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It may not be the world’s most mature e-commerce market but it’s set to grow 10-fold in the next five years. Which market am I talking about? India, of course.

A new report says it’ll be worth $100bn in five years and perhaps $250bn in a decade, as internet penetration increases, more consumers get smartphones and digital networks reach rural areas.

Who says so? Direct selling industry body FICCI and consultants at KPMG, The Economic Times reported.

And the growth will start quickly, especially as Indians will own 350m smartphones by 2017 with 500m people in the country having broadband access.

Now those figures may look large but if you take into account that India’s population is 1.267bn (which works out at 17.5% of the world’s total population), they actually seem quite small. That’s because, despite the expansion of the internet into rural areas, it’s still the urban middle class that has been driving uptake and that will continue to do so.

Still, the growth potential is huge because Indians are moving en masse into cities. The government estimates that by 2030, it would see 350m people moving from rural to urban areas and by 2050, 700m people.

The potential for digital selling is staggering…