Snapdeal is planning to hire 450 engineers by the end of this year in order to strengthen its technology team, Business Standard reported Friday. The confirmation of the company's plan comes from chief technical officer Rajiv Mangla, who said Snapdeal's technology platform is the key to succeed in the e-commerce system.
Snapdeal's hiring decision follows a report in February from sources that the e-commerce giant was planning job cuts by outsourcing customer support services. But Snapdeal later denied the rumours and said some of its employees were offered a performance improvement plan (PIP) to improve efficiency on board.
The e-commerce giant'sspokesperson confirmed the hiring to International Business Times, India, saying the company is indeed planning to add 450 new engineers to its workforce by the end of this year. The spokesperson also said the reports about its employees undergoing a PIP were misconstrued as they being handed pink slips.
The Business Standard report had said Snapdeal plans to hire about 1,600 engineers. The e-commerce platform, which competes with Flipkart and Amazon, has been offering new services like travel booking, automobile sales, food and also integrating its marketplace and online payments. The company launched new platforms to add more value to its business.
"Over the last year, we have received fabulous response to Snaplite and the multilingual platform. We will strengthen our technology team this year and expect to add 450 people to our product and engineering teams," Mangla told Business Standard.
According to a report by the Times of India, Snapdeal has doubled the number of sellers on its platform in the past year. The e-commerce platform is planning to increase its current seller base from 3 lakh to 5 lakh by the end of this year, the publication quoted a senior executive as saying.
Snapdeal has wholeheartedly welcomed the government's decision permitting 100 percent foreign direct investment (FDI) in the marketplace model. Snapdeal would need as many sellers as possible to completely abide by the new guidelines.
"Always a great feeling when you stick to the course that you believe in, pays off: Focusing on a pure marketplace and not doing inventory," Snapdeal CEO Kunal Bahl tweeted Tuesday.
In February, Snapdeal had raised funds worth $200 million in a fresh round, putting the firm's market value at $6.5 billion. Major business groups such as Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, Foxconn Technology Group and SoftBank Corp had invested in the company last year, which was then valued at $5 billion.
