Snapdeal, Ola Bag $627 and $210 Million Respectively As SoftBank Pumps $10Bn Into India

The Japanese telecom giant SoftBank will pump cash worth $627 million in e-commerce company Snapdeal, and $210 million in Ola (formerly known as Olacabs). These investments are part of $10-billion earmarked by SoftBank to pump into India’s rapidly growing e-commerce, telecom and aviation industries.

The Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Japanese telecommunications and Internet firm SoftBank Corporation, Masayoshi Son, made this announcement earlier in the day.

“Since SoftBank’s foundation, our mission has been to contribute to people’s lives through the Information Revolution. We believe India is at a turning point in its development and have confidence that India will grow strongly over the next decade. As part of this belief, we intend to deploy significant capital in India over the next few years to support development of the market,” Masayoshi Son, founder and CEO of SoftBank, said while announcing the investment.

A major portion of these funds will go into emerging markets and the e-commerce industry will get a boost. Nikesh Arora, vice-chairman of SoftBank, said, “India has the third largest Internet user base in the world, but a relatively small online market currently. This situation means India has, with better, faster and cheaper Internet access, a big growth potential. We want to support the leaders and entrepreneurs of the digital future.”