New Delhi: The face-off between Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) and Jeff Bezos-run behemoth Amazon over the retail assets of Future Group in India has once again exposed the ambition of the so-called “gatekeeper for e-commerce” to keep the reins of a growing retail market in the country in its hands.
The legal battle in Singapore aims to stop Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd (RRVL), a subsidiary of RIL, from dominating the burgeoning retail market in India — estimated to reach $1.1-$1.3 trillion by 2025, from $0.7 trillion in 2019, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9-11 per cent (according to the latest report by Boston Consulting Group and the Retailers’ Association of India).
That Amazon does not like new and direct competition to its business in any country and will do anything to somehow scuttle it, was conveyed earlier this month by the US House Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee examining the health of competition in digital markets and the business practices of Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google.
“Amazon has engaged in extensive anticompetitive conduct in its treatment of third-party sellers. Publicly, Amazon describes third-party sellers as ‘partners’. But internal documents show that, behind closed doors, the company refers to them as ‘internal competitors’,” the US House panel report stressed.
According to industry experts, in a post-pandemic era, India’s digital economy is all set to get a significant thrust, with ecommerce becoming highly competitive. ”
As India’s largest offline retail player, Reliance has a significant war chest that enables it to forge ahead to corner household spending across urban and aspirational India,” Prabhu Ram, Head-Industry Intelligence Group (IIG), CMR, told this agency .
“To do so, Reliance is now seeking to expand aggressively with an intent to dislodge the incumbents that control close to 70 per cent of the online market, including Amazon,” he added.
Reliance Retail reacted to Amazon in a rather bold statement that it has entered into the transaction for acquisition of assets and business of Future Retail Ltd under proper legal advice and the rights and obligations are fully enforceable under Indian law.
“RRVL intends to enforce its rights and complete the transaction in terms of the scheme and agreement with Future group without any delay,” it said.
Amazon is also facing anti-trust probes in other countries along with the US.
Germany’s competition watchdog in August began a fresh investigation into whether Amazon is abusing its dominant market position in the country.
The battle in India, however, is different as it is not between Amazon and the government but with another behemoth, which is growing fast across the spectrum and controlling the domestic retail and online shopping space is their biggest bet.
JioMart has continuously been adding new products, features, brands and varieties each day, offering a whole new experience and extensive bouquet of choices to its customers every time they shop.
