Reliance Jio to foray into e-commerce business to rival Amazon and Flipkart

The entry of Reliance Jio in the telecom space in the country brought in a lot of changes that transformed the whole sector. Now, it looks like the company is all set to venture into the e-commerce sector. Mukesh Ambani, the chairman of Reliance Industries Limited has announced that they will soon introduce an online retail platform along with Reliance Retail, its offline retail subsidiary.

With this move, the company is all set to compete against the big players such as Flipkart, Paytm and Amazon. It is said that the Reliance e-commerce portal will be rolled out in Gujarat initially for the small retailers as well as shopkeepers. It is claimed that it will empower and enrich 12 lakh small retailers and shopkeepers in the state. This was announced at the inaugural ceremony of Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2019.

The company will debut with this new offline-to-online platform in 12 to 18 months from now, claims recent media reports. It is further said that the upcoming e-commerce platform from Reliance Jio will be combined with a few services from the company's cellular network and retail presence. However, the information pertaining to this venture appear to be scarce for now.

This announcement from the company comes at a time when Flipkart and Amazon are trying to fight the new regulations imposed by the government that are likely to affect their business. Notably, both the e-commerce sites have wholesale entities to provide goods to merchants who make use of their marketplace to sell products. But the new rules limit the number of good to 25% from foreign companies.

Though Reliance's e-commerce portal does not have to comply with these restrictions as it is an India company, it might be tough for the company to crack the competition. It will have to face the heat from Flipkart and Amazon that have a major share in the country's e-commerce market. These are followed by Paytm and Snapdeal.