India’s Snapdeal raises $500m from global investors

FIH Mobile, a subsidiary of Taiwanese contract manufacturer Hon Hai Precision Industry (Foxconn), announced Tuesday a US$200 million investment in Jasper Infotech, the owner and operator of India’s leading online retail platform Snapdeal.

The Reuters report cited sources familiar with the negotiations as saying that the three have been discussing the possibility of investing US$3 billion to manufacture solar cells and panels in India.

Foxconn, meanwhile, said its Snapdeal investment will help the former gain “insights, knowledge and expertise” on a fast-growing market. However, eBay continued to carry a big 9% stake, which it’s going to now additional scale back throughout closure of Snapdeal’s subsequent spherical.

FIH General Director Tong Wen-xin said, “We are pleased to be able to invest in Snapdeal, and through this investment we will pursue our vision of “Digital India”.

According to Snapdeal, existing investors Temasek, BlackRock, Myriad and Premji Invest have also participated in the funding round. With over 150,000 sellers on its platform and more than 15 million products, Snapdeal now reaches over 5,000 cities and towns across the country. Ltd. for about $50 million, as reported previously.

Snapdeal, which models itself as the Indian version of Alibaba, did not break out on individual investments.

The firm had raised greater than $ 1 billion, from buyers together with Softbank ($ 627 million) and iconic enterprise chief Ratan Tata (private funding). Significantly, most of the online marketplace companies’ majority of the transactions was smartphones, as well as, mobile devices. Companies such as eBay and Amazon are not restricted to Indian markets only; therefore, an interesting comparison in the companies’ performance could be made by looking at the seasonal trends. The nation is the third largest smartphone market following China and the United States.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government expects clean energy to yield business worth $160 billion in India in the next five years, based on the country’s power generation targets.