Tata's backing offers competitive edge for India's BigBasket

The conglomerate is in the final stages of buying a 60% stake in the retailer for $1.3b.

The backing of Indian conglomerate Tata Group will be extremely valuable for online supermarket platform BigBasket as major competitors Flipkart and Amazon sharpen their focus on the food and grocery sector, according to IGD.

According to reports, Tata Group is in the final stages of offering around $1.3b to acquire a 60% stake in BigBasket. Tata is also planning to integrate BigBasket with online pharmacy 1mg, which it plans to acquire.

“If successful, shoppers will be able to buy across multiple categories in food and pharmaceutical, helping create a stronger total offer,” IGD’s senior retail analyst Francis Ramos said.

BigBasket saw a 36% rise in its revenue to $525m (INR38.18b) in FY 2020, but with overall expenses jumping 31% to $605m (INR44.11b), the retailer reported losses of 26%, equating to $97m (INR7.1b).