mumbai new delhi google is looking to join forces with alibababacked paytm mall to form a consortium and invest rs 35004000 crore for a 710 stake in future retail ltd frl the flagship listed company of kishore biyani said several people with knowledge of the matterthis consortium will be pitted against amazon the worlds largest online retailer which submitted a term sheet to pick up a similar stake in frl recently et had reported on february 5 that future group was exploring an alliance with both amazon and alibaba with biyani having met jeff bezos in the us and alibaba officials in china advt the future group chief executive has been looking at raising funds through a strategic partnership to streamline operations and increase profitability as he battles deeppocketed online and offline retailers such as reliance retail amazon and walmart which are eyeing indias changing demographics and a 1 trillion digital economy by 2025 through consolidation of their presence both primary secondary share salein a recent interview with et biyani said he was likely to close a deal with a foreign investor in the next two months on the back of a database based on nearly 500 million customers visiting his stores annually the fund infusion will be through both primary and secondary share sale which may even see some of the existing frl shareholders get diluted furtherfuture retail rallies over 3 as google eyes stake over the past six years biyani has acquired half a dozen supermarket store chains and put together a total retail space of 136 million sq ft with a presence in 255 cities through over 1030 stores ultimately its all about how formidable we all are as players get bigger you need alliances biyani had told et earlier this month we cant sell more than 10 and foreign portfolio investor fpi is the only route available it should take twothree months for any deal to fructify he added without naming the alliance partnerbiyani denied any knowledge of a googlealibaba consortium paytm alibaba and google spokespersons declined to comment we dont comment on speculation or rumours a google spokesperson told et one of the persons cited above said a private equity fund may also join the megaalliance its identity could not be independently ascertained as per indian overseas investment laws foreign companies can only hold up to 51 in multibrand retailers as foreign direct investment fdi however this can be sidestepped by establishing holding entities in cashandcarry retailing where 100 overseas ownership is allowed they in turn allow indianowned entities to run frontend stores as franchisees advt alternatively overseas money can come in through the foreign portfolio investor fpi route up to a block of 10 can be acquired in an indian multibrand retailer by a single entity an indian company can dilute up to 49 stake to multiple fpis this is the route through which overseas investment will be made in future retail google is keen to bring google express the