Shopee to shut down India operations tomorrow. Read its message to buyers

The withdrawal, effective Tuesday, comes weeks after its e-commerce arm Shopee said it was pulling out of France and after India banned C’s popular gaming app “Free Fire”.

Following the ban, the New York-listed C’s market value fell by $16 billion in a single day, causing some investors to cut their stake in the Singapore-headquartered company.

Shopee said in a statement that its withdrawal has come “in light of the uncertainties of the global market” and that the company will “make this process as smooth as possible”.

Here’s its message to shoppers

Dear Shopee User,

We regret to inform you that the Shopee India Platform will cease operations with effect from March 29, 12.00 AM (IST).

Rest assured that all orders placed prior to this date will continue to be fulfilled as usual, and after-sales services and support will be available to all users who have made purchases on our Platform. If you have any queries, please contact help@support.shopee.in.

We thank you all for your support. It is a pleasure to serve you.

Sincerely, Shopee India Team

C said earlier this month that revenue growth for its e-commerce business is expected to be around 76% this year, up from 157% in 2021, amid lower online shopping and engagements as more countries emerge from the pandemic. .

Oshadhi Kumarasiri, Lightstream Research Equity Analyst, who publishes on SmartKarma Platform, said, “Due to the drastic change in market sentiment towards growth stocks, all these e-commerce companies are under pressure to break out, at least as soon as possible.”

Shares of Si had already fallen 11% in January, when Chinese tech giant Tencent announced it was selling 14.5 million shares in the conglomerate.

Shopee’s India Business

Shopee’s India business began in October 2021 as part of an aggressive international push, which saw it expand into Europe. C’s market cap at the time was as high as $200 billion. This has come down to $64.76 billion in March 2022.

The local entity, Shopee India, recruited local sellers and launched a shopping website and app. India’s fast-growing e-commerce market was already dominated by players such as Amazon.com Inc. and Walmart’s Flipkart.

A person with direct knowledge of the company’s thinking said that Shopee’s decision to pull out of India was sparked by a stringent regulatory scrutiny over companies allegedly sending data to CK gaming app Free Fire to servers in China. As part of the action was banned.

C had said earlier in March that it does not transfer or store data of Indian users in China.

The person said that Shopee was planning to invest up to $1 billion in India, and that the pullback would hurt Indian logistics firms with which it had signed lucrative contracts.

Reuters reported in February, citing sources, that Singaporean authorities had raised concerns with India about the ban and asked why Si was targeted.

E-commerce companies in India face a strict regulatory environment. New Delhi has imposed restrictions for years to protect small brick-and-mortar retailers.

Offline retailers in India have often alleged that foreign companies flout rules and offer huge discounts that hurt their business, a charge the companies denies. Shopee had faced calls in recent months to boycott such traders in India.

Shares were down 5.84% at $116.12 in premarket US trading.

This story has been published without modification in text from a wire agency feed. Only the title has been changed.