NEW DELHI -- India's traditional festive shopping season has begun and the country's top e-commerce platforms, Walmart-owned Flipkart and Amazon, are trying to outdo each other with sales as well as fending off a fresh challenger, Reliance Industries' newly launched e-commerce venture JioMart.
The coronavirus pandemic has cast a pall over the season this year with India having the second-highest number of total cases in the world behind the U.S. Still, research companies expect e-commerce sales to hit $6.5 billion to $7 billion in this festive season. Sales are expected to be significantly higher than the same period last year, as many consumers are still reluctant to shop in-person due to the continuing pandemic in India.
