Amazon in talks to buy 9.9% stake in Reliance retail arm

Amazon.com Inc is in talks to buy a 9.9% stake in the retail arm of Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd , ET Now reported on Thursday, citing sources.

Amazon wants a preferred, strategic stake in Reliance Retail for JioMart, according to tweets by the television channel.JioMart, the e-commerce venture of Reliance's retail arm, was launched in May and poses a formidable challenge to Amazon.com's local unit and Walmart Inc's Flipkart.

Earlier this year, Amazon India launched a program to add small local shops on its platform after India went into a lockdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus outbreak.An Amazon spokeswoman through email said the company does not comment on speculation, while Reliance did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Reliance, controlled by Asia's richest man, Mukesh Ambani, has raised around $20 billion (15.7 billion pounds) since late April for its digital arm, including from Alphabet Inc's Google and Facebook Inc .