Alibaba’s Surat fascination

While on the one hand, Alibaba wants to make a big ticket entry into India’s e-commerce market, on the other, it’s making inroads with small and mediumsized enterprises (SMEs). Recently, the e-commerce giant from China organised its first business circle event for SMEs in Surat. The idea was to raise awareness about partnering with Alibaba and thereby, reaching out to a global market.

Why start with Surat? Apparently, the company has been receiving several enquiries for sarees and diamonds, which the city’s famous for, revealed a person who attended a meeting.

An Alibaba spokesperson said Surat is a key cluster hub and the region had many SMEs in the jewellery and textile categories. The Chinese e-commerce site has over 3.6 million SME businesses from India registered with it, with Gujarat being a key market. Maybe it’s time Jack Ma picked up some Gujarati.