Amazon in talks to buy Flipkart?

According to Economic Times report, Indian ecommerce giant Flipkart has been considering selling itself to Amazon. The news has surprised many in the industry as India’s largest online retailer who is also the biggest rival to world’s leading ecommerce retailer in the domestic market considering itself to be sold out. It is notable that Amazon has been increasing its hold in the domestic market in recent years and giving Flipkart a very tough competition.

The report suggests, Flipkart whose valuation stands around $15.2 billion, is being offered $8 billion including $3 billion for Flipkart’s logistics vertical eKart. Although the talks have failed in the preliminary round, however, Amazon is supposed to make a better offer very soon as world’s second largest online retailer Alibaba is showing interest in investing in Flipkart. Alibaba has already 40% stake in Paytm and invested in Snapdeal along with Japan’s SoftBank which enjoys more than 30% stake in it.

Flipkart has denied the reports by calling it rumour. Flipkart CEO Binny Bansal said, “All rumours of potential sale and down rounds are false and baseless…Flipkart continues to be the market leader in India and we are in this business for the long haul.”

So far the head of Amazon India Amit Agarwal did not response on this report.

The poster-boy of Indian ecommerce industry, Bangalore-based Flipkart, is the most successful ecommerce venture in India with independent operation. If it sales out to a global giant then it would be a major development in the industry. The company is seen as the lone standing Indian startup taking on competition that are backed by global giants like Alibaba and Japan’s Softbank. While talks with Amazon have broken down, Alibaba’s interest could encourage the American company to return with an improved offer.

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