Online shopping is set to boom this year in India as more and more Indians splurge on buying products on the web, says Google India.

According to the report by Google India and TNS Australia, India’s online shopping industry saw an exponential growth last year, recording a 128 per cent rise over the last year. The report showed consumer electronics (34 per cent) emerged as the biggest product category in terms of absolute query volumes, followed by apparel and accessories (30 per cent) which is expected to overtake consumer electronics this year.

“With approximately 8 million Indians shopping online in 2012, online shopping in India is growing rapidly and will continue to see exponential growth,” said Rajan Anandan, VP and MD of Google India.

“By looking at the trends in 2012, we expect 2013 to be strong growth year for players who are focussed on fast growing categories like apparel and accessories and niche product categories like baby products, home furnishings and health and nutrition,” said Anandan.

It was also revealed that 30 per cent of all shopping queries in India come from mobile phones.

Indians say they are motivated to shop online because of cash back guarantee, fast delivery, great deals and wide access to branded products.

GB