India is projected to be the fastest growing B2C e-commerce market in the BRIC countries in the next five years, according to a new publication by Germany-based secondary market research expert yStats.com.

The report, titled “India B2C E-Commerce Market 2015” also reveals the main challenges faced by online retail in this country, including underdeveloped logistics and low credit card penetration.B2C e-commerce in India is driven by its vast population, increasing Internet penetration and scarcity of organized retail especially in small towns and rural areas.

Next year, India is predicted to top the US to become the second largest country worldwide in terms of the number of Internet users, behind China. While China has been the leader among the BRIC markets in terms of online retail growth in the five years to 2014, during the next five-year period India is predicted to take over this position.

Online retail in India has much room for growth. B2C e-commerce share of total retail sales was estimated at less than 1 per cent in 2014, while the share of Internet users making purchases online was below one quarter. Another sign of immaturity is the high share of online travel in total e-commerce sales, reaching close to two-thirds according to some estimates.