Amazon offers to buy 60 per cent stake in India's Flipkart

Amazon Inc has made a formal offer to buy a 60 per cent stake in Indian online retailer Flipkart, CNBC-TV18 reported, citing sources.

Amazon also offered Flipkart a breakup fee of $2 billion, the TV channel reported. Amazon’s bid is likely to be on par with Walmart Inc’s bid for the Indian e-commerce company, CNBC-TV18 reported.

Flipkart’s investors and founders are in favour of the deal with Walmart, with founder Sachin Bansal overseeing final negotiations with Walmart, CNBC-TV18 said.

Amazon is also seeking a non-compete agreement with Flipkart’s founders, the report added.

Reuters in April reported that Walmart was likely to reach a deal to buy a majority stake in Flipkart by the end of June.

A deal with Flipkart would step up the Walmart-Amazon battle for a bigger share of India’s fledgeling e-commerce market, which Morgan Stanley estimates will be worth $200 billion in a decade.

The Walmart global team may come to India soon to close the deal, the report added.

A spokesman for Walmart declined to comment, while Amazon said it does not offer comments on rumours and speculation.

Flipkart did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

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