Alibaba is not buying Snapdeal, confirms report

Alibaba, a Chinese e-commerce company that provides consumer-to-consumer, business-to-consumer and business-to-business sales services via web portals is not buying Snapdeal, an e-commerce company, as reported by Reuters.

The reports also suggest that Alibaba was looking to buy Snapdeal for USD 2 billion, ahead of its consumer business foray in India early next year.

Alibaba is an investor in Snapdeal, having led a USD 500 million funding round into the online marketplace along with Foxconn and SoftBank in August last year.

Alibaba also owns 40 percent stake in Paytm, a digital payments and commerce firm.

As reported in October, Paytm is spinning off its marketplace business, setting the stage for Alibaba to establish a direct presence in the country.

Alibaba began setting up its India team early this year, and was also scouting for an India office in Bengaluru. It hired former LocalOye chief business officer Bharati Balakrishnan as the first employee of India unit in June.

In September, Alibaba roped in former McKinsey and Goldman Sachs executive Madhur Deep as senior vice president.

Deep is expected to lead the company's business strategy including market entry, investments and partnerships for both B2B and consumer facing commerce businesses of Alibaba Group in India.