Indian e-commerce companies Myntra and Reliance-owned AJIO have ceased selling Turkish clothing labels like Trendyol, Koton, and LC Waikiki on their websites. The step has been taken in response to mounting calls for a boycott of Turkey due to its backing of Pakistan in its conflict with India after the Pahalgam incident.
Several sources claim that when tensions between India and Pakistan increased before last week’s truce, Myntra started to deprioritise these brands’ visibility. But as of right now, these things are no longer being sold at all.
The biggest online retailer in Turkey, Trendyol, was well-known for selling western clothing for ladies from other countries on Myntra. AJIO carried several well-known Turkish brands in India, including Mavi, Koton, and LC Waikiki.
None of the Above Turkish Brands Appear in Search
At the moment, neither the AJIO app nor Myntra’s search results feature any of these brands. According to a media report, Reliance plans to adopt a similar strategy by deprioritising and stopping the sale of Turkish brands on its other platforms, including Tira.
“Nation First” is not merely a conviction for Reliance; it is the guiding principle that informs every action, a Reliance representative told a media outlet. The corporation is actively reevaluating its offers across platforms to make sure they reflect the values and sentiments of the nation in solidarity with its fellow people.
The brand is steadfast in its resolve to put the interests of the country first. Approximately ten Turkish brands are active on these two sites.
India has a trade surplus with Turkey; according to reports, between April 2024 and February 2025, India’s exports to Turkey were $5.2 billion, while Turkey’s imports totalled $2.84 billion.
The Move Represents Strong Alignment with National Interest
A wider reevaluation of international alliances and a greater alignment with domestic interests in the face of escalating geopolitical tensions are reflected in this action. Trip cancellations, the suspension of institutional partnerships, and the withdrawal of Celebi Aviation’s licence are just a few examples of the repercussions of this reevaluation.
During the India-Pakistan crisis, Azerbaijan backed Pakistan in addition to Turkey. Crude petroleum is India’s top import from Azerbaijan, while its top exports to Azerbaijan include pharmaceuticals and agricultural products. Over 125 business executives nationwide decided yesterday to abstain from any commercial and trade interactions with Turkey and Azerbaijan.
EaseMyTrip is warning Indians not to visit Turkey and Azerbaijan for non-essential reasons, even though travel providers like ixigo, Pickyourtrail, and Cox & Kings have suspended all reservations to these countries.
In the meantime, Nishant Pitti, the founder of EaseMyTrip, has charged MakeMyTrip, a competitor company, with having Chinese ties.
After India launched 24 missiles in 25 minutes on nine terror facilities in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK) in retaliation for the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu & Kashmir, which killed 26 lives, China also demonstrated support for Pakistan.
The Reliance Retail has achieved success and become the Indian largest retailer, because of its investments, the investor demand for reliance retail business is so strong that Mukesh Ambani is putting investors on a wait list. Mubadala an Abu Dhabi based investor has recently decided to invest ₹6,248 crore in the Reliance Retail to get a 1.40% equity stake for its investment.
This announcement comes day after Silver Lake partners said that it will invest ₹1,875 crore in India largest retailer. In all Reliance retail has managed to raise ₹24,847.5 crore by selling 5.6% stake to private equity and sovereign funds. That includes General Atlantic which will pick up 0.84% stake for ₹3,675 crore and KKR and co which will also invest ₹5,500 crore for 1.28% holding.
Reliance Retail has a total of 11,784 stores across consumer, electronics, grocery, general merchandise, fashion and lifestyle. And reported a consolidated turnover of ₹1,62,936 crore and net profit of ₹5,448 crore for the year March, 2020. The acquisition of future group retail and logistics business for ₹27,513 crore will add 1,736 Big Bazaar and other stores 28.3 million sq. ft. of retail area across grocery and fashion segments.
Reliance Retail is a retail initiative of the group and is a central to our consumer facing businesses. It has is a short time forged strong and enduring bonds with millions of consumers by providing them unlimited choice, outstanding value proposition, superior quality and unmatched experience across all its stores. Reliance retail is the largest retailer in the country.
Reliance Retail has adopted a multi prong strategy and operates chain of neighborhood stores, supermarkets, wholesale cash and carry stores, specialty stores and online stores and has democratized access to a variety of products and services across diverse segments for Indian consumers. Reliance retail reported a turnover of Rs. 1,30,566 crore for financial year 2018 to 2019. As of 2019, Reliance retail operates 10,901 stores across 6,700 plus cities with a retail area of over 24.5 million sq. ft.
The various subdivisions of Reliance Retail
Reliance retail operates Reliance Fresh, Reliance Smart and Reliance Market stores. In the consumer electronics category Reliance Retail operates Reliance Digital, Reliance Digital Express mini stores and Jio stores and in the fashion and lifestyle category it operates Reliance Trends, Project Eve, Reliance Footprint, Reliance jewels and AJIO.com in addition to a large number of partner brand stores across the country.
Reliance Retail has emerged as the partner of choice for many International brands and has established exclusive partnership with many revered International brands such as Diesel, Superdry, Hamleys, Ermenegildo, Zegna, Marks and spencer, Paul and shark, Thomas pink, Kenneth Cole, Brooks Brothers, Steve Madden, Payless Showsource, Grand Vision and many more.
