Shopclues' Sandeep Aggarwal says he wants 'justice'

In FY16, it suffered a loss of Rs 383.05 crore, compared to Rs 101.37 crore the previous year

The fight for control of Shopclues, involving its founder Sandeep Aggarwal and his former wife and co-founder Radhika, has spilled over into the public domain.

Sandeep holds about 20-25 per cent stake in the e-commerce company, which was valued at over $1 billion last year, sources said. He is also the founder and chief executive officer of used-car marketplace Droom.

Sandeep, who is in Hong Kong, told Business Standard by phone that he had not yet decided what would he do with his shareholding in the company, and reiterated that all he wanted was ‘justice’.  “What Bill Gates is to Microsoft, I am to Shopclues. I have been wronged, and I want justice. I have not thought about my share. I will sell it if I do not see an upside. My masterpiece is Droom, which I believe would be a $25-billion company, not Shopclues,” he said.

According to sources at Shopclues, the board of directors is looking at various options, including buying out his stake in the company. 

“The company is shocked at the situation. However, the board is more concerned about the business. If the board thinks that buying Sandeep’s stake would help the company, then it might happen as well,” said a senior executive.

In the last one year, since the problems erupted between the couple, the company has not done well. 

In the financial year ended March 31, 2016, it suffered a loss of Rs 383.05 crore, compared to Rs 101.37 crore the previous year. 

The couple finalised their divorce recently. “While the two founders have on numerous occasions made claims about reaching profitability, the financials show a different story. Even if it had not been for this crisis, it is heading towards financial crisis and it needs another round of funding to come out of,” said another senior executive, who quit the company some time back.

Industry insiders said that buying out Sandeep's stake would drain the company of a large chunk of capital and make the whole deal financially unviable. Meanwhile, the Shopclues’ board, in an official statement, said they were proud of the progress made by the Shopclues team under Radhika and co-founder Sanjay Sethi’s leadership. 

“The company’s differentiated business model and capital-efficient approach have enabled it to become a market leader and has grown 30 times under this management. It is very disappointing to see an ex-founder, who disassociated from the company for his criminal wrongdoings, is now engaged in a personal vendetta on a public forum. “Our goal is to create value for all stakeholders and we remain focused on working closely with Radhika and Sanjay and the management team to continue to scale the company as it captures the massive opportunity which lies ahead of us,” the statement said.

Sandeep on Monday said he had filed a criminal defamation case against Radhika and Sanjay Sethi in Delhi courts earlier this month, accusing them of downplaying his role in creation of the online marketplace. 

He also filed a complaint with Gurgaon Economic Offences Wing against Radhika and Sanjay, alleging that he wrongfully and fraudulently lost the right to nominate a board member.

“I only came to know about it on October 6, 2016 about the changes of my right to vote a board member. I have filed three cases against them including a complaint to EOW,” he said.