Reliance Industries' omni-commerce venture JioMart is set to get a massive boost from WhatsApp, thanks to the $5.7 billion deal signed between social media technology giant Facebook and Reliance Industries-backed Jio Platforms.

JioMart is the grocery delivery platform announced earlier in January this year by RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani.

Positioned as Reliance's on-of-its-kind offline-to-online retail initiative, JioMart aims to link last-mile neighbourhood shops and merchants with consumers by leveraging Jio's technology base.

JioMart will give its users options to shop from 50,000-plus grocery products, free home delivery with no minimum order value, no-questions-asked return policy and an express delivery promise.

JioMart has currently been launched as a pilot in Navi Mumbai, Kalyan and Thane and will be expanded across the country.

Now under the deal, local vendors and kirana businesses will be able to not just register on JioMart but also receive seamless orders through WhatsApp.

"This means all of you can order and get faster delivery of day-to-day items, from nearby local shops," Ambani said in a video message as he announced the Facebook partnership with Jio.

He added that at the same time small kiranas can grow their businesses and create new employment opportunities using digital technologies.

"The combined power of Jio's world-class digital connectivity platform and Facebook's intimate relationship with the Indian people, will offer innovative new solutions to each one of you," said Ambani.

The ambitious deal will create synergies not only in digital commerce but also in digital payments systems. Facebook has already been leveraging its instant messaging property WhatsApp for payments and business transactions. Consumers can now place orders through WhatsApp which will be fulfilled by Jio's network of small kiranas and wholesale retailers.

WhatsApp can use its reach to also help Reliance bring in its wholesale to retail connections.

“Our focus will be India’s 60 million micro, small and medium businesses, 120 million farmers, 30 million small merchants and millions of small and medium enterprises in the informal sector,” said Jio in a press note.

Reliance Jio has a subscriber base of 388 million, while WhatsApp has more than 400 million users in India. The sheer dominance of WhatsApp among all instant messaging apps can be ascertained from the fact that it is being used by nearly every smartphone user in the country.

Research firm Counterpoint puts India's smartphone users at 450 million strong. Not just that, WhatsApp also supports KaiOS — a mobile operating system for feature phones which is being used in millions of JioPhone handsets as well.

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