The Adani Group plans to expand e-commerce and payments, according to an FT report

As reported by the business daily Financial Times on May 28, citing several people familiar with the situation, the Adani group intends to expand into e-commerce and payment services.

The FT report states that the Adani Group is seeking to apply for a license to operate under the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and is also in talks with banks to finalize plans for a co-branded Adani credit card.

If approved, the group would enter India’s digital payments market and compete with incumbents Google Pay and Walmart-backed PhonePe.

The Financial Times contacted the Adani group, but it declined to comment.

According to FT reports, the Adani Group is also in talks to offer online shopping through its e-commerce platform Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC).

These plans come to light as the group looks to diversify into consumer-facing businesses, building a digital business that could compete with Reliance Industries and Google in this space. The Adani Group does not have a significant presence in consumer-facing businesses as of yet. In late 2022, the group launched Adani One, an app offering travel services and hotel bookings.

The FT report cited people familiar with the matter and said the e-commerce and payments attack is intended to “initially target existing FT enterprise users.” A large number of people use Adani’s gas and electricity services or travel to its airports. The Financial Times quotes people as saying that users of the Adani app can accumulate loyalty points for bill payments or duty-free purchases and then redeem them for online purchases.

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

BeforeMoney control informed about the group’s plans to obtain funds for investments in new energy enterprises.

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