Tata Digital-BigBasket deal gets CCI nod

The Competition Commission of India or CCI has given its approval to Tata Digital Limited to acquire a majority stake in online grocery marketplace BigBasket.

Tata Digital had filed an application at CCI in March to acquire up to 64.3% of the total share capital in Supermarket Grocery Supplies Private Ltd, the wholesale unit of BigBasket. The transaction would be a combination of primary and secondary shares. 

“CCI approves acquisition by Tata Digital Limited of up to 64.3% of the total share capital of Supermarket Grocery Supplies Private Ltd (SGS) and SGS’ sole control over Innovative Retail Concepts Private Limited,” a press release said. 

Tata Digital is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tata Sons whereas Innovative Retail Concepts Private Limited (IRC) runs the B2C portal bigbasket.com. 

While CCI did not disclose the deal size, several media reports said that Tata will shell more than $1 billion for the majority stake. The deal is also likely to give full exit to Alibaba, one of its earliest backers, which controls a 27.58% stake in the Bengaluru-based company.

The acquisition will also have a huge impact on the current landscape of the e-grocery players in India. BigBasket and Grofers were the de facto leaders in the segment. However, the entry of Reliance’s JioMart changed the current positioning. 

For the past 8-10 months, JioMart has been recording more traction and the number of daily orders on its platform than the combined daily orders of BigBasket and Grofers.

According to Entrackr’s sources, JioMart currently does about a million orders every day while BigBasket (excluding BBDaily) and Grofers receive 2 lakh and 1 lakh orders daily respectively.

Meanwhile, Reliance is in late-stage talks to acquire subscription commerce app MilkBasket in a $40 million deal. Akin to MilkBasket, BigBasket also runs BB daily that offers daily essentials and milk delivery.