Tata buys majority stake in online grocer BigBasket

Union culture and tourism minister Prahlad

Patel has alleged that Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, was using the national flag wrongly during media addresses. In a letter to Kejriwal, the Union minister alleged that the flag seen behind the CM during his press briefings appears to be in violation of the flag code. “The white portion in the centre appears to have been reduced and the green portion added to it, which is not in tune with provisions of the Indian Flag Code,” Patel wrote in the letter. Patel sought to draw Kejriwal’s attention to section 2(ix) of The Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971, which states that the flag should not be used to decorate a speaker’s stage. There was no official response from the Delhi government to Patel’s accusation.

Tata Sons has acquired a majority stake in online grocery seller BigBasket, putting the Indian conglomerate in a direct race with ecommerce players Amazon.com Inc, Walmart’s Flipkart and Reliance Industries. The deal was carried out by Tata Digital, a wholly-owned unit of Tata group’s holding entity Tata Sons. Filings showed that Tata Digital had committed in an investment of ₹1,591 crore ($219 million) in BigBasket, of which the e-grocer has received ₹1,116 crore (about $154 million) in the first tranche. “Grocery is one of the largest components of an individual’s consumption basket in India and BigBasket fits in perfectly with our vision of creating a large consumer digital ecosystem. We are delighted to welcome BigBasket as a part of Tata Digital,” Tata Digital chief executive Pratik Pal said. The deal comes as e-commerce sales have accelerated in India as the Covid-19 pandemic spurred a big shift to online shopping.