Tata buys majority stake in online grocer Bigbasket

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.

BENGALURU: Tata group has completed the purchase of a majority stake in online grocer Bigbasket that would pitch the conglomerate against established heavyweights such as Amazon, Reliance Industries, and Flipkart.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.

Supermarket Grocery Supplies, the owner and operator of Bigbasket’s B2B business, issued 11 million fully paid-up and 4.7 million partly paid-up equity shares at ₹1,005.59 a share to Tata Digital to raise ₹1,116 crore (around $154 million), according to filings with the corporate affairs ministry dated May 25.

“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.

Emailed queries to Bigbasket remained unanswered until press time.

The announcement comes about a month after the Competition Commission of India approved a proposal by Tata Digital to buy up to 64.3% in Supermarket Grocery Supplies via a mix of primary and secondary transactions.