Paytm E-Commerce, the online marketplace arm of One97 Communications is all set to raise $200 million from Chinese e-commerce major Alibaba, along with investment firm SAIF Partners, as per a latest PTI report.
Alibaba Singapore E-Commerce Pvt Ltd will invest $177 million in Paytm E-Commerce Pvt Ltd, the demerged unit of digital payments company, One 97 Communications that operates under Paytm brand. The remaining $23 million will be invested by SAIF Partners. The investment will give Alibaba access to Paytm merchants and logistics partners. Alibaba Singapore E-Commerce will have a shareholding of 36.31%, while SAIF Partners India will own 4.66 % in Paytm e-commerce, post the investment.
Last year, Paytm had split its e-commerce business from its larger payments unit to create two separate entities-Paytm E-Commerce and Paytm Payments Bank Ltd. One97 Communications has three units: Paytm e-commerce, Paytm Payments Bank (payments bank and mobile wallet service) and Paytm Mobile Solutions.
Alibaba has been expected to foray into Indian e-commerce market since last year. If the company enters India it will compete directly with Amazon India and Flipkart. The latest funding news comes only days after Paytm launched a standalone online shopping portal Paytm Mall.