Amazon makes late bid for Snapdeal-owned FreeCharge

By

Isabelle Crossley

Published
Jul 26, 2017

As FreeCharge, the digital payments platform owned by the struggling e-commerce marketplace Snapdeal, is up for purchase, Amazon joins the bidding with a late offer.

Bidding for FreeCharge has been ongoing and Axis Bank, India’s third largest private sector lender, has reportedly put in a bid of approximately 400 to 430 crore rupees (around 60 to 65 million dollars) to acquire the company. Axis Bank is currently the favourite to acquire FreeCharge according to the Economic Times of India and the question is whether or not Amazon’s late bid will change this. Other companies that have made bids for FreeCharge include Paytm which made an offer of 67 crore rupees (approximately ten million dollars) and telecom operator Bharti Airtel’s mobile wallet Airtel Money.

Amazon has reportedly put in a bid for FreeCharge of something between 466 crore and 532 crore rupees (approximately 70 to 80 million dollars). A term sheet was signed by Jasper Infotech, the Seattle based e-commerce conglomerate that both owns and operates Snapdeal and FreeCharge. However, the business is keeping their negotiations private at the moment and an Amazon spokesperson said, “We don’t comment on rumours and speculations.”

Snapdeal is currently low on funds and the hope is that the sale of FreeCharge will give them the cash they need to potentially continue as a stand-alone business. If Amazon do acquire FreeCharge, it is believed that they will incorporate it into their existing payment entity, Amazon Pay. Amazon recently invested 130 crore rupees (around 20 million dollars) into Amazon Pay India according to filings made at the Registrar of Companies and so the business is pushing forward with its own payment platform for its own e-commerce site.