Delhivery to acquire Ecom Express for Rs 1,407 crore

New-age logistics firm Delhivery said it will acquire rival Ecom Express in an all-cash deal for Rs 1,407 crore.

This would be a distress sale for the Gurugram-based Ecom Express, which cancelled its plans to go public and was last valued at over Rs 7,000 crore in June 2024.

Private equity firms Warburg Pincus, Partners Group, and British International Investment will fully exit their investments in Ecom Express through the deal.

For Delhivery, the acquisition will help enhance its scale and improve its competitive position in the crowded logistics segment.

Sahil Barua, MD and CEO, Delhivery, said, “The Indian economy requires continuous improvements in cost efficiency, speed and reach of logistics. We believe this acquisition will enable us to service customers of both companies better, through continued bold investments in infrastructure, technology, network and people.”

As of September 30, Delhivery had Rs 5,488 crore in cash and cash equivalents.

The transaction will require clearance from the Competition Commission of India (CCI), and Delhivery said it is expected to close the acquisition in the next six months. Post completion, Ecom Express will become a subsidiary of Delhivery.

According to the company’s draft IPO prospectus, Partners Group held a 49.76% stake in Ecom Express, while Warburg Pincus owned 27.13% share of the company. British International Investment, the third largest shareholder, held a 10% stake in Ecom Express.

As part of its IPO plans, for which the papers were filed in August last year, Ecom Express was looking to raise Rs 1,284.5 crore in fresh capital, while investors, including promoters, had planned to offload stakes worth Rs 1,315.5 crore.

However, these plans were put on hold after broader market conditions deteriorated.

In the months leading up to the Delhivery acquisition, Ecom Express had already started consolidating its operations, people in the know said, shutting down multiple delivery hubs and laying off hundreds of employees.


Following Ecom Express filing its draft prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) last year, Delhivery had accused its rival of having misrepresented certain operating metrics as a part of its IPO papers.

Delhivery said that Ecom Express double-counted the number of return-to-origin shipments and, hence, ended up inflating its volume on a like-to-like basis. ‘Return to origin’ is a term used by logistics firms when a product is returned or the delivery is cancelled, and the goods go back to the seller.