Alibaba Group Holding Ltd BABA is nearing a deal to sell its entire stake in Indian grocer BigBasket to the Tata Group, according to Indian daily The Mint.
What Happened: The Tata Motors Ltd. ADR TTM parent company is in advanced negotiations to buy up to 80% stake in the latter, Bloomberg independently reported Tuesday — citing a person familiar with the matter.
Tata could buy up a majority stake in the online grocer and pay around $1.3 billion to purchase around 80% in BigBasket, valuing the concern at near $1.6 billion.
Why It Matters: Nearly half of India’s $1 trillion retail market comprises of grocery sales, which leaves a lot of headroom for the growth of online grocery business in India, noted Bloomberg.
Last month, BigBasket suffered a setback after the news of a massive data breach was reported, which reportedly affected a million users.
Sensitive data including email IDs, mobile numbers, and addresses are reported to have been put up for sale on the dark web for $40,000 after the breach, as per Bloomberg.
Amazon.com Inc. AMZN runs a similar online grocery service in India, competing in a tough market. Facebook Inc. FB and Alphabet Inc. GOOGL GOOG-backed Reliance Industries Ltd.'s JioMart, run by Asia's richest person Mukesh Ambani, is also vying market share in the country's lucrative online grocery market.
Price Action: Alibaba shares closed nearly 0.4% higher at $264.01 on Tuesday and fell 0.64% in the after-hours session.
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