India’s antitrust regulator on Wednesday approved U.S. retail giant Walmart Inc’s $16 billion acquisition of Indian ecommerce firm Flipkart, beefing up the competition for rival Amazon.com Inc in the fast growing market.

Betonville, Arkansas-based Walmart announced in May it was acquiring about 77 percent of Flipkart for roughly $16 billion, the biggest deal in India’s ecommerce sector, which Morgan Stanley has estimated will grow close to an annual $200 billion in a decade.

An Indian body of Traders Confederation of All India Traders had opposed the Walmart-Flipkart combination saying it would create unfair competition and drive local convenience stores out of business.

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The Competition Commission of India has approved the proposed acquisition of Flipkart Private Ltd by Wal-Mart, the antitrust body said in a message on twitter.

Walmart had previously said it may take Flipkart public in as early as four years.

The acquisition of Flipkart will give Walmart a stronger foothold in a market in which it has struggled to expand in the last decade partly due to restrictions around foreign investment in physical retail.