From Twitter trolls to sole copyrights: Indian ecommerce is a virtual Warfield

Multi billion investments is turning the Indian ecommerce space into a war field. The top honchos in the market Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal are trolling each other on Twitter taking the war of the titans to the next level.

India's largest e-commerce firm, Flipkart and US behemoth Amazon exchanged barbed comments on Twitter recently when portal Reddit India tweeted a photo showing an Amazon delivery box sitting at Flipkart's reception. The tweet suggested Flipkart staff preferred to order from Amazon. The Indian company hit back, posting "We recycled said packaging as our reception's dustbin."



Amazon then weighed in, tweeting: "There is a bit of Amazon in every eCommerce company #justsaying," -- an apparent reference to the fact that Flipkart's founders used to work for the American company.

Even @Flipkart Orders from @Amazon! http://t.co/pAvATFF9P8 pic.twitter.com/wqOISAg1ia

— Reddit India (@redditindia) February 20, 2015

Flipkart founder Sachin Bansal and Snapdeal co-founder Rohit Bansal, traded jibes on their personal Twitter accounts recently over the latter's purported comments that it was difficult to find good staff in India.

"Don't blame India for your failure to hire great engineers. They join for culture and challenge," Sachin wrote to Rohit.

The Snapdeal chief operating officer responded saying his company had been voted one of the best places to work in India.

Flipkart is estimated to be worth $15 billion and commands up to 44 percent of market share, well ahead of Snapdeal, which was launched in 2010 and enjoys around 22 percent of sales, according to analysts.

According to recent local newspaper reports, Amazon plans to invest $5 billion in India to turn the country into its biggest market outside of the US, while Flipkart and Snapdeal are spending big just to stay ahead.

Flipkart raised $1 billion in funding last year while Snapdeal is set to receive a $500 million war chest from Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba and Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Foxconn.

The investment, which may also include Japan's SoftBank Group according to Bloomberg, values Snapdeal at around $5 billion, the report said.

Amazon India's vice president and country manager Amit Agarwal refused to comment on how much the company was spending to capitalise on India's growing middle class but claimed its website was receiving more hits than Flipkart's.

"We are today the largest online store in India with over 25 million products," he told AFP in an email.

Amazon and Flipkart have also tussled over exclusive selling rights with both accused of alleged infringement in two separate cases, one of which is before the High Court in Delhi.

Flipkart reportedly sold novelist Amish Tripathi's latest book when Amazon had sole rights. The US company faced a similar allegation over author Chetan Bhagat's "Half Girlfriend", which only Flipkart was apparently allowed to distribute.

Both companies rejected any violation, saying they were open marketplaces connecting sellers with buyers, according to the Economic Times.

While analyst Subramanian welcomes the bullishness currently on show, he suggested the "brashness" should be tempered down.

"Ultimately it's business cycles that will separate the men from the boys in the e-commerce sector," he said.