The poster boy of Indian ecommerce industry, FlipKart.com has gone a step further to soon launch a marketplace. A sign-in page has already gone live inviting external sellers to list their products on the website. The page is presently linked to FlipKart’s parent website. Once the marketplace goes live, the company will be competing with the likes of SnapDeal and EBay.

Elaborating on the development, CEO of the company, Sachin Bansal told Medianama, “There is no launch plan defined for the FlipkKart Marketplace. This is part of something new. We are inviting people to register with us at this site. There is no launch plan. It’s one of the many initiatives that we’re launching at FlipKart.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is to be noted that presently Foreign Direct Investment in an ecommerce business is not allowed in India yet, but marketplaces, which merely act as a space for sellers to find buyers for the products that they are supplying, and which don’t retail their own goods, can take foreign direct investment.

Recently, FlipKart’s CFO resigned citing personal reasons. The company is reportedly being probed for FDI norms violation, although Flipkart had denied.