E-commerce giant Amazon and Infosys co-founder N R Narayana Murthy's Catamaran Ventures have "mutually decided" to not continue their joint venture (JV) beyond the end of its current term. The JV, Prione Business Services, which has been running successfully for the past seven years, was coming up for renewal on May 19, 2022. The JV enabled over 300,000 sellers and entrepreneurs to go online. It also enabled 4 million merchants with digital payment capabilities, providing these small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and merchants access to millions of customers across the country.
Every competitor is eyeing the top slot that Flipkart holds.
The department for promotion of industry and internal trade has rejected Walmart-backed Flipkart's proposal seeking approval for entry to the food retail sector, citing a regulatory issue, an official said on Monday. The government permits 100 per cent foreign direct investment in food retail for food produced and manufactured in India.
Amazon's huge investment of $80 million a month didn't win it favour over customers during the festive season, with rival Flipkart selling more goods, reports Alnoor Peermohamed from Bengaluru.
Readying its game plan, the Bengaluru-based e-commerce giant plans to renew talks of investments in various companies such as Swiggy, BookMyShow, Pepperfry, UrbanClap
Walmart is rumoured to be looking to listing Flipkart in a few years. At that stage, we'll get a better sense of what's going on in retail, says Devangshu Datta.
E-commerce in India could grow to $137 billion by 2020 from $11 billion in 2013, says Morgan Stanley, and firms like Amazon, local market leader Flipkart and rival Snapdeal, backed by Japan's SoftBank, are fighting for a bigger share.
Among all the geographies where Amazon is fighting regulators, India is the only place where its lines are also tangled in a major corporate battle, this one with India's largest company by market capitalisation over the acquisition of Mumbai-based Future Group's retail chain, the country's second largest. No other corporate entity in any country offers a challenge to Amazon's hegemony in a way Reliance Industries does - and the final hearing of an arbitration case filed at the Singapore International Arbitration Centre between the two may decide at least some of these issues. This legal battle between one of the world's most powerful corporations and one of India's most powerful conglomerates could be complicated by a host of other developments.
According to industry studies, the Hindi Internet user base is likely to outgrow the English user base by 2021 and along with Marathi and Bengali users, will drive volume growth.
In December last year, Amazon invested over Rs 1,700 crore into its payments and wholesale business units in India, while in October it had infused over Rs 4,400 crore (more than USD 600 million) in its various units in India, including marketplace and food retail. Bezos last visited India in 2014 when he presented Amazon's Indian unit with a giant cheque for USD 2 billion. Since then, Amazon has pledged a further USD 3.5 billion to expand in the country and the USD 1 billion investment announced on Wednesday would take the total committed investment to USD 6.5 billion.
This was only four days after many aggrieved buyers chose social networking sites to attack Flipkart's 'Big Billion Day' discount this Monday (October 6), followed by an apology from the company's co-founders, Sachin and Binny Bansal.
The probe is being conducted under various sections of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) after the central probe agency recently received a communication from the commerce ministry seeking "necessary action" against e-commerce players like Amazon and Flipkart pertaining to certain multi-brand retail businesses and an observation made by the Delhi High Court in relation to Amazon.
The e-commerce story in India has begun to look up.
Lacking basic safeguards and regulations, India is fast emerging as a hub for illegal online betting and gambling market, with the top 15 such unauthorised platforms logging an alarming over 5.4 billion visits in FY25, according to a report by public policy think-tank on consumer sovereignty.
Flipkart has promoted several of its leaders into newer roles at a time when the Walmart-owned e-commerce giant has internally raised its IPO (initial public offering) valuation target to about $60 billion and aims for a US listing in 2023, according to the sources. "I am delighted to announce the promotion of some of our exemplary leaders," said Kalyan Krishnamurthy, chief executive officer, Flipkart Group, in an internal note, and which has been reviewed by Business Standard. "Each of them has been instrumental in delivering impact and creating long-term value for Flipkart.
'We are having an outsize impact not only on the lives of the customers and livelihood, but also the economy of India.'
Amit Agarwal tells Suveen Sinha about how he implements an American entrepreneur's vision in a very Indian way.
