HONG KONG: Just as the Chinese duo of Jack Ma and Pony Ma have carved up major chunks of their country’s internet businesses, the battle for control of 1.3 billion Indians’ data could become a two-horse race.
The contest would get under way if, as reported by Bloomberg News, Tata Sons Pvt brings in financial or strategic investors. The holding company of the US$113bil coffee-to-cars conglomerate may be taking a leaf from the playbook of Mukesh Ambani, who has raised US$20bil this year from the likes of Facebook Inc, Alphabet Inc, Silver Lake Partners and others for his digital assets. Ambani, India’s richest tycoon, is now parceling out stakes in his retail venture, and may have sought out Amazon.com Inc.