Benzinga | Dec 2, 2020 03:08AM EST

Alibaba Nears Deal To Sell Entire Stake In Online Grocer BigBasket To Tata: Report

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE: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 (NYSE: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. (NASDAQ:AMZN) runs a similar online grocery service in India, competing in a tough market. Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) and Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ: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.

Related Links:

Walmart Looks To Invest Up To $25B In Tata's India Retail App, As Other US Giants Rush To Rival: Report

Amazon Looks To Acquire A Near 10% Stake In Reliance Retail, After Facebook, Google Back Sister Company Jio

Photo courtesy: Wikimedia