Below here are the recent investments made into the Reliance Retail:
Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund
On November 5, 2020, Reliance Retail, raised INR 9,555 Cr ($1.3 Bn approximately) from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), to accelerate the growth of its digital retail empire. It is a record eighth by marquee global investors in Reliance Retail. This investment values Reliance Retail at a pre-money equity value of INR 4.587 lakh Cr (around $62.4 Bn)
PIF (Public Investment Fund) is one of the largest sovereign wealth funds in the world, which works alongside various global strategic partners and investment managers. It acts as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s primary investment arm aiming toward generating long-term value for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Mubadala Investment
The most recent investment was made by Mubadala Investment Company who is investing ₹6,248 crore ($852.84 million) in the Reliance Retail giving the unit a pre-money equity value of 4.29 trillion rupees. The Mubadala’s investment will translate into a 1.40% equity stake in Reliance Retail on a fully diluted basis. This investment by Mubadala pegs pre investment equity valuation of Reliance Retail at ₹4.28 lakh crore.
Ambani is also replicating funding blitz for the retail unit after selling stakes in Jio Platforms as investors, including Facebook Inc. and Google, bet on his efforts to build a technology giant that offers data, content and commerce. Mubadala had also invested $1.2 billion in Jio Platforms earlier this year.
Shareholding
No of Shares
Vanishree Commercials Ltd
297,000,000
Infotel Infocomm Enterprises Pvt. Ltd
36,000,000
Silver Lake
109,929,733
KKR
81,348,479
General Atlantic
53,865,885
Silver Lake
27,482,594
Mubadala
91,572,004
Total Equity Shares of RRVL
6,534,957,216
General Atlantic Investment
General Atlantic a leading global growth equity firm decided to invest ₹3,675 crore into Reliance Retail. This investment values Reliance Retail at a pre money equity value of ₹4,285 lakh crore. The general Atlantic investment will translate into a 0.84% equity stake in reliance retail on a fully diluted basis. This marks the second investment by General Atlantic in a subsidiary of Reliance Industries, following a ₹6,598.38 crore investment in Jio platforms.
Silver Lake Investment
The Silver Lake would invest ₹7,500 crore in subsidiary Reliance Retail Ventures for a 1.75% stake, valuing the company at ₹4.2 trillion. Earlier in 2020, Silver Lake invested ₹10,202 crore in Jio Platforms, Reliance digital service platform. This however, set the stage for more stake sales by the company including one to PE firm KKR, is also an investor in Jio Platform.
Silver Lake is a US based Global Technology Investment firm with an asset size $60 Billion. It has 56 portfolio companies and 300,000 employees by these firms. The company has made investment in India with Jio Platform, Byjus and Eka with 10 acquisitions.
Global Investment firm KKR has also invested ₹5,500 crore in Reliance Retail for 1.28% equity share. This was the second investment by KKR in a Reliance subsidiary, following a ₹11,367 crore investment in Jio Platform which was announced earlier in 2020. KKR investment values Reliance Retail at a pre money equity value of ₹4.21 trillion.
KKR has also invested $1.5 billion in the Jio platforms, its Co-founder and Co –CEO says that “we are pleased to deepen our relationship with Reliance Industries through this investment in Reliance Retail Ventures. Reliance retail new commerce platform is filling an important need for both consumers and small businesses as more Indian consumers have moved to shopping online”.
Jio platforms backing Reliance Retail
RIL had given the option to investors in Jio Platforms to consider backing Reliance Retail as it sought to unlock value, following the acquisition of Future Group’s retail assets last week, persons in the know said. Reliance Retail could look at offloading a 25-30% stake to a combination of private equity firms and tech giants such as Facebook, Google, and Intel, presenting telecom and retail as a potent force in India’s consumption story.
Along with Jio, retail contributes 35% to Reliance Industries consolidated earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (Ebitda), Mukesh Ambani, RIL’s chairman, had said at the firm’s annual general meeting in July. Reliance has offloaded nearly 33% in Jio Platforms to 14 investors for Rs 1.52 trillion between April and June, emerging as the only firm in the country to go in for a massive monetization exercise at the height of the lockdown.
The reliance Retail runs supermarkets, India largest consumer electronics chain store, a cash and carry wholesaler, fast fashion outlets and an online grocery store called as Jio Mart. Ambani says that “we will induct global partners and investors into Relaince Retail in the next few quarters”. As the firm was planning to scale up Jio Mart as it new venture.
Some facts on Jio Mart
JioMart, which went live across 200 cities in May has crossed 250,000 in daily orders with the number growing each and every day. Since then daily orders have crossed the 400,000 mark. JioMart was pegged at ₹ 500 per transaction, but Ambani is trying to increase this number by taking the platform into areas beyond groceries, including electronics, fashion, and healthcare.
The company is also trying to work closely with WhatsApp which is owned by Facebook to boost the reach of JioMart. Apart from small merchants, Reliance Retail would also look to work closely with farmers to source more food items from them, as it seeks to scale up its farm to fork operations. At the same time, Reliance Retail would continue to push its presence into small towns and cities, Ambani said, adding more outlets in these places.
