India’s leading online retailer, Flipkart has said that it has acquired a smaller firm in the sector, Letsbuy in a cash and stock deal.

The company did not announce the amount for the acquisition. According to estimates, the deal might be worth close to $20 million. Letsbuy offers consumer electronic goods to customers in India. The company was facing problems in raising money and had to enter into a deal with a company to raise money.

Flipkart's cofounder and chief executive officer Sachin Bansal said in a company statement that the opportunity to acquire Letsbuy presented itself at an ideal time and the pricing was also right for the company.

Letsbuy and Flipkart both have Tiger Global and Accel Partners as investors and they ofen propose such mergers as it is more beneficial to them.

Online retailers in the country are aiming to consolidate their positions in the market before the government gives a go ahead to foreign direct investment in multi-brand retail in India.

World’s largest online retailer, Amazon has already expanded its presence in the country. Amazon. com is entering the Indian market with the launch of its Junglee. com for customers in the country. Junglee will allow customers to find products that are offered by online as well as offline retailers in the country as well as from Amazon. com. The Junglee. com service is currently in its bet stage.