Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN) is in talks to buy a 9.9% stake in the retail arm of Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd, ET Now reported on Thursday, citing sources.
Amazon wants a preferred, strategic stake in Reliance Retail for JioMart, according to tweets https://twitter.com/ETNOWlive/status/1286237611925729281 by the television channel.
JioMart, the e-commerce venture of Reliance’s retail arm, was launched in May and poses a formidable challenge to Amazon.com’s local unit and Walmart (NYSE: WMT) Inc’s Flipkart. Earlier this year, Amazon India launched a program to add small local shops on its platform after India went into lockdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus outbreak. An Amazon spokeswoman through email said the company does not comment on speculation, while Reliance did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Reliance, controlled by Asia’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani, has raised around $20 bln since late April for its digital arm, including from Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL) Inc’s Google and Facebook Inc
