Share price of Reliance Industries jumped 1.5 per cent on Wednesday after the oil-to-telecom conglomerate announced that its subsidiary Reliance Retail Ventures Limited (RRVL) has acquired a majority stake in online drug market place Netmeds for about Rs 620 crore.
At 2.25 p.m. the RIL stock surged as much as 1.50 per cent to Rs 2,150.60 per share on the BSE. Similarly, on the NSE, it was trading at Rs 2,150.30, up by 1.50 per cent.
The announcement comes a few days after the e-commerce giant Amazon announced the launch of its ‘Amazon Pharmacy’ in southern Bengaluru city.
Speaking on the latest strategic investment, Isha Ambani, Director, RRVL, said, “This investment is aligned with our commitment to provide digital access for everyone in India. The addition of Netmeds enhances Reliance Retail’s ability to provide good quality and affordable health care products and services, and also broadens its digital commerce proposition to include most daily essential needs of the consumers.”
The pandemic-infused lockdown and social distancing norm pushed majority of the consumers to online platforms, resulting in a boom in the online businesses. The same has also led to a spike in competition between Amazon, Walmart-backed Flipkart and Reliance Industries’ grocery service, JioMart. All companies, including the small players, are competing to grab the best or the larger piece of the growing sector of the developing economy.
Keeping that in view, reports suggest that two other major pharma companies, Medlife and PharmaEasy are looking for a potential merger.
The increased business in online pharma sector has threatened the traditional drug stores. In fact, many chemist bodies are against the online pharma platforms as they claim that these platforms would lead to sale of medicines without proper verification.