Snapdeal Initiates Legal Action Against Quickdel Logistics; Sends A Legal Notice

The legal battle between Anand Rai’s logistics firm Quickdel Logistics and ecommerce company Snapdeal seems to be getting more fiercer with every passing day. In response to the recently filed complaints by Quickdel, Snapdeal has finally sent a legal notice to the company to withdraw its claims against the ecommerce firm.

As per media reports, the notice sent to Quickdel mentions, “Withdraw the notice dated October 4, 2017, within three working days, failing which it will take all necessary steps to initiate all available civil and criminal remedies against Quickdel and its senior management.”

On October 4, 2017, Quickdel had sent a legal notice worth $45.8 Mn (INR 300 Cr) to the ecommerce firm founders, Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal, and parent company, Jasper Infotech for criminal breach of trust against GoJavas which resulted in the erosion of the value of Quickdel.

On October 25, 2017, Quickdel again filed a fresh complaint against the ecommerce firm and its logistics subsidiary Vulcan Express. This time Anand Rai again accused the company founders of criminal breach of trust, cheating, intellectual property theft, theft of trade secrets and data and misappropriation of funds, among others.

On both these events, a Snapdeal spokesperson called these allegations baseless, an uninformed and frivolous attempt at extortion. Snapdeal also threatened Quickdel to take legal action against its (said to be) false allegations.

An email sent to Snapdeal did not elicit any response till the time of publication.

In 2015, Snapdeal had entered into a strategic partnership with the logistics startup Quickdel Logistics, the parent firm of GoJavas. Between 2015 and 2016, the ecommerce firm invested $35 Mn (INR 237 Cr) in GoJavas. The latter suffered another setback in business after Jabong, one of GoJavas’ major clients was sold to Flipkart in July 2016. Snapdeal and Jabong together accounted for more than 80% of GoJavas’ business. Anand Rai-led Pigeon Express later took over Snapdeal’s stake in GoJavas.

The ecommerce firm is already going through a rough phase after revoking the merger deal with Flipkart and is working to launch its pivoted business model Snapdeal 2.0. Its another subsidiary Unicommerce is also undergoing legal battle with Paytm Mall against data misuse, while logistics firm Vulcan Express is on verge of a distressed sale.

Earlier Anand Rai had suggested a chance for out of the court settlement between Snapdeal and Quickdel Logistics. However, with Snapdeal also taking the legal route, the possibilities seem very less now. In its legal notice, Snapdeal has given Quickdel three days time to withdraw its notice. But on what evidence both the companies are fighting this battle is still not clear. Thus, it’s difficult to ascertain on whose court the ball will finally fall into. All we could do is wait and watch.

(The development was reported by TOI)