Amazon.com Inc. and RIL’s fight for dominance of India’s e-commerce space is turning into a face-off, with both sides battling over the assets of a supermarket chain that could be key to their wider ambitions.
Ambani and Jeff Bezos want the stores and warehouses of Future Retail Ltd., which has penetrated Indian cities and small towns with sales of everything from grocery to fashion and electronics. Amazon, which owns a stake in a Future unit, and Reliance have in recent months made pacts with the Future Group, which they say are now being violated.
Amazon wants to block Reliance’s purchase of Future’s brick-and-mortar assets because such a deal would give Ambani unparalleled dominance in the only billion-people economy open to foreign firms. Bezos has bet more than $6 billion on India, and Future’s assets will allow it to reach small towns that house key consumers in a market estimated to swell to $1 trillion.