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The quoted article is a bit ambiguous. It seems to suggest that Snapdeal is not looking to sell Freecharge completely, but just wants to divest a smaller 25% stake for an estimated deal valuation of $500mn. This means it is valuing Freecharge at $2B, which sounds weird since Snapdeal itselft is trying to raise money at $3B to $4B valuation: http://techcircle.vccircle.com/2017/01/25/snapdeal-in-talks-with-softbank-to-raise-funds-at-lower-valuation/. Something doesn't add up in this article.
That said, keeping Freecharge would have been a smarter decision for Snapdeal. Given the uptick in the digital payments space it could definitely be a great hedge against dwindling fortunes in the ecomm space.
But then I think for Snapdeal, it no longer is about what's smart and what's not. It's about survival right now and they will do whatever it takes to stay afloat - layoffs, stake sales, down rounds, etc. And they gotta do it fast - clock is already turning fast for them in my view.