Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba says it has spent over $160m (£103m) fighting fake goods on its websites from the beginning of 2013 to November of this year.

The company will add another 200 people next year to the 2,000 workers tackling counterfeit goods on its sites.

That is in addition to the 5,400 volunteers who are already involved in its daily online surveillance plan.

The prevalence of fake goods in China is still a big problem.

Before its record-setting $25bn listing in New York, the world's largest e-commerce company had said in its IPO prospectus that counterfeits goods could hurt its ability to win customers, investors and US retail partners.

'Serious' battle

"We bear a serious responsibility in this fight against counterfeits," said Jonathan Lu, chief executive of Alibaba Group in a statement on Tuesday.

"Jack Ma [company's chairman] said yesterday (Dec 23) - if e-commerce does well in China, that may have little to do with Alibaba Group, but if counterfeits in society are not tackled effectively, it has a lot to do with Alibaba Group."

The tech giant's retail businesses were listed on the US Trade Representatives list of "notorious markets" for intellectual property infringement until 2013.

While Alibaba has been aggressive in its push to remove knock-offs from its sites, the mission has been an uphill battle.

Last month, when the company's annual Singles' Day saw over $9bn in sales, the official State Administration of Industry and Commerce (SAIC) conducted an investigation on counterfeits sold that day.

It said more than 10% of the goods that it bought online from retailers were fake or highly suspicious.

Source: BBC