Axis Bank acquires FreeCharge from Snapdeal for Rs. 385 crore
July 27th, 2017
Axis Bank announced the acquisition of Snapdeal-owned mobile payments provider Freecharge in an all-cash deal worth Rs. 385 crore. The deal is subject to regulatory approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the indicative time-frame to complete the acquisition is two months, the private sector lender said in an exchange filing. With this buyout, Axis Bank will get over 50 million customers of Freecharge along with its niche and patented technology and human resources. Founded in 2010 by Mumbai based entrepreneur Kunal Shah, FreeCharge started as a recharge deal coupons platform before turning into a full-scale mobile wallet. Amazon had in fact placed a higher bid for FreeCharge, however the Snapdeal-owned payments platform opted for the Axis Bank offer.