eBay Inc, a US-based global commerce platform and digital payments leader, plans to raise its stake in Indonesian e-commerce firm Metra Plasa from 40 percent to 49 percent. Currently, 60 percent of Metra Plasa is owned by Indonesia's largest telecommunication and network provider Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom). Telkom’s stake will thus decline to 51 percent. In 2012, eBay and Telkom (through Telkom’s subsidiary Multimedia Nusantara) established a joint venture to operate Metra Plasa.

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Indonesia's e-commerce industry (online shopping) is expected to continue its rapid growth in the years ahead as more and more Indonesians have access to Internet amid the country's rising per capita GDP (resulting in a rapidly expanding middle class). Indonesians' purchasing power has expanded quickly and in combination with the popularity of the smartphone, people are increasingly purchasing consumer goods online. This was one of the conclusions drawn in an online business insight discussion organized by Google and Blibli.com in Jakarta.

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Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba founder Jack Ma having been appointed as special advisor to the Indonesian government for the development of Indonesia's e-commerce sector has led to some concern whether it puts China's richest man in a position of conflict of interest. Ma's Alibaba Group owns big stakes in Singapore-based e-commerce giant Lazada (which operates across Southeast Asia) and Indonesian online shopping facilitator Tokopedia.

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Grab, the Malaysia-founded online application used for transportation services, has experienced remarkable growth in Indonesia during the first half of 2016. GrabCar and GrabBike have grown some 250 percent despite a 50 percent cut in its fare subsidy in this period. More than 25 percent of active Grab users in Indonesia use Grab services more than once a month. This success is due to the government's decision to legalize mobile application-based transportation services (under specific conditions) and the re-branding of Grab (formerly it was known as GrabTaxi).

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