STOCKHOLM: European payment provider Klarna, which allows consumers to make online purchases using only their e-mail address and postcode with no pre-registration or credit cards, is exploring the possibility of setting up business in India.

The Stockholm-based company is currently valued at around $1 billion and active in 16 countries.

"We don't have immediate plans of expanding into India. But we are always exploring such a possibility of setting up business in a country like India," Erik Engellau-Nilsson, Klarna's Vice President (Communications), told PTI here.

The company, which is one of the many start-ups Stockholm has seen in the past decade, was founded in 2005 by three students at Stockholm School of Economics and has 1,100 employees across the countries where it has operations.

"We have 800 employees in Stockholm of whom nearly 50 are Indians. All these people are from about 50 nationalities," Nilsson said.

"Ever since we started in 2005, Klarna has been focusing on removing friction and hassles from online buying. To date, about 35 million consumers have shopped using Klarna payment methods. We also have 50,000 merchants," he said.

Klarna integrates the payment methods promising to make online shopping easier.

"We take care of the entire checkout. Our aim is to make the shopping process easier and frictionless. We allow retailers to experience checkout conversion rates of up to 80 per cent. Our service also allows consumers to have a product delivered before they have to pay for it," Nilsson said.