SoftBank-backed e-commerce company Snapdeal had decided to pull the plug on its $152-million initial public offer (IPO), the company told the Reuters, making it the latest casualty of a meltdown in tech stocks that has soured investor sentiment. 

Snapdeal had filed its IPO regulatory papers for approval in December 2021, a year that had seen many stock market debuts and record fund-raising by startups. But many are delaying IPOs amid a stock market rout that has raised concerns over frothy tech valuations. 

Snapdeal, which competes with larger rivals Amazon and Walmart’s Flipkart in India’s booming e-commerce space, filed a request this week with the country’s market regulator SEBI to withdraw its IPO prospectus, said one source with direct knowledge of the matter. 

“There is no appetite for tech stocks right now,” said the source, who added that the SEBI had been told about the prevailing market conditions and certain other strategic decisions that contributed to the change in IPO plans. 

In a statement to the Reuters, Snapdeal said that it had decided to withdraw the IPO prospectus| considering the prevailing market conditions", without elaborating. It adding that Snapdeal may reconsider an IPO in future depending on its need for capital and market conditions.