The Adani Group is looking to expand into e-commerce and payment services, business daily Financial Times reported on May 28, citing several people familiar with the development.

The FT report said the Adani Group is looking to apply for a licence to run on the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and is also in talks with banks to finalise plans for a co-branded Adani credit card.

If approved, the group will enter India's digital payments landscape and compete with incumbents Google Pay and Walmart -backed PhonePe.

PhonePe and domestic entities like Paytm and Tata have long been offering the popular UPI-based payment service and grocery/fashion shopping via ONDC.

Financial Times reached out to the Adani group and they declined to comment.

The Adani Group is also reported to be in talks to offer online shopping through the e-commerce platform Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), the FT report added.

These plans are surfacing as the group looks to diversify into consumer-facing businesses by building a digital business to take on Reliance Industries and Google in this space. Adani Group so far does not have a significant presence in the consumer-facing businesses. The group launched Adani One in late 2022, an app to offer travel services and hotel bookings.

The FT report cited people familiar with the matter and reported that the e-commerce and payments foray aim to 'initially target existing users of its businesses'. Many people use Adani's gas and electricity services or travel to airports where it operates. Financial Times cited people stating that users on the Adani app could gather loyalty points for bill payment or duty-free purchases, and then redeem them for shopping online.

The report also stated that Adani Group may add content from NDTV - the media entity it owns - to its app this year.

The plans come as Gautam Adani, the group's politically connected founder, looks to move beyond adverse problems and expand his company into rapidly expanding consumer-facing markets. According to FT's news report, Adani has accumulated a large network of ports, airports, and power plants, making him the second-richest man in Asia.

For instance, customers could earn loyalty points by paying bills or making duty-free purchases and then redeem them for online shopping. By focusing on its existing user base, Adani would have "a platform to move into much larger areas," one of the sources cited in the report said.

The Adani Group is in the process of recovering from a January 2023 report by U.S. short-seller Hindenburg that triggered a sell-off in the group's listed shares. So far, four of the seven group companies have surpassed pre-Hinderburg report levels, including Adani Enterprises.

Article Source – Financial Times