Reliance starts WhatsApp-based online shopping portal during COVID-19 lockdown

Reliance Industries Ltd. started testing its online shopping portal three days after Facebook Inc. said it will invest $5.7 billion in digital assets controlled by billionaire Mukesh Ambani.

JioMart, an e-commerce venture of Reliance Retail, went live in three neighborhoods surrounding Mumbai, leveraging a deal that gives it access to WhatsApp’s 400 million users in India currently under the world’s most expansive lockdown.

The starting of the portal takes Asia’s richest man a step closer to his goal of setting up a digital platform to take on Amazon.com Inc. and Walmart Inc.’s Flipkart Online Services Pvt.