Alibaba increases stake in Indian mobile commerce network
(30 September 2015 – India) Alibaba, China’s e-commerce powerhouse, Alibaba has increased its stake in Indian mobile commerce network Paytm, through its financial services arm Ant Financial.
The investment increases the Chinese firms stake to 40 percent. It is understood that Alibaba spent approximately US$680 million (A$969 million) for a 20 percent interest in the subsidiary. This follows a February deal where Ant Financial paid $575 million for 25 percent.
“Ant Financial has worked seamlessly with Paytm in the past few months and our technical teams have developed significant improvements on the user experience for Indian consumers,” said Eric Jing, president of Ant Financial.
“Ant Financial and Paytm will collaborate to capture mobile payment opportunities in India. We believe that Paytm, as a leader in this field, is best equipped to build a mobile payment ecosystem in the country.”
Paytm recently passed 100 million mobile wallet users who execute over 75 million transactions each month. The company aims to bring half a billion Indians into the mainstream economy.
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