Tata group seeks CCI greenlight for Bigbasket acquisition

The Tata group has urged the Competition Commission of India (CCI) to okay its acquisition of online grocery startup Bigbasket.

Per a filing with the CCI, Tata Digital will acquire up to 64.3% of the share capital of Supermarket Grocery Supplies, which operates Bigbasket’s business-to-business arm. 

Following this, Supermarket Grocery Supplies will acquire control of Innovative Retail Concepts, which operates the online grocer’s consumer-facing platform. 

For the 2019-20 financial year, Supermarket Grocery Supplies reported consolidated net sales of Rs 3,794 crore, and losses of Rs 611 crore. The data is from VCCEdge.

The development comes after people told television channel ET Now around mid-February that the group would buy a 68% stake in Bigbasket for about Rs 9,500 crore ($1.31 billion).

Tatas move will reportedly result in an enterprise value of Rs 13,500 crore for Bigbasket. 

In April last year, the grocery platform raised around $60 million in a bridge round of funding led by Alibaba. 

The move to buy the Bengaluru-based startup, which rivals Flipkart and Amazon, would tie into the conglomerate’s strategy of launching a ‘super app’ that aims to join up the group’s consumer-facing businesses. 
Also, it will help Tatas go up against Amazon.com Inc, Reliance Industries Ltd, and Walmart Inc-owned Flipkart in India's booming e-commerce market.