Flipkart is reportedly acquiring eBay’s India business

India’s largest online retailer Flipkart is in talks to acquire eBay’s domestic business, according to a report from Factor Daily . The deal is said to be structured as part of Flipkart’s ongoing$ 2 billion fundraising.

The Bangalore-based corporation is discovered to be strengthening its arsenal to wage a conflict with Amazon that might soon define India’s $15 billion e-commerce sector.

EBay, which debuted in India in 2004, three years before Flipkart and almost a decade before Amazon, could never quite crack the market.

Currently, it ranks sixth in the pecking order of e-commerce firms after Flipkart, Amazon, Shopclues, Paytm and Snapdeal. Incidentally, eBay is a minority investor in Snapdeal and has stimulated failed attempts in the past to acquire the Gurgaon-based firm.

In November 2016, eBay burnt its entire product and tech squad in India, except 15 officials, who were reportedly being moved to the U.S.

Mashable reached out to Flipkart and eBay for comment.

EBay does not comment on market suppositions, ” an eBay India spokesperson said.

Flipkart in March closed in on a $ 1 billion funding at a its evaluation of $10 billion, with backers that included Microsoft, Chinese giant Tencent and eBay itself.

The poster child of India’s startup ecosystem has been in advanced talks with multiple investors for fresh capital after talks with American retail giant Walmart for a$ 1 billion infusion fell through last year.

The company has had 13 rounds of fund infusion since early 2009. Late last year Morgan Stanley had slashed its valuation by over$ 5 billion as loss mounted and handling reshuffles continued to haunt the company.

Amazon, meanwhile, continues to take giant strides in the market, growing its shipments by over 150 percent, and narrowing the market-share gap with Flipkart.

India’s startup commentators don’t seem too positive about the Flipkart-eBay merger.

One of them writes: “Culturally, the two companies are totally different. eBay is a pure play marketplace, while Flipkart is a forced marketplace due to funding arrangement … Its just different DNA.”

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