Mumbai, Oct. 16: The $41-billion Aditya Birla group today took yet another plunge into e-commerce when it launched its fashion portal abof.com. The move comes at a time some of the country's top e-tailers are in the midst of a mega sales drive.

However, group chief Kumar Mangalam Birla said its new portal for apparel, footwear and accessories would not be in the discount game. The portal hopes to grab a portion of the $15-billion demand for fashion products expected over the next five years.

Birla said fashion was one of the fastest growing verticals within e-commerce, and since the group was currently the country's largest fashion player through Madura Fashion and Pantaloons, more investment into fashion e-commerce was only natural, he said.

The group has a fashion portal called Trendin.com, which sells brands such as Louise Phillippe and Van Heusen.

"The e-commerce sector is a sunrise sector from an investment point of view. While a lot has happened in the last couple of years, a lot more is yet to happen in this space. We plan to stay focussed on seeding and growing specific businesses in areas where we have specific strengths which we can play upon extensively. We see fashion e-commerce as one such space," Birla said.

"With abof.com we aim to offer a wide but curated range of merchandise and a differentiated shopping experience that can compete with the best in the world. We see abof emerging as the most admired player in online fashion within the next three years," he said.

Birla, however, did not disclose the investment in the current venture, which will be privately held, or the other segments of e-tailing which the group will look at in the future.

The portal, which has been launched after nine months of work, will not offer kids' apparel. It will initially offer 7,000 products and will increase the number to 20,000 in the next few months. It will sell products from the group's companies as well as external brands.