PTI

Mumbai: Alibaba.com, a part of China’s well-known Alibaba group of companies, said it was looking at garnering a customer base in India that would be in excess of a six-lakh customer base by the end of 2008.

“With the Indian and Chinese economies booming, India is the priority market for us in 2008,” Alibaba.com’s senior director, international business development and marketing, Brian A Wong told PTI here.

Alibaba.com is a premier e-commerce brand and the number one online marketplace for global and domestic China trade.

Presently, the company has around 340,000 registered users, but with the roll-out of its aggressive expansion programme in India, it plans to double its Indian membership base by end-2008.

“Depending on the response, we will decide on the opening of our offices or acquisitions in India. However, we don’t have any immediate plans of the kind,” Wong said.

Speaking on the recent IPO of Alibaba in Hong Kong, Wong said that the company has raised $1.7-billion through it.

“Around 60% of the overall IPO funds will be used for strategic acquisitions and business development globally, as also for acquisition of technologies,” he said.

Around 20% of the funds would be utilized for growing Alibaba’s existing business, both in China and internationally, he said.

Another 10% will be earmarked for purchasing of computers and other equipment and development of new technologies, Wong said.

The remaining net proceeds of aproximately 10% will fund working capital and other general corporate purposes, he said.