Companies like Flipkart, Amazon and Meesho as well as quick commerce ones like Blinkit, Zepto and Swiggy Instamart may create hundreds of thousands of seasonal jobs for the coming festival season.
Reliance Retail's digital commerce platform JioMart will morph into an e-marketplace offering multiple brands - from electronics, consumer durables, fashion and lifestyle, beauty, home, kitchen, and grocery - as it girds up to take on the likes of Amazon and Flipkart ahead of the festival season sales. India's largest retailer was in the process of onboarding third-party sellers these past few months, further increasing its selection across categories multifold. Its website and application offers general merchandise as well.
The deal, which will kick in after the holiday season, in January, will give Apple more visibility among online buyers in India. The partnership could help Apple take on Chinese smartphone maker OnePlus, which has become one of the leading player in the premium smartphone market thanks to Amazon.
While the talks are still at a preliminary stage, sources said major retail players had held discussions with Amazon
E-commerce major Amazon on Wednesday said it will acquire Prione Business Services - its joint venture firm with Catamaran, subject to requisite regulatory approvals. Prione Business Services was formed in 2014 and was coming up for renewal on May 19, 2022. In August this year, Amazon and NR Narayana Murthy's Catamaran announced that they will not continue their JV beyond May 2022. The two parties had not disclosed the reason behind the decision.
Hiring demand is strongest for high-impact technology and product roles, particularly DevOps engineers, product managers, and full-stack developers.
Amazon's investors are counting on its international business and expansion to help drive growth and support its $165 billion market value, one of the highest among US firms.
Amazon's fresh investment in its India entities come at a time when the Seattle-based firm has faced losses in several of its business entities in India, such as seller services, wholesale, transportation services and digital payments, for the 2018-19 financial year.
Amazon, however, claimed that it is just a service provider and doesn't own goods at any point of sale due to which it is not liable to pay this tax.
Flipkart and Snapdeal take a cue from Amazon even as they differ on who is ahead in the race
The case may drag for a few years, experts say, as CAIT and DVM have said they will appeal against the interim relief granted to Amazon.
Like its competitors, Amazon India, too, offered an 'Online Shopping Dhamaka' from September 21 to October 21, during which sellers offered deals and discounts on a host of products across categories on www.amazon.in.
The latest infusion brings the total capital pumped into Amazon's e-commerce business in India to Rs 22,390 crore
Amazon's Indian unit said earlier it will open five new warehouses in the country, which will almost double its storage capacity to half a million square feet.
JLL had shortlisted over 10 developers and Embassy was selected after a long due and rigorous process of due diligence.
Employees can take 'unlimited bereavement leave' in case of loss of a family member. All employees are encouraged to take breaks on a daily basis. This includes a mandatory 1-hour lunch break where no other meetings can be scheduled.
Indian Sellers Collective (ISC), a trade association of micro and small enterprises and family businesses, on Wednesday urged IT veteran NR Narayana Murthy to cooperate in the Competition Commission of India's antitrust probe against Amazon for alleged anti-competitive practices. In 2014, Murthy's Catamaran and Amazon had formed a joint venture, Prione Business Services. On Monday, the partners announced that they have mutually decided not to continue the JV beyond May 2022. ISC thanked Murthy for deciding to end the joint venture with Amazon.
In the past eight months, Flipkart has seen the exits of Mukesh Bansal, considered the right hand man of Sachin and Binny Bansal; Ankit Nagori, chief business officer; Punit Soni, Flipkart's million-dollar hire from Silicon Valley who headed product and strategy; and Manish Maheshwari, head of the seller business
Flipkart has seen 33 per cent growth in past 6 months despite slowing e-commerce business and stiff competition from Amazon.
Flipkart's valuation of $15.2 bn arrived at during latest round of $700-mn fund raise.
Its growth has been driven by discounts rather than enticing new customers to its platform
From a modest two-bedroom apartment in Koramangala, the Bengaluru-headquarted company now has multiple offices across the country.
The Karnataka government is planning to levy a fee of 1-2 per cent on aggregator platforms like Swiggy, Zomato, Flipkart, Amazon, Uber, etc., a government source said on Friday, adding that an announcement in this regard could come following a sub-committee meeting next week. "There is a sub-committee meeting scheduled in the coming week.
