Adani reportedly set to take on Reliance, Walmart in India’s e-commerce, payments race

Indian conglomerate Adani Group is considering moving into e-commerce and digital payments as it seeks to diversify its portfolio and compete with Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance, Amazon and Walmart’s Flipkart and PhonePee, according to reports.
Energy-to-infrastructure giant Adani Group is considering applying for a license to operate on India’s Unified Payments Interface, a public digital payments network that has become the most common way Indians transact online. According to the Financial TimesThe group, one of India’s top three conglomerates, is also reportedly finalizing plans for co-branded credit cards with banks.
This is not the first time Adani Group has shown interest in digital services: it launched Adani One, a consumer app that sells travel tickets, in 2022. India Group CEO Gautam Adani also recently hinted at a “future partnership” with Uber during CEO Dara Khosrowshahi’s visit to India.
Adani Group is working on offering online shopping through the government-backed Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) platform, a person familiar with the matter told TechCrunch.
The planned e-commerce and mobile payment services will be available through Adani One, according to the FT, which also reports that Adani Group is initially looking to target its existing customer base of hundreds of millions of people as it rolls out new businesses.
The outreach to consumers comes after a tumultuous year for Adani, which saw its listed shares plummet by $150 billion amid allegations of market manipulation and fraud by U.S. short-seller Hindenburg Research. Adani has denied any wrongdoing.
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