Tata Group approaches CCI to buy 64 pc stake in BigBasket

The conglomerate, which has interests in almost every sector, from salt to airlines, intends to make the deal through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Tata Digital, the media reports informed.

Tata Group wants to acquire 60 per cent of of BigBasket, taking over e-commerce giant Alibaba's share, said a Reuters report.

A Business Today report said in the CCI filing Tata Digital Ltd (TDL) has proposed to acquire 64.3 per cent of Supermarket Grocery Supplies Pvt Ltd (SGS), which runs the business-to-business sales of BigBasket brand. The deal will be completed through primary and secondary acquisitions in one or more tranches, it added.

If the deal is approved, Tata will rub shoulders with the giants like Amazon, Reliance Retail Ltd and others like Walmart-owned Flipkart and Grofers.

The groceries vertical in India is likely to be worth around Rs 54 lakh crore a year by 2024, according to data from Forrester Research, a previous media report stated.

The retail sector will grow 46 per cent in the next four years to an annual Rs 95 lakh crore, the data revealed.

The online grocery retail sector has shown huge profits during the lockdown period when people avoided visiting physical stores due to Covid-19.

SGS may also acquire the entire Innovative Retail Concepts Pvt Ltd (IRC), which runs the business-to-consumer sales of BigBasket, the Business Today report informed.

"At present, TDL is engaged in the business of providing technology services related to identity and access management, loyalty programme, offers and payments. The Tata Sons group, through its group entities, is engaged, inter alia, in the business of: (a) business-to-business (B2B) sale of food and grocery, household products and personal and beauty care products (relevant products) in India; (b) business-to-consumer (B2C) sale of relevant products in India; and (c) manufacturing and sale of certain packaged food and grocery products in India," the filing said, the report added.