Japanese telecom giant Softbank is set to invest a whopping $10 billion (₹ 60,000 crore) in India's IT and telecom sectors, of which, it will invest $627 million (about ₹ 3,762 crore) in e-tailer Snapdeal.
This would amount to the largest investment by a single investor in an e-commerce company in India, according to Press Trust of India. Softbank had invested $20 million in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba in 2000.
The chairman of Softbank, Masayoshi Son, is the richest man in Japan. During his meeting with communications and IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, Son said that "India was the top most priority for Softbank", as reported by The Times of India.
Softbank is also reportedly going to invest $180 million in Olacabs, a start-up firm that allows booking of taxis.
"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," Son said on Monday, as reported by PTI.
For Snapdeal, this is yet another major investment, and it has raised $1 billion this year.
"These investments stand testimony to confidence displayed by investors in the company's pure marketplace model and are in line with Snapdeal.com's growth strategy and vision to create life changing experiences for one million businesses in India," Snapdeal said in a press release.
