Amazon Aims for Indian Supermarket Chain

As the race for expansion in India continues, Amazon is starting to build an alliance with Goldman Sachs and Indian company Samara Capital for the buyout of Aditya Birla Group’s More supermarket chain at an enterprise value of Rs 4,500 – 5,000 crore.

The news came after Walmart completed its acquisition of online retailer Flipkart to the tune of $16 billion.

According to those privy to discussions between the three companies, Samara signed an exclusivity agreement with Aditya Birla Group at the end of June, then the former reached out to Goldman Sachs and Amazon to join forces.

The consortium plans to create a separate company that will buy More, with Amazon receiving a 49% stake as the strategic partner.

The game plan is actually in conformity with India’s foreign investment laws which permit foreign companies to hold only up to 49% in multi-brand retailers.

Why does Amazon want More?

More is India’s fourth-largest supermarket chain operator behind Reliance Retail, DMart and Future Group, so it can help strengthen Amazon’s physical retail presence in the country.

The online retail giant has already invested $500 million in a subsidiary in India that sells packaged food.

If the deal with More pushes through, it’s going to be Amazon’s second direct investment in the country’s physical retail space.

Amazon’s corporate communications team in India refused to comment on this issue, and neither did Goldman Sachs and Samara Capital.

It certainly seems like India is the new battleground for the eCommerce giants.  This past week or two has been filled with news about different acquisitions and partnerships emerging in the region.

We have had Alibaba investing in Reliance Retail, and Walmart investing in Flipkart, and now Amazon is putting even more of their stake into Indian business too.

What can you say about Amazon’s expansion strategy in India? Let us know in the comments below or over in our Facebook Group.

Dave Furness

Dave is a Co-Founder of eSeller365. For over 10 years he has been involved with eCommerce with a particular interest in the marketplaces and the huge opportunities available for sellers when utilizing a multi-channel strategy. After a year of being the UK’s youngest eCommerce consultant, he built an education platform called UnderstandingE that showed the world how to utilize Magento as the “Third Generation of Multi-Channel software”.

Dave has also created a YouTube channel dedicated to entrepreneurship and eCommerce as well as a podcast dedicated to mental health awareness. When Dave isn’t working his main interests include learning and playing Chess, researching the Crypto and NFT space, and trying to find the nearest beach.