Chinese e-commerce major Alibaba, along with investment firm SAIF Partners, will pump in $200 million in Paytm’s online marketplace unit making the Indian e-commerce industry a tri-corner fight.
As per a filing with the Registrar of Companies (RoC), Alibaba Singapore E-Commerce will have a shareholding of 36.31%, while SAIF Partners India will own 4.66% in Paytm E-Commerce.
According to sources familiar with the development, Alibaba Singapore E-Commerce will invest $177 million and the rest will be from SAIF Partners. Alibaba along with its payments affiliate Alipay had a combined shareholding of 40% in the unit before this investment in One97 Communications. The investment will give Alibaba access to Paytm merchants and logistics partners.
In an interaction with DH, Paytm official said the investment will give Paytm E-Commerce a unicorn status. “But we can’t say that Alibaba is the majority shareholder in the entity.” said the official.
Alibaba will find it easy to build on top of what already exists and find good opportunity in the Indian e-commerce industry, valued at $20 billion in 2020, says an analyst.
“Now the field will become three-cornered with Flipkart, Amazon and Paytm. Also, India will become the centre of Alibaba’s global expansion plans,” he said. Alibaba also has less than 5% stake in Delhi-based online marketplace Snapdeal.
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