Flipkart's Myntra to buy online shopping rival Jabong

Myntra, a subsidiary of Indian online shopping giant Flipkart, says it has bought rival fashion shopping site Jabong for $70m (£53m) in cash

The deal is expected to be completed in the third quarter.

Once a big player in India's online retailing industry, Jabong has fallen on hard times in the past year amid poor sales and management shake-ups.

India's e-commerce industry has a high profile and rapid customer growth but the sector continues to make losses.

The sector is experiencing increasing competition - last month, industry pioneer Amazon announced it would step up investment in the country.

The US firm plans to increase its investment in India by $3bn (£2.1bn), bringing the total amount invested in the country to more than $5bn.

If you don't live in India, you probably haven't heard of Jabong or indeed Myntra - but you might know Flipkart - the country's biggest online retailer.

Buoyed by rapid smartphone take-up and more people happy to buy online, Indian e-commerce is growing by more than 50% a year. Compare that to China's 18% and 11% in Japan.

But the massive discounting used to win customers means that nobody is making money. Jobs have been cut. Valuations written down.

So as these businesses try to make the numbers work, expect more takeovers and not just at the lower end of the food chain.

China's Alibaba is sniffing around looking for an opportunity. And despite the denials - one rumour that won't go away is Amazon making a decisive strike to become top-dog by buying Flipkart.

In a statement, Binny Bansal, chief executive and and co-founder of Flipkart said that fashion and lifestyle were among the biggest drivers of e-commerce growth in India.

"We have always believed in the fashion and lifestyle segment and Myntra's strong performance has reinforced this faith. This acquisition is a continuation of the group's journey to transform commerce in India."

Myntra is itself an online fashion retailer and was bought by Flipkart in 2014.