Alibaba set to buy over one-third stake in BigBasket for close to $300 mn

Alibaba's move comes as the online grocery segment in the country has hotted up, with Amazon India seeing 150% growth in its grocery segment during 2016

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba could soon announce a $300-million deal for purchasing over one-third stake in online grocer BigBasket, after close to six months of negotiations.  

Citing three unnamed sources with direct knowledge of the deal, the Economic Times reported on Thursday that Alibaba would soon add BigBasket stake purchase to its portfolio of strategic investments in India. "The deal is expected to be announced soon. The final contours of the secondary transaction are still being chalked out," one of the aforementioned sources told the financial daily. 

As reported earlier, Alibaba-backed online retailer Paytm Mall, too, is