Singapore-based e-commerce platform Shopee has announced that it will be wrapping up its operations in India from Tuesday. The online shopping company took the decision to end its Indian presence only six months after beginning its services in the country.
In a public notice on its website, Shopee India said that it will be ceasing operations with effect from March 29, Tuesday.
The online shopping platform assured its clientele that orders placed before the aforementioned date will be fulfilled as usual. After-sale service and support will also continue to be extended to buyers who have made purchases in the past from the platform, it further added.
Shopee is part of the Singapore’s Sea group, which has been under fire in India due to its Chinese connections. The company was founded by Chinese-origin Singaporean Forest Li Xiaodong. Meanwhile, China’s Tencent Holdings has a 18.7% stake in the company.
The decision to close Shopee India’s operations comes within a month of the Indian government’s decision to ban Sea’s popular mobile game title, Free Fire. The game was banned in the country as part of a wider action against apps in February 2022 citing security concerns due to its Chinese links.
Indian traders associations like Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) had alleged that Sea uses Tencent’s cloud servers to store its data. CAIT had also approached Competition Commission of India (CCI) charging Shopee of practising predatory pricing on its site, but the competition watchdog dismissed the matter recently.
This is Shopee’s second exit within a span of months. Earlier this year, Shopee had pulled out of France after making its European debut a short while ago.
The decision to close India operations came as a surprise as Shopee was competing with market leaders Meesho, Flipkart and Amazon India for the lower-end customers. It had even prepared an aggressive strategy with heavy discounts to corner a larger market in the country.