Ratan Tata Invests in Snapdeal, Picks Up Small Stake

Former Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata has picked up a small stake in Snapdeal as the homegrown online marketplace aims to scale the $2 billion gross merchandise value (GMV) milestone by March next year.

The city-headquartered firm today said that Tata, who is now Chairman Emeritus of Tata Sons, has made a "personal investment" in the company.

Snapdeal co-founder and CEO Kunal Bahl told PTI: "Mr Tata has invested in his personal capacity. He has an immense stature and me and my team can learn a lot from him."

Bahl, however, declined to comment on the investment details.

Asked about the road map ahead, he said: "We reached the $1 billion GMV in two-and-a-half years, the shortest by a company in this space. Going ahead, we are confident of reaching the $2 billion milestone by March 2016."

The only other company in India to have crossed the $1 billion GMV or annualised sales run rate is its homegrown rival Flipkart.

Another noted industrialist and IT czar Azim Premji has also invested in the firm through Premji Invest.

Snapdeal had raised $100 million (about Rs. 600 crore) in May from Temasek, BlackRock Inc, Myriad, Premji Invest and Tybourne, while in February, it had received funding worth $133.7 million (about Rs. 830 crore) from its existing investors, eBay and others.

Snapdeal, which has raised about $400 million since its inception, has invested about $100 million in logistics and operations to expand its presence in the $3 billion Indian e-commerce market.

The e-commerce entity currently houses over 5 million products across 500 diverse categories from over 50,000 seller and has about 25 million registered users.

A report by consulting firm Technopak pegs the $2.3 billion e-tailing market to reach $32 billion by 2020.

Snapdeal rival Flipkart on July 29 announced a $1 billion funding, which is the largest in the fledgling e-commerce sector. A day later, world's largest e-tailer Amazon said it will pump in $2 billion to bolster business in India.

Another report by consultancy firm PwC and industry body Assocham suggests that e-commerce firms are expected to spend up to $1.9 billion by 2017-2020 on infrastructure, logistics and warehousing.