India's Adani Group plans to diversify its portfolio and shift into e-commerce and digital payments as it competes with Mukesh Ambani's Reliance, Amazon, Walmart's Flipkart and PhonePe, according to a Financial Times report.
Energy-infrastructure giant Adani Group is considering applying for a license to operate India's Unified Payments Interface, a public digital payments network that has become the most popular way for Indians to transact online, the report said. Yes. Adani Group, one of India's three largest conglomerates, is also finalizing a co-branded credit card plan with the bank, the report added.
This is not the first time Adani Group has shown interest in digital products. In 2022, the company launched Adani One, a consumer app that sells travel tickets. The Indian group's CEO Gautam Adani also hinted at “future collaboration” with Uber following Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi's recent visit to India.
Adani Group plans to offer online shopping through the government-backed Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) platform, a person familiar with the matter told TechCrunch.
The planned e-commerce and mobile payments services will be accessible through Adani One, and Adani Group said it plans to initially market the new product to its existing customer base of hundreds of millions, according to the FT.
The consumer pressure follows a tumultuous year for Adani, which saw $150 billion in losses from its listed stock due to allegations of market manipulation and fraud by U.S. short-seller Hindenburg Research. Adani has denied any wrongdoing.