After Grofers and Amazon India, online grocery firm BigBasket on Wednesday received the government’s nod for foreign direct investment to undertake retailing of food products, which are manufactured or produced in India, Hari Menon, co-founder and CEO, said.
The start-up, which applied for foreign direct investment in September last year, will have to spin off a new entity to start this business since 100 per cent foreign direct investment is only applicable for food products manufactured or produced in India, whereas currently BigBasket sells other household products such as soap, shampoos etc through its e-commerce channel. At the time of applying, the company had committed an investment of around Rs 100 crore.
Menon, however, said that the start-up is yet to begin the work on finer details of the business plan, which includes creating a new firm to start the business. Last year, three online commerce firms — Grofers, Amazon and Bigbasket — had applied seeking approval for foreign direct investment in food retail with an overall investment of $695 million over a period of time with the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP).
with FE inputs
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