Snapdeal to Raise $600-$650 Million Investment: Report

Snapdeal to Raise $600-$650 Million Investment: Report
Employees of Snapdeal.com, an Indian online discount shopping website, work inside their company office in New Delhi

Online retailer Snapdeal is close to raising $600 million to $650 million (Rs 3,660 crore to Rs 3,965 crore at Rs 61=$1)  from existing investors, led by Japan's SoftBank Corp, to expand operations, three people involved in the fundraising said.

The amount, set to be the biggest investment in India's growing e-commerce sector after Flipkart raised $1 billion in July, is likely to be announced next week, the people said.

The people declined to be identified as they were not authorised to speak to media ahead of an official announcement. Snapdeal and SoftBank declined to comment.

Indian online retailers have been raising funds to expand and compete with bigger rival Amazon.com as more Indians shop on the internet.

Analysts at Nomura estimated in a research note in July that India's e-commerce industry could quadruple to $43 billion over the next five years from $10 billion in 2013, driven by online retail.

Besides SoftBank, Snapdeal's other investors include eBay Inc, Temasek Holdings Pvt Ltd and Ratan Tata, the former chairman of the Tata conglomerate.

Copyright: Thomson Reuters 2014

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