Japanese telecom SoftBank has acquired a $627m (£388m) stake in Indian eCommerce site Snapdeal, its first move in a planned $10bn strategy to dominate the countrys market.

Softbank, which bought US mobile carrier Sprint last year for $21.6bn, will become the largest shareholder in Snapdeal, with approximately 30 per cent of the shares.

The deal is part of a 10-year, $10bn investment plan in Indian eCommerce laid out by chief executive Masayoshi Son. The countrys online retailers have become increasingly targeted by international investors, due to the nations large Internet user-base, relatively underdeveloped eCommerce marketplace and increasing adoption of smartphones.

“Since SoftBanks foundation, our mission has been to contribute to peoples lives through the Information Revolution,” said Son. “We believe India is at a turning point in its development and have confidence that India will grow strongly over the next decade. As part of this belief, we intend to deploy significant capital in India over the next few years to support development of the market.”

Snapdeal currently has around 25m registered users and over 50,000 merchants, and has attracted international shareholders including eBay and investment firm BlackRock. The company takes over 60 per cent of its orders on mobile phones.

“Our entire team at Snapdeal is thrilled and honoured to have SoftBank as a strategic partner,” said Kunal Bahl, co-founder and CEO of Snapdeal. “With the support of Son-san and Nikesh [Arora, vice chairman of SoftBank], we are confident we will further strengthen our promise to consumers and create life changing experiences for 1m small businesses in India.”