest e-commerce firm-said that Internet can transform India's future.

Alibaba, which is already working with many businesses in India, will invest more in India and work with Indian entrepreneurs and technology companies, he added.

Ma is likely to meet a number of businesses to possibly get more Indian products on Alibaba as well as look at expanding into India's e-commerce market possibly through Snapdeal.

Alibaba, which in September raised $25 billion in a record initial public share offering, already has on its site a large number of small Indian businesses selling goods ranging from spices to chocolates to tea.

Terming India a nation of mobile phones, Ma said, "This is a nation with which China can work together and it is a great opportunity for entrepreneurs of the two countries. There are a large number of Indian businesses on our websites. We have over 4 lakh Chinese consumers buying Indian chocolates, spices and tea. I think India has more great products that can be sold to China. Globally, Alibaba will continue to work with small businesses."

Over the next three years, "one of the key strategies for Alibaba is to globalise and to make sure that we can help more small businesses around the globe and use our services to do businesses", Ma added.

Ma, who has a fortune of about $24.4 billion, founded Alibaba in 1999 in Hangzhou.

According to research firm IDC, Alibaba was the world's largest online and mobile commerce company by GMV (gross merchandise value) in 2013.

Its China retail marketplaces had 307 million annual active buyers for the 12 months ended September 30 while mobile monthly active users grew to 217 million during the same period.