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.
When Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) was conceived last December, the idea was to reduce the dominance of e-commerce giants like Amazon and Flipkart. It was also to bring in a level-playing field for small merchants in India's fragmented but fast-growing $1-trillion retail market. However, those goals have changed now as large e-commerce players such as Flipkart, Amazon and Ecom Express are in various levels of talks with the ONDC team. They want to form partnerships like integrating with the network as well as providing their expertise to build it, according to the industry sources.
Flipkart aims to double the total value of goods it sells to $8 billion in the next three years.
Amazon India Country Head Amit Agarwal refers to all talk of mergers as 'noise'. 'All this is a distraction, when the focus should be on the customer,' he says.
Earlier this month, retail associations across the country held a meeting with the hardware manufacturers industry body -- MAIT -- to raise the issue of undercutting prices.
The deal that promises to make Flipkart a leading force in fashion segment - estimated at Rs 3 lakh crore - came after hectic weekend parleys.
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According to sector officials and watchers, the funding (among the largest so far in the segment) from its existing investors -- Naspers, Accel Partners, Tiger Global and Iconiq Capital -- might be a sign of confidence they have in the company but it's still unsure if it will be enough for Flipkart to turn a corner and become profitable.
Flipkart, India's largest e-tailer, raised $210 million in a fresh round of funding from a group of four investors led by internet-focussed investment group DST Global, it said in a statement on Monday.
Amazon Fashion flaunts its triple digit month-on-month growth, races ahead of competitors Flipkart, Jabong and Myntra.
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.
Flipkart's valuation of $15.2 bn arrived at during latest round of $700-mn fund raise.
The new deal will value Flipkart at close to $19 billion on the secondary market, a huge jump from Walmart's initial offer to investors.
The move comes after Flipkart decided to pass on shipping costs to its sellers, including charging them for reverse logistics.
The Walmart chief stated that the values of the two companies were "very much aligned"
Kishore Biyani led-Future Group has filed a caveat before the Delhi high court requesting it to be heard if any plea is filed by e-commerce major Amazon over its Rs 24,713 crore deal with Mukesh Ambani-led RIL. Anticipating a move by Amazon, which had got an interim arbitration award in its favour, putting the announced deal on hold, the Future Group firm has moved the Delhi high court.
US mutual funds Valic Co 1 and Fidelity Rutland Square Trust II, which have minority stake in Flipkart, have marked down the value of their stocks in the company
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.
He said he will be 'cheering from the outside' and urged Flipkart team to continue with the momentum.
The US-based firm has marked down the value of Flipkart for the sixth time, the latest at a time when it has been struggling to raise funds at a valuation higher than or equal to $15.2 billion.
The company has notched up a total of $540 million in funds over the last six years, $360 million of which has flowed in two tranches this year itself.
From a modest two-bedroom apartment in Koramangala, the Bengaluru-headquarted company now has multiple offices across the country.
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.
Although Walmart-Flipkart wholesale game-plan is to target about a $150 billion market out of a total pie of $700 billion in the country, the consolidation marks the end of the multi-brand dream of the American retail giant.
Besides Jeff Bezos-led Amazon, Walmart-owned Flipkart is also facing a threat from Asia's richest man and RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani, who is also betting big to grab a share of the country's e-commerce market.
'If Walmart is a physical retailer, why is it striking a deal with Flipkart for the online space?'
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.
'Big Billion Day' scheduled for October 6 is inspired by flat number where co-founders began their journey.
Global e-commerce company Amazon has said it sees "substantial uncertainties" in interpretation of Indian laws, which could impact its business in one of the world's fastest-growing multi-billion dollar online shopping market.
If Sachin Bansal sells his stake at a little over 5 per cent and steps down from Flipkart, as reports have suggested recently, either Binny Bansal or Kalyan Krishnamurthy, CEO of Flipkart, could be an option for the leadership position.
Most of Flipkart's business came from consumer electronics.
'Illegal gambling operators are systematically exploiting India's advertising and payment infrastructure, siphoning off crores of rupees from outside the country.'
E-commerce firms Amazon, Flipkart, and others are expected to witness blockbuster festival season sales of around $9 billion this year, surpassing pre-pandemic sales of $5 billion in 2019. The pandemic has accelerated the shift to e-commerce, with more consumers shopping online at a higher frequency than last year, observed analysts. This year's festival sales (gross merchandise value or GMV) are expected to grow 30 per cent year-on-year (YoY) to $4.8 billion during the first week of the season and potentially clock over $9-billion GMV during the whole festival month, revealed consulting firm RedSeer's e-commerce festival season report.
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.
At that time, co-founders Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal had made a public announcement at a Bengaluru hotel, about a $1-billion fund raising, largest so far in the Indian e-commerce sector. A day later, Amazon issued a statement that it was investing $2 billion in India.
Flipkart has described the event as 'rare' and 'isolated'.
Loss of investor confidence in Flipkart last year sparked off a chain reaction in startup sector
Amazon India is waiting for clarifications from the government on several aspects of the latest FDI guidelines to be able to carry on with business in the country. Sources said, no new investment is likely till at least the second half of 2019.
What seems to have changed over the last two-three years is that earlier the CCI considered online as another channel for retail sales, while it now seems dividing the retail market into two -- online and offline, and looking at them separately, say competition law experts.
While the talks are still at a preliminary stage, sources said major retail players had held discussions with Amazon
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Buyers complain about server errors, allege discounts were 'not real'.
