<p>Tata Sons plans to buy a majority stake in Alibaba-backed online grocery seller BigBasket, a company filing showed on Friday.</p>.<p>The deal, if approved, would put the 150-year-old conglomerate with interests in everything from luxury cars to software, in direct competition with Amazon, Walmart's Flipkart and an upstart grocery service from Reliance Industries, backed by Mukesh Ambani.</p>.<p>In the filing with the Competition Commission of India, Tata Digital Ltd, a wholly-owned unit of Tata Sons, proposed to buy 64.3 per cent of an entity that runs business-to-business sales for BigBasket.</p>.<p>Media agencies have reported that the group aims to take control of more than 60 per cent of BigBasket, buying out Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba's stake.</p>.<p>The proposal comes as e-commerce sales, especially of food and groceries, have exploded in India as the Covid-19 pandemic spurred a shift to online shopping.</p>.<p>BigBasket's rivals are expected to spend heavily on the e-grocery business.</p>.<p>Flipkart has announced plans to expand to more Indian cities, while Reliance's digital unit - which is likely to support its grocery service - has raised more than $20 billion from investors including Facebook and Alphabet's Google. </p>
<p>Tata Sons plans to buy a majority stake in Alibaba-backed online grocery seller BigBasket, a company filing showed on Friday.</p>.<p>The deal, if approved, would put the 150-year-old conglomerate with interests in everything from luxury cars to software, in direct competition with Amazon, Walmart's Flipkart and an upstart grocery service from Reliance Industries, backed by Mukesh Ambani.</p>.<p>In the filing with the Competition Commission of India, Tata Digital Ltd, a wholly-owned unit of Tata Sons, proposed to buy 64.3 per cent of an entity that runs business-to-business sales for BigBasket.</p>.<p>Media agencies have reported that the group aims to take control of more than 60 per cent of BigBasket, buying out Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba's stake.</p>.<p>The proposal comes as e-commerce sales, especially of food and groceries, have exploded in India as the Covid-19 pandemic spurred a shift to online shopping.</p>.<p>BigBasket's rivals are expected to spend heavily on the e-grocery business.</p>.<p>Flipkart has announced plans to expand to more Indian cities, while Reliance's digital unit - which is likely to support its grocery service - has raised more than $20 billion from investors including Facebook and Alphabet's Google. </p>