Aditya Birla Group's Grasim forays into B2B e-commerce and expects to invest $2 billion there.

The Board of Directors of Grasim announced today that the company will invest 2,000 crore over the next 5 years in a B2B e-commerce platform for the Building Materials segment.

On Tuesday, the Aditya Birla group company Grasim Industries Ltd announced the opening of a new B2B ecommerce platform for building supplies. According to a regulatory filing, the corporation will invest 2,000 crore over the following five years.

According to Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman of the Aditya Birla Group, the building materials sector offers a sizable and very profitable commercial opportunity.

According to the company, this investment provides a new, high-growth engine with direct adjacencies to Grasim's independent businesses as well as those of its subsidiary and affiliate companies.The entrance into B2B e-commerce is another another strategic portfolio option, the Aditya Birla Group Chairman continued, "as it crystallises our intent to engage in the new-age, high growth digital arena."

"Grasim will be able to benefit from the extensive B2B ecosystem within the Aditya Birla Group with this incursion. This action will also spur the expansion of MSME companies in India and give the government's vision of "Digital India" a boost, Birla continued.Over the past three years, India's overall building materials procurement industry has expanded at a CAGR of 14%

.According to the company's press release, this market is worth an estimated $100 billion and only has a 2 percent digital penetration rate right now.The existing supply chain will face a number of issues that will be addressed by Grasim's digital platform.The platform's primary focus will be MSMEs in the building materials sector, with the possibility of expanding to other pertinent fields. An integrated procurement solution with on-time delivery and a superior product selection at low prices would be the main selling proposition.

A newly hired leadership team from the digital ecosystem will run this platform.The company went on to say that it saw "strong growth opportunities in B2B e-commerce with attractive long-term returns and will be significantly value accretive to its stakeholders."