eBay Inc, the world’s largest auction and shopping portal, is doing some shopping of its own in India.
It is negotiating to pick up a significant stake in online retailer snapdeal.com — a sign of the growing clamour among multinational giants to gain a bigger foothold in one of the fastest growing e-commerce markets.
“Ebay is looking to make a strategic investment in Snapdeal, a move that is expected to help both sides,” a source told HT.
Snapdeal, which has 18 million registered users and transacts 25,000 units a day, was valued at about Rs. 1,000 crore during a 2011 deal. It is targeting to earn Rs. 600 crore in revenues this year — a 20% jump over last year.
CEO Kunal Bahl, a 29-year-old Wharton graduate, set up snapdeal.com in February 2010, along with school buddy Rohit Bansal, an IIT Delhi alumnus.
Details of the transaction are still being worked out, but sources said it will likely be carried out through eBay’s Indian arm and structured in a manner that it does not violate the current norms prohibiting foreign investment in online retailers.
Bahl did not respond to queries, and a company spokesperson refused to comment. “We don’t comment on rumours or speculation,” Deepa Thomas, eBay India spokesperson, said.