FDI amendment encourages ecommerce companies to consider selling their own brand with foreign investment

Leading ecommerce companies are planning to sell their own brands to take advantage of the FDI modification. In a November 2015 modification, the DIPP has allowed companies that want to sell a single brand to have foreign investment. The press note says that a company seeking to retail a single brand is allowed to sell the products online as well as through a physical store.

With this move, companies can promote their own brands with the backing of foreign investments. Armed with this knowledge, companies like Zivame, Yepme, Urban Ladder and FabAlley are planning to sell only a single brand.

Industry experts are also excited about the possibilities.

“It creates a differentiator, and, second, there are not large brands, so it is a fantastic opportunity for companies like Zivame to capture that space,” says Nitin Chhabra, CEO of Ace Turtle, an ecommerce consultancy.

Companies that will be selling their own brand

Vivek Gaur, Yepme’s CEO confirms,

“Now that full clarity has emerged in single-brand policy, we will certainly look at it.”

Likewise, Shivani Poddar, co-founder of FabAlley says,

“Currently, we are funded by Indian angel investors. As and when we get foreign money, we will definitely apply for single-brand license.”

Zivame is also considering selling only its own branded garments, says a person aware of the situation. What sort of an impact will this have on the online sellers? Luckily Pepperfry, Limeroad and Voonik are not planning to embark on single brand retail for now.