Online auction company eBay Inc said it expects the number of Asia-Pacific users trading on its site to eventually outstrip that for the U.S. and Europe as Internet penetration grows, but it also predicts imminent competition.

More than 30 million of the company’s 181 million registered users worldwide are in the Asia-Pacific region, chief executive Meg Whitman said on Thursday.

“These are still small markets but as Internet usage and broadband penetration increase we see these markets growing bigger than our top markets currently,” she said.

And in markets like India, the company has seen a rise in high-value transactions and encouraging growth in smaller towns.

“Asia-Pacific is the fastest growing user region with markets like India, China and Korea leading the pack as Internet and broadband penetration rise,” Whitman told reporters.

“But we do foresee competition, as e-commerce is a growth area and we see a lot of venture capital money coming,” she said.

Rediff.com, the Times Group’s indiatimes.com, and New Delhi Television’s ndtv.com are among India’s biggest e-commerce sites, and there has been a string of investments recently in online travel sites.

California-based eBay bought Indian online auction company baazee.com in 2004 for about $50 million. eBay India, the wholly-owned subsidiary, has 2 million users.

“India is still a small fraction of our global revenues, but in 5, 10, 15 years we hope India will be among our top markets,” Whitman said.

PRAYER WHEELS

India has nearly 39 million Internet users, according to industry estimates, just a fraction of its billion-plus population, and equal to less than half its mobile phone user base of more than 81 million. Credit card holders number just 15 million.

About 45-50 percent of eBay India’s current turnover comes from the top six cities, but smaller towns are also driving growth due to a lack of modern retailing, said Gautam Thakar, country manager of eBay India.

“I was stunned to learn that jewelry is sold every five minutes on the site — and this is diamond jewelry,” he said. Ethnic products like bell anklets, Tibetan prayer wheels and hookah water-pipes have also found buyers, he said.

On eBay India, a mobile handset sells every seven minutes, a digital camera sells every 46 minutes, and a car or motorcycle sells every nine hours. The western state of Maharashtra, India’s richest state, makes up 28 percent of its users.

Whitman defended the company’s conservative earnings estimate for 2006, which has raised concerns that its growth is slowing as it matures.

“We have a record of meeting our estimates, and we’ve had a remarkable Q4, so we wanted to give Wall Street an estimate that we’re comfortable with,” she said.

eBay has forecast revenue will grow to between $5.7 billion and $5.9 billion in 2006, which is at the lower end of Wall Street expectations. The average revenue estimate is $5.9 billion, according to Reuters Estimates.