Google, Paytm Mall may team up to shop for Future Retail stake

The Google-Paytm Mall consortium will be pitted against Amazon, the world’s largest online retailer, which submitted a term sheet to pick up a similar stake in Future Retail Ltd recently.
Google is looking to join forces with Alibaba-backed Paytm Mall to form a consortium and invest Rs 3,500-4,000 crore for a 7-10% stake in Future Retail Ltd (FRL), the flagship listed company of Kishore Biyani, said several people with knowledge of the matter.

This consortium will be pitted against Amazon, the world’s largest online retailer, which submitted a term sheet to pick up a similar stake in FRL recently. ET had reported on February 5 that Future Group was exploring an alliance with both Amazon and Alibaba, with Biyani having met Jeff Bezos in the US and Alibaba officials in China.

The Future Group chief executive has been looking at raising funds through a strategic partnership to streamline operations and increase profitability as he battles deep-pocketed online and offline retailers such as Reliance Retail, Amazon and Walmart which are eyeing India’s changing demographics and a $1 trillion digital economy by 2025 through consolidation of their presence.