Flipkart buys Myntra, to invest $100mn in fashion biz says Sachin Karpe

May 23, 2014 - PRLog -- Marking the biggest consolidation in the e-commerce space in India, homegrown e-retailer Flipkart has acquired online fashion retailer Myntra in an estimated Rs 2,000 crore deal. While the companies did not disclose the deal size, sources suggest the deal could be worth about Rs 2,000 crore says Sachin Karpe.

According to Sachin Bansal, co-founder of Bangalore-based Flipkart it is a 100 percent acquisition and there are many plans to look forward to. Flipkart and Myntra are getting together to create one of the largest e-commerce stories and together they will dominate the market. They believe that they want to be leaders in every segment and fashion is a category of the future, this acquisition will help to become leaders in this category. Flipkart will invest USD 100 million (around Rs 600 crore) in its fashion business in the near-term. Flipkart, which started in 2007 as an online bookstore, sells products across categories, including fashion and electronics. It also sells white goods and furniture. The move is expected to help Flipkart strengthen its apparel portfolio and compete more aggressively with peers like Amazon and Snapdeal. Myntra will continue to operate as a separate entity with its co-founder and CEO Mukesh Bansal joining Flipkart board and heading the fashion business says Sachin Karpe.

The CEO says it was very essential to keep Myntra a separate entity and preserve its culture. India’s e-commerce market has seen huge growth in the past few years as more people log on to the Internet to shop. While apparel and electronics are bestsellers for most e-commerce firms, categories such as home decor and household items are also popular. The industry, estimated to be worth about USD 3 billion currently, has firms such as Snapdeal, eBay and Amazon which follow the marketplace model. Flipkart, which also operates under the marketplace model allowing retailers to offer products on its platform, has since its inception raised over USD 500 million from investors. Led by increasing Internet penetration and youngsters shopping online, Flipkart’s annualized sales crossed USD 1 billion (over Rs 6,100 crore) a year ahead of target. It had estimated to reach the billion dollar mark for gross merchandise value by 2015. Co-Founder of Flipkart Sachin Bansal, got Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2012-2013 from Economic Times, leading Indian Economic Daily. Flipkart.com was awarded Young Turk of the Year at CNBC TV 18's 'India Business Leader Awards 2012' (IBLA). Flipkart.com- got Nominated for IndiaMART Leaders of Tomorrow Awards 2011.

To know more about Sachin Karpe kindly visit his homepage http://sachinkarpe.net or follow him at Facebook fanpage https://www.facebook.com/FinancialAdviser.SachinKarpe