US retail giant Walmart plans to challenge the likes of Amazon and eBay in India as it plans to launch an online marketplace there.

Walmart is reported to have hired individuals to develop an e-commerce platform, which could go live in three to four months.

“The project has been on for seven to eight months and has gathered pace in the last four to five months,” said a person familiar with the matter.

Foreign companies like Amazon, eBay and Walmart are banned from selling online directly to consumers, hence, they opt for a marketplace model. The marketplace format is a type of e-commerce site where product and inventory information is provided by multiple third parties, but transactions are processed by the marketplace operator.

“Our experiences worldwide support the fact that e-commerce is an important and growing area that meets our customers’ shopping needs. Toward this, we encourage the government of India to consider opening e-commerce for FDI,” said a Walmart India spokesperson in a statement.

Walmart, last year, decided to end its joint venture partnership with Bharti Enterprises to wholly own the Best Price Modern wholesale cash-and-carry business in India. As part of its re-strategy in the country, Walmart has also appointed Krish Iyer as CEO of Walmart India, replacing Ramnik Narsey.