As competition in the online payments industry continues to intensify, Alipay is set to expand its footprint and challenge PayPal by revealing plans to top eBay`s division by transaction value in two years, according to Reuters, citing Alipay's president.

Alipay currently handles over CNY 1 billion (USD 146.5 million) in transactions daily, expecting to reach an annual transaction volume of CNY 1 trillion by 2011, while PayPal would handle USD 63.1 billion in transactions in 2009, the same source indicates.

In July 2009, the Chinese online payment platform announced that the number of its users officially reached the 200 million user milestone, overrunning PayPal, which has 180 million users in 190 countries and territories around the world. In May 2009, Alibaba's division recorded 185 million registered users, as compared to 150 million users at the end of February 2009, including 460,000 corporate ones.
Alipay, which is 40 percent owned by Yahoo, delivers an e-commerce payment technology and risk management system for banks and financial institutions. Within the next two years, Alipay will focus on Southeast Asian markets, as part of its expansion plans.