Amazon is buying a 10 per cent stake in Future Retail, India’s second largest retailer marking its second major investment in the country this month.
Future Retail is seeking 20 billion rupees ($281 million) for the stake according to Bloomberg, which will see Amazon further expand its physical store access in India.
The deal will give Amazon access to more than 2000 Future Retail stores across the country, including around 250 of its flagship Big Bazaar grocery stores, which are understood to draw many parallels with Whole Foods Market.
READ MORE: Reliance Retail could sell Amazon 26% stake as the retailer pushes into India
Though discussions have not yet been finalised, the pair are understood to be in the late stages of negotiations.
This comes just weeks after it was revealed Amazon could buy a 26 per cent stake in Reliance Retail, India’s biggest retailer boasting over 10,600 stores across India as well as the popular Jio telecoms platform.
READ MORE: Ebay to buy 5.5% stake in Paytm Mall as it seeks to establish foothold in India
India’s retail market is expected to $1.2 trillion by 2021, nearly doubling in size from $672 billion in 2017, while its ecommerce market is due to be worth $72 billion by 2022.
Western retail giants like Amazon, Walmart and Ebay are all scrambling to secure their piece of the pie, with Walmart buying Flipkart in earlier this year for $16 billion, and Ebay investing in Paytm Mall last month.
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