Axis Bank completes FreeCharge acquisition; Sangram Singh is the new CEO

Axis Bank has completed the acquisition of mobile wallet firm FreeCharge and appointed Sangram Singh as its CEO.

“Pursuant to the receipt of approval for the said transaction from the Reserve Bank of India, the bank has completed the acquisition of FreeCharge for a cash consideration of Rs 373.27 crore, on a cash free, debt free basis,” Axis Bank said in a regulatory filing to stock exchanges.

Founded in 2010 by Sandeep Tandon and Kunal Shah, FreeCharge was acquired by Snapdeal for a reported $450 million, in April 2015. But with Snapdeal's dwindling fortunes against the onslaught from rivals like Flipkart and Amazon, FreeCharge, too had to bear the brunt. A number of key members of the core team at FreeCharge quit, including Alok Goel, Rajesh Bysani and Pravin Jadhav. Then Govind Rajan, who took over as the CEO of FreeCharge in May 2016, quit less than a year later in February 2017.

Axis Bank had announced the plans to acquire FreeCharge in July subject to receipt of requisite regulatory approvals. The bank said that the acquisition will double the customer base of the bank and leapfrog its digital journey by multiple years. FreeCharge presently has a revenue of about Rs 80 crore.