The Chinese internet giant Baidu is in investment talks with various Indian internet and ecommerce companies.
It is interested in investing in Zomato, BigBasket and BookMyShow, although exact figures and dates have not yet been announced.
Zomato is the country's leading restaurant search engine, BigBasket is an online grocery store and BookMyShow is an ecommerce site specialising in films and events tickets.
A spokesperson from Baidu commented on the planned investments, saying: “The Indian market represents an enormous opportunity for us to connect more people with services, and we plan to put more resources there in the future.”
The Indian ecommerce market is currently worth 11 billion US dollars and is growing rapidly, with online sales expected to reach 220 billion US dollars by 2025 according to estimates by Merrill Lynch.
