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New Delhi: In the battle for India's online retail market, US ecommerce behemoth Amazon has dislodged homegrown ecommerce major Flipkart in gross merchandise value (GMV), or gross sales, on its platform. The US-based online titan clocked gross sales of USD 7.5 billion in the year ended March 31, 2018, while the Bengaluru-based company sales stood at USD 6.2 billion on a standalone basis, as per a report published by Barclays on Monday.

“While Amazon and Flipkart (ex-Myntra and Jabong) were neck and neck in terms of GMV in FY17, Amazon has taken the clear lead in FY18 with GMV of USD 7.5 billion as compared to USD 6.2 billion for Flipkart on a standalone basis,” according to Economic Times which cited Barclays report.

The report, however, highlighted that in terms of revenues, Flipkart continues to be ahead of Amazon, even though the firm is growing much faster. The financial daily quoted Barclays analysts as saying that Flipkart continues to be bigger than Amazon in terms of revenue — USD 3.8 billion versus USD 3.2 billion.

In May, American retail giant Walmart paid USD 16 billion for a 77 per cent stake in Flipkart.

Many industry watchers are of the opinion that India has emerged as the major online retail market for Walmart and Amazon as both the companies lost out on the world’s largest online retail market — China. The two companies are pumping billions of dollars in an audacious attempt to expand their global networks.

The report predicts that India’s online retail business to reach USD 40-45 billion by end of 2020. “With rising internet penetration, payment options, and delivery infrastructure, ecommerce users are expected to more than double, from 80-90 million in 2017 to 180-200 million in 2020,” the business daily said citing the report.

It is worth mentioning here that the report comes as Walmart-acquired Flipkart is poised to overhaul its management team by aggressively hiring senior executives, with the sudden departure of group CEO and chairman Binny Bansal.

The Seattle-based Amazon, which entered India nearly five years ago, has pumped around USD 1 billion into its main India unit, Amazon Seller Services, so far this year. It has injected about Rs 7,250 crore in this unit across three tranches in 2018. Amazon’s total injection into its marketplace business now stands close to Rs 25,090 crore, the financial daily mentioned.