Alibaba Eyes Indian Mobile Market With 25% Stake Of Micromax

on Monday reported the country's largest home-grown manufacture of mobile phones, Micromax, is close to finalizing a deal to sell 25 percent of itself to a consortium led by Ant Financial Services Group, China's leading online financial services company that owns Alipay and is part of

. According to the report, as part of the deal, Alibaba will bring in two to three partners to play a greater role in managing the company. "More partners will give divergence views and comfort to the lead investor," a source familiar with the deal told The Economic Times. The publication added that the expanded partnership is vital towards fending off market leader Samsung and China's fast growing Xiaomi in the Indian market. In addition, Alipay can aid Micromax in exploring growth in markets outside of India. Alipay will gain a stronghold in a "virgin territory and business segment" where it can integrate its services and acquire exposure to millions of customers through an initial investment that valued the Indian based company at around $4 billion to $5 billion. The investment from a Chinese firm isn't without controversy and was greeted by both skepticism and optimism. One user stated in the comment section that "We have to keep Micromax as an Indian company. For security reasons cannot trust Chinese [companies]." On the other hand, another user noted "its good that Chinese and other foreign companies having an interest in Indian phone manufacturers while Tata Motors Limited has invested in Xiaomi. Any ways its going to be good for the Indian companies to have foreign investors which will help expanding the markets quickly to other countries without much pressure."