Meesho gets NCLT nod to relocate base to India

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has approved Meesho’s move to shift its headquarters back to India from Delaware in the US, taking it a step closer to its initial public offering (IPO).

This allows Meesho to separate from its US entity and merge back with its Indian company, completing its move back to India. A Moneycontrol report also added that Meesho is likely to pay $288 million in taxes for the reverse flip.

Confirming the development to Entrackr, a Meesho spokesperson said, “This filing is part of our ongoing transition to re-domicile in India. With the majority of our operations, including customers, sellers, creators and Valmo partners already based here, this step aligns our corporate structure with our day-to-day business footprint.”

However, the spokesperson did not comment on the tax amount paid by the company.

Media reports suggest that Meesho has also shortlisted Morgan Stanley, Kotak Mahindra Capital, JP Morgan, and Citi as its bankers and is likely to launch its IPO by the end of this year. Last week, the homegrown e-commerce platform also transitioned into a public entity from a private one ahead of its $1 billion IPO.

Meesho adds to the growing number of Indian startups such as Razorpay, PhonePe, Groww, Pine Labs, and Zepto that have paid hefty taxes to relocate their base back home after originally being incorporated overseas.

While Zepto and Dream11 did not disclose the amount of tax paid for the reverse flip, Razorpay paid $150 million, PhonePe and Groww paid Rs 8,000 crore ($1 billion then) and Rs 1,340 crore ($157 million) in taxes, respectively, to complete the process. Meesho’s rival Flipkart, with an estimated valuation of $36 billion, is also working on relocating its domicile from Singapore to India.