Shopee discontinues operations in India just months after launch

Shopee said it would no longer be operating in India starting March 29. The announcement came as a big surprise as it only began its operations there a few months ago.

It was reported that Sea Ltd., which is controlled by Forrest Li, a Singaporean billionaire, decided to shut down its Shopee India unit as the company merges its e-commerce business after an aggressive global expansion in recent years.

Sea Ltd. is an e-commerce and gaming company, and it revealed its decision to pull out Shopee in India on Monday, March 28. This is said to be its second withdrawal move this month in its overseas expansion drive due to a weak growth outlook.

As per Reuters, the pullout in India is effective starting today, and it follows Shopee's exit from the French market weeks ago. It withdrew in France after Sea's gaming app called "Free Fire" has been banned in the country.

After the ban has been issued, Sea's market value on the NYSE was said to have dipped by $16 billion within just a day. This drop has pushed some investors to clip holdings in the company.

"In view of global market uncertainties, we have decided to close our early-stage Shopee India initiative," Sea stated this week. "During this period of transition, we will focus on supporting our local seller and buyer communities and our local team to make the process as smooth as possible."

Oshadhi Kumarasiri, LightStream Research equity analyst, explained why the businesses are declining like what is happening with Sea. "Due to a drastic shift in the market sentiment towards growth stocks, all these e-commerce companies are under real pressure to at least break even as soon as possible," he said.

Meanwhile, Shopee has posted a notice on its Indian website, and as shared on Live Mint, it informed users that its operations will only be until today. It also told customers that all orders made before the closing date would be fulfilled as usual, as well as after-sales support and services.