Is Reliance Jio ecommerce an end to Flipkart – Amazon India rivalry?

Last month, Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) Chairman Mukesh Ambani had announced that his company is working on creating the world's largest online-to-offline new commerce platform that would integrate the power of Reliance Retail's physical marketplace with Jio's infrastructure and services. In order to boost this ecommerce venture's last-mile connectivity, Ambani plans to utilize the telco's 5,100-plus smaller Jio Point stores in more than 5,000 cities and towns.

• What’s the story?

Reliance Industries Ltd Chairman and managing director Mukesh Ambani said group companies Reliance Retail and Reliance Jio Info-com would jointly launch a new e-commerce platform in the country. This development comes at a time when the Indian government is looking to implement the new ecommerce policy draft from February 1, 2019. The ecommerce policy draft is aimed at ensuring a level playing ground for both the online and offline players. Under the new rules, ecommerce marketplaces will no longer be allowed to offer deep discounts through their in-house companies listed as sellers.At this point, the rules are expected to heavily affect ecommerce marketplaces such as Amazon and Flipkart. However, the move has been welcomed by offline retailers. Companies looking to follow the hybrid model will benefit from the policy shift.

• What is next?

At a time when ecommerce giants Flipkart and Amazon are facing troubles implementing the new ecommerce ruling, the foray of offline retailers into ecommerce space may prove to be another setback for the ecomm majors. Reliance, Flipkart or Amazon whom do you think will win the Indian e-commerce race? don’t forget to comment bellow.