At a time when everyone from Ratan Tata to Azim Premji is betting on start-ups and the e-commerce sector, ace capital market investor and trader, Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, is among the few who "hate" the e-commerce business model.

At a retail leadership summit, 55-year-old Jhunjhunwala while addressing players from the industry, said he does not believe in e-commerce and that the model is not sustainable.

Sharing the dais with Jhunjhunwala were two other maverick businessman — retail tycoon Kishore Biyani and e-commerce major Flipkart's founder Sachin Bansal.

Questioning the discounting model of e-commerce companies, Jhunjhunwala, whose net worth of over $1.5 billion has been made by investing in the stock market, asked Sachin Bansal how he plans to turn Flipkart profitable and whether or not there is scope to turn profitable.

Jhunjhunwala, who once said the markets are temples of capitalism and believes that they are the ultimate arbiters, was sarcastic when Sachin Bansal said the e-commerce companies are in their growth phase and that they don't intend to turn profitable.

"It is like a father-in-law pumping in money in his son-in-law's business. Once that stops the business also stops," Jhunjhunwala said, adding that he believes in brick-and-mortar retailing.

To this Bansal said e-commerce is here to stay and the all the players were focusing on growth at the moment and that the trend of discounting would continue.

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