INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Mukesh Ambani, India richest man, is ready to take on Amazon and Walmart Flipkart.
Reliance Retail and Reliance Jio, two subsidiaries of
Ambani Reliance Industries, said they have soft launched JioMart, their e-commerce venture, in parts of the state of Maharashtra — Mumbai,
Kalyan and Thane.
The e-commerce venture, which is being marketed as &Desh Ki Nayi Dukaan& (Hindi for new sore for the country), currently
offers a catalog of 50,000 grocery items and promises &free and express delivery.&
In an email to employees, accessed by TechCrunch, the
two aforementioned subsidiaries that are working together on the e-commerce venture, said they plan to expand the service to many parts of
A Reliance spokesperson declined to comment.
The soft launch this week comes months after Ambani, who runs Reliance Industries — India
largest industrial house — had said at a conference that he wants to service tens of millions of retailers and store owners across the
country.
If there is anyone in India who is positioned to compete with Amazon and Walmart, it is him
Reliance Retail, which was founded in 2006, is the largest retailer in the country by revenue.It serves more than 3.5 million customers each
week through its nearly 10,000 physical stores in more than 6,500 Indian cities and towns.
Reliance Jio is the largest telecom operator in
India with more than 350 million subscribers.The 4G-only carrier, which launched commercial operations in the second half of 2016, disrupted
the incumbent telecom operation in the country by offering bulk of data and voice calls at little to no charge for an extended period of