Jio Platforms, the Indian digital services firm owned by billionaire entrepreneur Mukesh Ambani, has rolled out its ambitious e-commerce venture in India. Ambani's JioMart, a joint effort of Reliance Industries Jio Platforms and its retail unit Jio Retail, is now available in over 200 cities and towns around the country.

The new e-commerce service is meant to go head-to-head with more established competitors such as Amazon, BigBasket, Walmart's Flipkart, and Grofers. Starting this week, customers from tier 1 and tier 2 cities as well as a number of towns around the country can now order items from the company's newly launched JioMart website. According to Reliance Industries, orders have already started pouring in from customers in cities like Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore, and Chennai.

Prior to the nationwide expansion, Reliance had been testing the service in three suburbs in Mumbai. The company aims to make the platform a one-stop-shop for all Indian households in the country, which is why it had included staple grocery products, dairy, and other perishable items such as vegetables and fruits sourced from local farmers.

Ambani is hoping to leverage the massive user base of its Jio Platforms business, which has hit more than 388 million subscribers, to ensure the rapid adoption of his new e-commerce platform. Reliance has managed to attract significant interest in its new venture, amassing over $10 billion in new investments over the last few months.

However, owning the largest telecom and retail companies in India will not ensure the immediate success of the new e-commerce venture. Other e-commerce operators, such as Amazon, are already making big bets to increase their share in the rapidly growing e-commerce market in the country. Last week, Amazon announced new plans for a massive hiring push in India, with the aim of hiring more than 50,000 seasonal workers to enhance its ability to meet customer demand.

Ambani's JioMart will likely not become an immediate threat to giants like Amazon, but it could spell trouble for smaller players like Grofers and BigBasket. However, in the long-term, JioMart could become a serious contender given Ambani's ambitions to make the platform India's premier destination for online shopping.

According to reports citing sources with knowledge in the matter, Reliance is planning to significantly expand JioMart's reach to at least a thousand districts by the end of the year. The company is also planning to expand the platform's catalog to include other items such as furniture, consumer electronics, office suppliers, appliances, and other retail goods.