Axis Bank, the third-largest private sector lender, is set to acquire payment application FreeCharge from Snapdeal. The deal, pegged at ₹350 crore-₹400 crore, is likely to be announced on Thursday, people familiar with the development said.
Axis Bank — the third-largest private sector lender in the country — is set to acquire payment application FreeCharge from c, an online shopping platform.
The deal, pegged at ₹350 crore-400 crore, is likely to be announced on Thursday, people familiar with the development said.
FreeCharge has been in talks with several other players in recent times, including rival Paytm, owned by One97 Communications, but the tech-savvy private sector lender was able to snap up the payment vendor amid stiff competition. Media reports had also suggested online player Amazon had been in talks to acquire the digital wallet service provider.
The deal will give Axis Bank the ammunition to take on its rivals like HDFC Bank and State Bank of India who have become aggressive in the digital payments space. Axis Bank also has its own wallet, PayGo, but it remains to be seen if the lender chooses to retain the latter brand name post the acquisition.
Snapdeal acquired FreeCharge in 2015 for about ₹2,500 crore in a cash-and-stock deal. Now, Snapdeal is also considering a proposal to be acquired by its rival Flipkart for up to $950 million.
Axis Bank and FreeCharge officials were not available for comment.
On Wednesday, Axis Bank reported a 16% decline in net profit to ₹1,306 crore for the quarter ended June 30, as provisioning for non-performing assets stayed elevated though fresh slippages declined.
