In an effort to comply with the new foreign direct investment (FDI) rules for the e-commerce marketplace, India’s largest e-tailer Flipkart is building a layer of B2B entities which will act as an intermediary between the wholesale arm and the sellers on its platform, The Economic Times reported, citing people familiar with the development.

The e-tailer has appointed about eight to nine such firms, code-named alpha sellers, which will buy goods from Flipkart India, the wholesale arm of the Flipkart Group, the sources told ET, adding that the alpha sellers will supply the goods to the beta sellers, which will offer them on the Flipkart marketplace.

The introduction of intermediary alpha sellers will help Flipkart meet a cap of 25 percent on vendors purchasing goods from entities related to the marketplace operators, the sources added.