JACK MA OF ALIBABA
WEB DESK
China’s Alibaba Group is willing to acquire a large stake in Reliance Retail at an investment of $5 billion to challenge the dominance of Flipkart and Amazon in India’s e-commerce market, according to a report in Livemint.
According to the paper Alibaba Group Holding Ltd has initiated talks with Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Retail Ltd to form a mega Indian retail joint venture (JV), with an investment of at least $5 billion to challenge the dominance of Flipkart and Amazon in the world’s fastest-growing economy, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said. Alibaba Group has proposed to acquire a large stake in Reliance Retail to create a behemoth in the digital marketplace and also expand Alibaba’s physical retail businesses in India, the people said, requesting anonymity.
Alibaba’s executive chairman, Jack Ma, met Reliance Industries Ltd chairman Mukesh Ambani in July-end in Mumbai to discuss the proposal, the people said. The two discussed a number of issues, including a plan to create a large omnichannel retail entity through the proposed joint venture, they said.
“Alibaba is willing to pick up a significant stake in Reliance Retail, preferably 50%, which will require Alibaba to invest $5-6 billion,” one of the two people said. “It could also result in a strategic JV between Alibaba and Reliance Retail, with a smaller stake held by Alibaba.”