Snapdeal to offer hike to employees amid acquisition buzz: Says sources

According to sources, it is said that the E-commerce giant Snapdeal is all set to dole out standard pay hike of 12-15% . The step is said to be an assurance for its employees in the middle of the online marketplace opting for a potential buyer.

If sources are to be believed, it is assumed that the pay review will be effectual from April 1 and salaries of employees at the mid and junior-level go up by an average 12-15%. The percentage of hike for senior management will be between 9-12%, but the company is also planning to offer 20-25% lift to outstanding players, they added.

The good hike decision is coming at a time when Snapdeal's largest investor SoftBank is supposed to be functioning towards the sale of the e-commerce platform and all were waiting for the final decision which was expected to be made in the next few weeks. There is a buzz that the top contender for the acquisition is Flipkart, which has recently received a funding of $1.4 billion.

According to sources, the Softbank is also in talks with Kalaari Capital and Nexus Venture Partners, who have illustrations on the board of Snapdeal, to reach an agreement on evaluation. Snapdeal's seven-member board comprises representation from investors SoftBank, Kalaari Capital and Nexus Venture Partners, as well as co-founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal.

Having about 3,000 people in its e-commerce operations, the company also has mobile wallet (FreeCharge) and logistics (Vulcan) operations. The sources said about 3,000 of Snapdeal's current and ex-employees hold 5-6% of the company stock in the form of Employee stock options ( ESOPs).

Further, there are widespread speculations that Alibaba-backed Paytm can also be one of the latent buyers. As Alibaba is also a shareholder in Snapdeal. But so far, no comments are given regarding the speculations of sale by two giants Snapdeal and SoftBank.