Tata Digital acquires a majority share in online retailer BigBasket for $1.31 billion.

Image-of-a-delivery-boy-unloading-goods-from-a-BigBasket-vehicle.

India’s antitrust body had in March approved the acquisition of up to a 64.3 percent stake in BigBasket by Tata Digital.

According to Reuters, Tata Sons has purchased a majority share in online food retailer BigBasket, putting the Indian conglomerate in direct competition with Amazon.com Inc, Walmart’s Flipkart, and Reliance Industries.

Tata Digital Limited, a Tata Sons subsidiary, purchased the share. Tata declined to comment on the acquisition on Friday, while BigBasket did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.

Tata Digital’s acquisition of up to a 64.3 percent stake in BigBasket was approved by India’s antitrust agency in March.

According to media estimates, the purchase is worth around 95 billion rupees ($1.31 billion) and will involve the buyout of Alibaba’s interest in the company.

The agreement comes as India’s e-commerce sales, particularly of food and consumables, have risen as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, which has prompted a significant shift to online shopping.

According to media sources, Tata, which has interests in everything from salt to luxury automobiles to software, is aiming to build a “mega app” that will connect all of its consumer businesses.

72.4200 Indian rupees = $1

(Bengaluru-based reporter Anuron Kumar Mitra contributed to this report; Arun Koyyur edited it.)