Flipkart had offered about $950 million for Snapdeal. The Indian companies face a growing threat from Amazon.

(Bloomberg)—Snapdeal has rejected an acquisition bid from rival Flipkart Online Services Pvt, saying it will compete alone in India’s e-commerce market.

Snapdeal, which said it will sell off some non-core assets, is set to post a gross profit for July, the startup said this week in an emailed statement.

SoftBank Group Corp., which has almost a third of Snapdeal shares, and Tiger Global Management, which holds a substantial stake in Flipkart, had been pushing the two competitors to merge so they can create a stronger local company to fend off Amazon.com Inc. SoftBank abandoned the effort after trying to negotiate the deal, said people with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be identified because the talks were private.

“We respect the decision to pursue an independent strategy,” SoftBank said in a statement. “We look forward to the results of the Snapdeal 2.0 strategy, and to remaining invested in the vibrant Indian e-commerce space.”

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Flipkart is No. 76 in the Internet Retailer 2016 Asia 500, Snapdeal is No. 176 and Amazon is No. 1 in the Internet Retailer 2017 Top 500 and No. 4 in the Asia 500.

In fact, SoftBank Vision Fund is looking at putting between $1.5 billion and $2 billion into Flipkart, the largest Indian e-commerce operator, within the next two months, said one of the people close to the matter, asking to not be identified as the discussions are private. About half the money would go to Tiger Global Management, which wants to sell part of its Flipkart stake, while the rest of the funds would go to Flipkart, the person said.

Flipkart had offered about $950 million, but Snapdeal co-founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal, as well as other board members, had been at odds on how to proceed, people with knowledge of the discussions said last week. Snapdeal and Flipkart have a history of animosity born from years of competing as the two largest local players in India’s expanding e-commerce market. Jasper Infotech Pvt owns the Snapdeal brand.

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“Snapdeal has been exploring strategic options over the last several months,” the company said in a statement. “The company has now decided to pursue an independent path and is terminating all strategic discussions as a result.”

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