Reliance starts WhatApp-based online portal in locked-down India

A vendor weighs vegetable next to an advertisement of Paytm, a digital payments firm, hanging amidst his vegetables at a roadside market in Mumbai, India. Reliance Industries Ltd started testing its online shopping portal three days after Facebook Inc said it will invest US$5.7bil in digital assets controlled by billionaire Mukesh Ambani. - Reuters

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

JioMart, an e-commerce venture of Reliance Retail, went live in three neighbourhoods 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.