India's digital economy to touch $800 billion by 2030: Redseer

According to the report, 88 percent of the online shoppers will be from Tier 2 cities between 2020 and 2030.

India's digital economy is expected to touch $800 billion by 2030 making it the third-largest digital economy, said a report by consulting firm Redseer on June 30.

It was pegged at $85-90 billion in 2020.

As per the report, the annual gross merchandise value (GMV) or the value of total goods sold on the online commerce platforms is likely to be $55 billion in 2021 and $350 billion in 2030.

According to Anil Kumar, founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of RedSeer, currently over 50 percent of the customers say they use online services because of convenience unlike a few years ago when for almost 70 percent the key reason was discounting.  He also said that following COVID, digital services have further amplified and customers are willing to stick to online platforms.

"With COVID, digital services have undoubtedly served the customers very well, which is evident in high customer satisfaction and customers' willingness to keep using the digital as a key channel to fulfill their needs. The next wave of entrepreneurs will create innovations which will make the Indian model successful globally," he said.

COVID-19 has caused an inflection in e-commerce penetration across smaller cities.

According to the report, 88 percent of the online shoppers will be from Tier 2 cities between 2020 and 2030. Further, over $7 billion cumulative online retail transactions and more than $150 billion online retail GMV will be added from Tier 2 cities.

With multiple startups enabling kiranas with cashless payments and digital bookkeeping, the segment is expected to achieve $1.5 trillion sales by 2030.

Another sector that is growing is e-logistics in India, with three billion shipments in 2020. The new-age logistic players also created an employment opportunity for 500,000 gig workers in 2020. With the rise of e-commerce, the need for specialised delivery services emerged, which has led to the overall growth of the logistics segment.