Paytm may team up with Alibaba to invest $200 m in BigBasket

Indian digital payment major Paytm and its investor Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd are going ahead with their plan to invest about $200 million in leading online grocery retailer BigBasket.

According to sources familiar with the development, Alibaba and Paytm are in a 60-day exclusive agreement with BigBasket and are going ahead with due diligence. The two investors can put their money in BigBasket together or separately.

Ecommerce business is finding a traction with domestic player Flipkart and Chinese backed PaytmMall upping the ante against US giant Amazon. PaytmMall is going hammer and tongs in its strategy to expand its market reach with the help of its payment product.

PaytmMall finds Supermarket Grocery Supplies Pvt, which owns BigBasket, the best bet to further strengthen its play in the hyper local initiatives and would give further muscle to go ahead in its fight against Amazon and Flipkart.

Paytm didn’t respond to a query from DH on its investment plan along with Alibaba in BigBasket.

At the same time, BigBasket is scouting for investors to further expand in India’s Tier-II and Tier-III cities. BigBasket has raised over $200 million from investors including Abraaj Group, Bessemer Venture Partners, Growthstory, Helion Venture Partners, IFC and Sands Capital.

BigBasket is systematically succeeded in pushing Indians to shop their everyday essentials via its app and make sure that customers get it on their doorstep within one hour. Even though players like Snapdeal-backed PepperTap has already shut shop, BigBasket is ahead with systematic and targeted marketing approach.

Even though grocery is a cash-intensive business with wafer-thin margins, industry watchers believe that grocery would become bigger than currently dominating electronics and fashion. The grocery market is expected to reach Rs 270 crore by 2018-19.

Amazon, which recently acquired specialty grocer Whole Foods Market Inc in the US, has got the government’s nod to invest $500 million into food retailing in India.