The Indian multinational conglomerate can now claim to be an online grocer too after buying a $1.3bn majority stake in the Bangalore-based success story
India’s Tata has put itself in a position to directly take on Amazon and Walmart after buying itself a controlling stake in online grocery seller BigBasket.
The stake – which involves buying out Chinese giant Alibaba – was bought by Tata Digital Limited, a unit of Tata Sons, but the Indian conglomerate and online grocery delivery service were remaining tight-lipped over the deal on Friday.
India’s antitrust body had already approved the acquisition of up to a 64.3% stake in BigBasket by Tata Digital back in March and it’s reported the deal will be worth about 95 billion rupees ($1.31 billion).
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The deal comes as e-commerce sales, especially of food and groceries, have accelerated in India with the Covid-19 pandemic sparking a big shift to online shopping.
Tata, which has interests in products spanning from salt to luxury cars to software, has also been planning to launch a “super app” that will tie in all its consumer businesses, according to media reports.
- Reporting by Reuters
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