Reliance Retail, India’s largest retail chain, has found a a lot simpler option to develop its dominant position within the nation: Acquire a lot of the second largest chain’s units.
On Saturday evening (Indian time), Reliance Retail stated it has reached an agreement with Future Group to acquire the latter’s retail and wholesaler enterprise, and its logistics and warehousing business for $3.4 billion.
The announcement at the moment further complicates the future of Amazon and Walmart’s Flipkart in India, the biggest open market globally by users, the place e-commerce still accounts for just 3% of all retail sales. India’s retail market is estimated to balloon to $1.3 trillion by 2025, up from $700 billion last year, in accordance with consultancy firm BCG and local trade group Retailers’ Association India.
Amazon has confirmed interest in Future Retail, too. The firm, which last year purchased a tiny portion of Future Group’s business, was in talks to extend its stakes within the firm, in accordance with earlier local media reports. The American e-commerce firm, which has invested over $6.5 billion in its India business, mentioned in January that it had additionally inked a deal with Future Group to help the Indian firm sell online.
Future Group, which kickstarted its journey as a stonewashed-fabric seller in the 1980s, serves millions of consumers through more than 1,500 shops in more than 400 cities. Today’s deal will help Future Retail reduce its debt.
Mukesh Ambani, who controls Reliance Industries (of which Reliance Retail is a subsidiary), has secured about $20 billion from Facebook, Google, and 11 different high-profile buyers for his telecom enterprise Jio Platforms this year.
Now Ambani, who’s India’s richest man, has set his eyes on e-commerce. Jio Platforms and Reliance Retail last year introduced JioMart. The e-commerce venture, which started test trials in select suburbs of Mumbai late last year, has expanded to more than 200 cities and cities across India. Facebook, which has invested $5.7 billion in Jio Platforms, mentioned the company will explore methods to work with Reliance to digitize the nation’s 60 million kirana stores in addition to different small and medium-sized businesses.
“With this transaction, we are pleased to provide a home to the renowned formats and brands of Future Group as well as preserve its business ecosystem, which have played an important role in the evolution of modern retail in India. We hope to continue the growth momentum of the retail industry with our unique model of active collaboration with small merchants and kiranas as well as large consumer brands. We are committed to continue providing value to our consumers across the country,” mentioned Isha Ambani, Director at Reliance Retail, in a press release.
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