Thailand's e-commerce businesses flog leap

BANGKOK, July 18 (TNA) - The Ministry of Commerce reported Wednesday e-commerce businesses in Thailand have experienced a frog-leap growth of over 200 per cent over the past couple of months. Banyong Limprayoonwong, Director-General of the ministry's Department of Business Development, acknowledged that a total of 161 e-commerce websites were legally registered with his ministry in June 2012 alone, a surge of 228 per cent from a month earlier, most of them deal with fashion, medical and health and industrial equipment. So far, Banyong said a total of 9,993 e-Commerce websites have been legally registered and certified by his ministry nationwide. However, Banyong reported that Thailand's overall new business registration in June 2012 fell by 10 per cent year-on-year and by 4 per cent on average during the first half of this year, compared with the corresponding period of last year. According to the senior official, a total of 4,844 new businesses with combined investment of more than 58 billion baht were registered nationwide last month and more than 30,000 new businesses were registered throughout the country in the first half of this year. The senior official said that firms in the Thai economy which had closed down their businesses totaled 1,045 as of last month, a decline of 3 per cent year-on-year, and that presently, companies which are still in operation in the country total some 515,800 nationwide. (TNA)