In what many are terming as a significant change in Alibaba’s investment strategy in India, the Chinese conglomerate has exited Paytm, selling off its remaining stake.

Offloading 21.43 million shares in Paytm’s operator One97 Communications, the Chinese group conducted a transaction worth $166 million (Rs 13.7 billion). Each share was priced at Rs 642.74.

Since November 2021, Paytm share prices have been down almost 60 per cent. In January 2023, Alibaba offloaded 19.2 million shares.

In 2022, Alibaba exited Paytm’s online shopping app, Paytm Mall, as reported in Asia Nikkei. However, Alibaba’s fintech affiliate continues to hold a 25 per cent-odd share in Paytm, remaining a majority shareholder.

Chinese investments have been under the scanner since the Galwan clash and pandemic.

Along with banning several Chinese apps, the government had also regulated investment proposals from the Himalayan neighbour to ensure no strategic takeovers took place in critical sectors. Several Indian startups were also backed by Chinese groups in the past.

According to the data compiled by the American Enterprise Institute, Chinese firms have had significant stakes in Zomato, Swiggy, One97-the parent company of Paytm, BigBasket, Snapdeal, Paytm Mall and Ola.

China’s love for Indian startups can be gauged by the increased investments which rose from a mere $459 million in 2016 to around $3.9 billion in 2019.

However, things have changed post-Galwan. For the quarter ending in June of 2021, Indian startups raised more than $7 billion across 336 funding rounds.

However, the Chinese investors participated in only ten rounds, resulting in an investment of around $750 million, while US investors trusted Indian startups with more than $5.7 billion across more than 100 rounds.

In all four quarters of pandemic-cursed 2020, Chinese tech investments in India were less than the total investment in Q4 of 2019 alone.

In Q4 of 2020, Chinese investments hit an all-time low, registering the lowest numbers since Q4 of 2016. With Alibaba exiting Paytm, the markets will be closely tracking other Chinese groups and their investments in Indian companies.

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