Growth regimen: Snapdeal plans US listing, own payment gateway

Following the footsteps of Flipkart, online marketplace Snapdeal is launching its own payment gateway in order to make transactions easier.

According to an Economic Times report, Snapdeal is launching a payment gateway that will authorise credit card payments and process them securely through a user's bank account.

Apart from saving credit card information, billing and shipping details of the customer, Snapdeal's payment gateway will also incorporate analytics relating to the buyers' specific choices.

[caption id="attachment_106935" align="alignright" width="380"] Snapdeal is launching its own payment gateway in order to make transactions easier.[/caption]

Kunal Bahl, co-founder and chief executive of Snapdeal told ET,"In our business, the core marketplace is the king, the logistics platform the queen, while the payments platform is the jack. We need to get this entire stack in place ."

Meanwhile, eyeing to raise more funds to fuel its expansion, Snapdeal is also looking at listing on the US bourses in the next two years.

More from Business

"We are talking to our lawyers on how to go about this (overseas listing). We are looking at the US market as it is better exposed to investors and technology-driven firms have received a good response there," Bahl told PTI.

Earlier this year, the Government allowed unlisted Indian companies to raise capital overseas without prior or subsequent listing in India for an initial period for two years.

Prior to this, unlisted companies were required to either list in the domestic market before or simultaneously while seeking to issue such overseas instruments.

"Listing allows access to easy liquidity and one has the option of raising more money for growth. Staying unlisted, on the other hand, has its own benefits," Bahl said.

Asked on the timeline, he said the company is discussing the prospects and aims to be listed in the next 12-24 months.

"The provision is currently for two years itself. We do not know whether that will be extended or not. So, we plan to get the listing done in the next 12-24 months itself," he said.

Other Indian companies listed on US bourses include MakeMyTrip, Infosys and Wipro among others.

On the amount of funds the firm expects to raise from the listing, Bahl said the company is yet to decide the amount.

Launched in February 2010, Snapdeal has seen rapid growth in the last three years and claims to have over 20 million members.

It offers products across over 500 product categories through 20,000 sellers and delivers to more than 4,000 cities in the country.

With a headcount of over 1,000 people, Snapdeal is backed by global investors like eBay Inc, Intel Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, Nexus Venture Partners and IndoUS Venture Partners.

With inputs from PTI