Products like Snac tac noodles and Yeah! colas are Reliance’s private label brands - and billionaire Ambani’s not-so-secret weapons as he sets his sights on dominating a grocery market that’s already worth a cool $608 billion and set to grow more than 20% by 2024, according to Forrester Research.
Set up in 2008, NPCI is a not-for-profit company, which as of March 2019 counted dozens of banks as its shareholders, including the State Bank of India, Citibank and HSBC.
A spokesperson for Infibeam declined comment on the report, saying the company was bound by the confidentiality of process, while Reliance, Google and Facebook did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Amazon is locked in a battle for dominance with Walmart-backed Flipkart and Reliance as well as thousands of local traders who have accused the US firm of driving them out of business.
KKR's investment will translate to a 1.28% stake in Retail Ventures Ltd, according to Reliance.
Reliance, controlled by Asia’s richest man Mukesh Ambani has been looking to expand rapidly online to take on the likes of Walmart Inc’s Flipkart and Amazon.com Inc’s Indian arm.
The oil-to-telecoms conglomerate's talks with Urban Ladder are at an advanced stage, the report said, citing four unnamed sources briefed on the matter.
And, over the past six weeks, the digital business of Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd, known as Jio Platforms, raised a striking $10 billion from global investors.
