Shopee Withdrawing from India’s Retail Market

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Shopee Withdrawing from India’s Retail Market
29 Mar 2022
6 min read

News Synopsis

E-commerce and gaming company Sea Ltd has announced on Monday that it will withdraw from the Indian retail market just months after its opening. This is the withdrawal from the second overseas expansion bid this month as the deficit companies are facing weak growth prospects.

The withdrawal comes after its e-commerce arm Shopee said it was pulling out of France and after India banned Sea’s popular gaming application, Free Fire. 

The market capital value of Sea ltd dropped by $16 billion just a day after the ban was announced. It also caused some of the investors to cut holdings in the Singapore-headquartered company. 

Shopee started operating in India in October 2021 as part of an aggressive international push. The market capital value of Sea ltd at the time was as much as $200 billion and has dropped down to $64.78 billion in March 2022. 

The local unit, Shopee India, recruited local sellers and launched a shopping site and app. Indian high-speed green e-commerce markets are already dominated by Amazon and Walmart’s Flipkart.

E-commerce traders face strict regulatory surroundings in India. New Delhi has for years imposed regulations to shield smaller brick-and-mortar outlets. Offline outlets in India have regularly alleged overseas groups pass guidelines and provide deep reductions that harm their business, allegations the groups deny. Shopee had in current months received boycott calls from such traders in India.

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