BENGALURU: Singapore-based e-commerce firm Shopee, part of the Sea group, which launched its operations six months ago, will leave the Indian market.
The company said in a statement that this decision is considering global market uncertainties.
"In view of global market uncertainties, we have decided to close our early-stage Shopee India initiative. 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," it said.
For a few months now, the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has been saying that Shopee is operating in India against FEMA Rules and FDI Press Note of 2020, and that it is a Chinese e-commerce company.
Shopee employs close to 300 staff and has onboarded over 20,000 local sellers in India.
On Shopee's withdrawal, CAIT Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal said, "All companies violating Sovereign Indian laws and breaching data privacy shall meet the same fate."
CAIT has been demanding action against the e-commerce firm. Last month, the Sea group's popular game Free Fire was banned in India, and employees of Shopee were quite surprised with the new announcement.
Shopee competes with e-commerce firms like Flipkart, Meesho and Amazon. It had aggressive plans for the country and many products on Shopee were sold at low prices.
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