New Delhi:
With the recent talks about Alibaba's venturing into the consumer-facing e-commerce space in India, the Chinese e-commerce multigiant has gone ahead by stringing multiple parternships to boost its existing business-to-business marketplace venture in India.
As per reports in leading financial dailies,the Jack Ma led Alibaba is partnering with DHL and Delhivery for providing domestic and international logistics support to Indian sellers, along with offering financial aid through its tie-ups with Aditya Birla Group's NBFC arm, IDFC Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank.
An online B2B commerce platform caters to small-and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) which usually buy and sell products in bulk. The Hangzhou-based Alibaba group's massive success has been attributed to its robust seller ecosystem, having begun life as an online B2B commerce company which connected local Chinese manufacturers with overseas buyers.
Vinay Bhartia, senior VP at Alibaba, is spearheading the B2B platform for the Chinese firm based in Mumbai, and is learnt to be working along with Guru Gowrappan, global MD at the Chinese ecommerce major.
Bhushan Patil, who was one of the key executives heading the B2B marketplace business for Alibaba in India, left earlier this year to join Paytm, in which the Chinese internet conglomerate holds a 40 per cent stake. There's been chatter around Alibaba's entry into the consumer e-commerce market through an acquisition, which will pit it against Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal, where it's a small shareholder.
Some of the local players in this space include India MART and scores of startups including Moglix, mSupply.com and Ofbusiness, besides Amazon Business, which has a small presence here.
