The "e-Conomy SEA 2021" report released by technology company Google, Singaporean state-owned investment firm Temasek Holdings and business consultancy Bain & Co estimates that Indonesia’s internet economy – measured in gross merchandise value (GMV) – will grow to US$70 billion this year.

That marks an increase of 49 percent from $47 billion last year.

“Last year, our digital economy grew 18 percent; that is why we speak of digital economy resiliency. But growth has accelerated this year, and that is why we call it a resurgence,” Google Indonesia managing director Randy Jusuf told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

The e-commerce segment is predicted to reach $53 billion this year, suggesting it will hold its position as the biggest of four markets highlighted in the report. The three other verticals, namely online media, online travel and transport and food, are only in the single-digit billion range in terms of GMV.

However, Randy said the growth of e-commerce in Indonesia would proceed at a slower pace from 2021 to 2025, given the higher baseline in terms of user numbers.

The country’s online marketplace is expected to exceed a value of $100 billion by 2025, with Indonesia’s overall digital economy projected to be worth $146 billion by that time. E-commerce is set to continue to far outsize the other segments, which are estimated to grow to between $9 billion and $16 billion by 2025, according to the report.

“We are seeing a lot more openness, willingness and trust toward digital platforms, including e-commerce,” Randy said, referring to both consumers and online merchants.

Indonesia has seen 21 million people become new users of digital services during the pandemic, he added, with almost all intending to continue using digital platforms after the pandemic. Online merchants in the country were also likely to use more digital tools going forward, such as digital payment systems and online marketing.

According to the Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises Ministry, 15.3 million small and medium enterprises (SME) have joined digital platforms as of August. That figure represents just under a quarter of all SMEs in the country.

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The e-Conomy report shows that 28 percent of Indonesian merchants believe their businesses would not have survived the pandemic had they not turned to digital platforms. The figure is lower than in the other five ASEAN countries assessed in the study, possibly because pandemic containment measures in Indonesia have been more lenient than in the other countries.

“E-commerce and digital financial services are going to be massive in Asia and continue to be a real opportunity set,” Temasek’s managing director Fock Wai Hoong said on Friday.

He went on to explain that the region’s digital economy would see new subverticals emerge in the financial services sector, such as digital insurance, wealth management, e-wallet and pay-later services.

Fock added that education technology (edutech) and health technology (health-tech) would continue to gain traction with accelerating development. Both segments attracted many users last year as children and students resorted to online platforms to learn and as people used telemedicine more often due to the pandemic.

While health tech would expand to comprehensive services from diagnostics to delivery of prescription drugs, he said, edutech services could benefit from serving older users through vocational training.

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Indonesia, according to the study, will continue to lead Southeast Asia’s internet economy after contributing around 40 percent to the region’s $174 billion digital economy this year, and its e-commerce market is expected to remain the biggest in the region.

The overall internet economy of Southeast Asia is now projected to grow to $363 billion by 2025, which marks an upward revision from $310 billion projected in the "e-Conomy SEA 2020" report.