Meesho Is Officially Back in India
Yes, you read it right; Meesho is back in India. To clarify, the e-commerce platform never left the country in terms of operations, but now, it’s officially and legally an Indian company. In a significant development, Meesho Inc., the Delaware-based holding entity, has merged with its Indian subsidiary, a move recently approved by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), Bengaluru bench.
The merger marks a strategic homecoming for Meesho, which had initially moved its parent entity overseas in 2017 to align with early investor Y Combinator’s requirement for U.S. incorporation, primarily to ease access to global capital. The shift back home reflects Meesho’s long-term commitment to India’s maturing tech ecosystem, as India’s capital markets heat up and more startups go public locally.
The company’s Indian unit, formerly Fashnear Technologies Private Limited, has been renamed Meesho Private Limited, as per a certificate issued by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs on May 13. The NCLT gave its final nod to the merger on May 27, classifying the transaction as a “merger involving a foreign company”.
To complete this redomiciling exercise, Meesho is expected to shell out a whopping ₹2,461 crore ($288 million) in taxes, one of the largest payouts by any Indian startup in recent memory, second only to PhonePe’s billion-dollar tax bill during its shift from Singapore.
With the merger done and dusted, Meesho is setting the stage for its much-anticipated IPO. The company recently passed a board resolution to convert into a public limited company and approved the issuance of over 411 crore bonus shares in a 47:1 ratio to existing shareholders. Citigroup, Kotak Mahindra Capital, and Morgan Stanley have been roped in to manage the public offering, which is expected to raise $700–800 million.
Among Meesho’s top investors are Elevation Capital, Peak XV Partners, and Prosus Ventures, each holding between 13 and 15%, while SoftBank holds close to 10%. Now that Meesho has completed its legal homecoming, it is set to make a bold entry into India’s public markets as a truly and wholly Indian company.
