e-commerce
Amazon set to acquire 9.5% stake in Future Retail
MUMBAI: Ecommerce giant Amazon is all set to acquire a minority stake in Future Retail next week according to an Economic Times report. This deal will allow Amazon to reach the country’s food and grocery market through supermarket chains like Big Bazaar and Nilgiris. Future Retail has more than 1,100 physical stores across India.
The deal is said to be around Rs 2,500 crore. Speaking to Economic Times, sources said, “Amazon, through the foreign portfolio investor (FPI) route, will buy about 9.5 per cent stake in Future Retail and has already signed a term sheet. The deal will be announced after board approval on 14 November.”
Wazir Advisors founder Harminder Sahni said, “It essentially means Amazon is taking a position in offline retail. But it can’t just be a financial investment and they will surely leverage Future Group's network and backend facilities for supply chain and other operations."
e-commerce
Eternal teams up with OpenAI to supercharge AI across Zomato and Blinkit
Collaboration targets merchant tools, partner assistants and internal automation via Stitch platform.
MUMBAI: Eternal isn’t just ordering food, it’s ordering up a major AI upgrade. The company behind Zomato, Blinkit, District, Hyperpure, Feeding India and AI-native venture Nugget has joined forces with OpenAI to weave advanced AI deeper into its sprawling commerce ecosystem. The partnership taps OpenAI’s Enterprise API to deploy models across Eternal’s apps, partner platforms and internal systems. Key focus areas include AI-assisted workflows for merchants and delivery partners, contextual AI assistants embedded in partner portals, next-gen search and discovery experiments, and accelerated product iteration at Nugget.
Internally, Eternal is eyeing OpenAI’s latest coding models including GPT-5.3-Codex to power Stitch, its in-house automation and developer orchestration platform. Stitch already handles end-to-end automation across engineering and non-engineering teams, the integration aims to slash manual work, speed up shipping and streamline complex workflows.
The collaboration extends to a structured Partner Upskilling Program, rolling out advanced AI tools and assistants to Eternal’s restaurant and delivery partner network to boost operational efficiency, compliance and decision-making.
Eternal, Group CEO Albinder Dhindsa captured the excitement, “From high leverage areas like software development to real on-ground implications of influencing operations, we are learning about the evolving implementations of newer and developing tools in the AI landscape. We are happy that this collaboration with OpenAI will open up even more surface area for us to learn and innovate.”
OpenAI International managing director Oliver Jay added, “Eternal operates at a meaningful scale across consumer and partner platforms. We are excited to support their teams in applying AI advancements to real-world systems, from AI-native ventures to partner-facing initiatives.”
In a market where speed, scale and smarts define winners, this tie-up positions Eternal to turn everyday orders into smarter, faster experiences, one AI prompt at a time. Whether you’re swiping for dinner or delivering it, the future just got a little more intelligent.
