Paytm E-Commerce Pvt Ltd has raised $200 million (roughly Rs. 1,337 crores) from China's Alibaba Group Holding and venture capital fund SAIF Partners to expand its online retail business in a market dominated by homegrown Flipkart and US tech giant Amazon.
Alibaba.com Singapore E-Commerce Pvt Ltd picked up a 36.31 percent stake in Paytm E-Commerce for investing $177 million (roughly Rs. 782 crores), according to a regulatory filing by the Indian company that runs an online marketplace.
Paytm Mall Standalone App Launched for E-commerce Services
Alibaba and its associates are also the largest shareholders in One97 Communications, which has a stake in Paytm E-Commerce. SAIF Partners' $23 million (roughly Rs. 153.6 crores) investment will give it a 4.66 percent stake in Paytm E-Commerce, the filing showed.
Alibaba Group is looking to invest outside China as growth slows at home. In its biggest overseas deal, Alibaba in April agreed to buy a controlling stake in Southeast Asian online retailer Lazada Group for about $1 billion (roughly Rs. 6,680 crores).
Paytm Payments Bank Ltd, another company of the group, houses its electronic payment wallets and planned payments bank business.
Paytm has said its e-wallet service has more than 200 million clients in India.
Disclosure: Paytm's parent company One97 is an investor in Gadgets 360.
© Thomson Reuters 2017
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