Alibaba may up its stake in Indian e-commerce firm Paytm

According to unnamed sources, in April China's Alibaba Group will favourably consider raising its stake in Paytm, India's e-commerce and mobile wallet company that is valued at $3.4bn. Currently, the Chinese e-commerce company, along with affiliate Ant Financial, holds around 40%, making it the largest stakeholder.

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In what could extend its presence in India's domestic e-commerce and digital wallet space, China's Alibaba Group is looking to raise its stake in e-commerce and mobile wallet firm Paytm, according to industry sources in the know.

A source, who did not want to be named, said the Chinese firm would be taking a decision in this regard at the company's Board meeting at its headquarter in Hangzhou in the third week of April.

"They (Alibaba Group) are very keen on hiking their stake in Paytm. A board meeting to be held in the third week of April at its headquarters in Hangzhou will discuss this extensively and a decision on it will be taken," said the source.

Officials at Paytm were not available for a comment.

China's Alibaba Group and affiliate Ant Financial, which runs the mobile wallet firm Ali Pay in China, are the largest stakeholder of One97 Communication, which operates Paytm.

The Chinese e-commerce major became the largest shareholder through its investment of $680 million in September last year. Before that, Ant Financial had made the first round of investment in February.

As per the current shareholding pattern of One97 Communication, Alibaba's direct stake is 20% and through Ant, it has another over 20% while SAIF Partners has 30% and promoter Vijay Shekhar Sharma holds 21%. The other investors include SAP Ventures, Reliance Capital, Silcon Valley Bank and others.

The last round of funding raised by Paytm valued it at $3.4 billion.

The Jack Ma-promoted Chinese e-commerce and online payment major has also invested in Snapdeal and is aggressively pursuing its interest in the Indian e-tailing space.

Competition in the digital wallet and e-commerce sector is getting fierce with every player looking to expand its market share. In their bid to corner a higher chunk of the e-commerce market, they are considering both organic and inorganic strategies.

For instance, major Indian player Flipkart is said to be reportedly in the market scouting for a buyer. According to the market speculation, US-based Amazon is keen to take over the domestic e-commerce firm to extend its footprint in India. Flipkart, however, has denied such rumours.

Amazon is trying to surge ahead through every mean. In the latest development, it is said to have applied to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for a semi-closed payment wallet.

The market is also abuzz with speculation that Flipkart has also approached Alibaba with its talks with Amazon not making much headway and falling through due to differences in valuation. If the Chinese buys out the largest Indian e-commerce and logistic firm, then it will become a dominant player in the Indian market.