Three months, more than 15 meetings, and a payout of at least $210 million later, it’s a clear road now for Japanese telecom and internet giant SoftBank to merge its biggest Indian asset Snapdeal with leading e-commerce firm Flipkart.

The deal valuing Snapdeal at around $1 billion, a steep fall from its peak of $6.5 billion last year, signals the biggest consolidation in the sector and fierce competition between Jeff Bezos-led Amazon and the poster boy of Indian e-commerce, Flipkart. The transaction is through, sources in the know confirmed, and an announcement could come anytime ...