With better penetration of internet and broadband service, Gujarat has emerged as one of the top five online shopping markets in the country, leading e-commerce company eBay India claimed here today.

According to eBay India, Gujarat ranked 4th after Maharashtra, Delhi and Tamil Nadu, among the 28 states and seven Union Territories covered under the third edition of the Census done by the company.

During the census in 2009, Gujarat was ranked at seventh, from which it has jumped to fourth position.

"The increase in e-commerce activities in Gujarat has been mainly due to the greater penetration of internet and broadband service in the state," head of eBay Motors Ashish Shah told mediapersons here.

"Also the city of Ahmedabad ranks 7th among top 10 ecommerce hub in the country, as per our census," he said.

Ecommerce hub has been defined as sum of all transactions, buying and selling, both domestic and global, on eBay from the city or state.

Also two rural towns of Gujarat Sajiyavadar and Adala, figure in the top five rural hubs witnessing active buying and selling trends on eBay, Shah said.

He further said that on eBay South Indian states were the biggest buyers with 38 per cent share, while states of West India were the largest sellers with over 40 per cent share of products sold.
Northern states were the active exporters on eBay India with over 50 per cent share off the total users, Shah said.

According to the eBay census 2010, top export hubs in Gujarat include Ahmedabad, Surat, Rajkot and Bhavnagar while top import hubs in Gujarat include Surat, Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Rajkot and Jamnagar, the Census said.

The maximum items sold from the state in the domestic market include loose diamonds, pen drives, books, mobile handsets and Indian coins, while to the global markets it sold movie DVDs, spiritual paintings, skirts, herbal remedies and books.

People of Gujarat have been buying products like mobile phones, books, coins and collectible items from the domestic market, while from the global market most popular items bought include engagement rings, cellphone accessories, Indian stamps and Ham radio accessories, which the highest in the country.

For the city of Ahmedabad, 44 per cent transactions on eBay was for technology products, while lifestyle products dominated imports at 46 per cent from the city.

According to eBay census, India has over 3000 ecommerce hubs while 1054 rural towns were active in online shopping activities.

On eBay India there are 545 export hubs selling products to over 180 countries, while over 1200 import hubs were buying products from 114 nations.