Amazon has emerged a competition for posterboy of Indian e-commerce Flipkart.
With this round of funding, Flipkart's valuation has reached USD 11.6 billion, and US IT major Microsoft joins the marketplace as a strategic investor.
Loss of investor confidence in Flipkart last year sparked off a chain reaction in startup sector
The company has also issued a ban on all non-essential domestic and international business travel, and is encouraging employees who may have returned from international travel to work from home for 14 days.
Flipkart eyes another $500 mn from eBay, which seeks to merge India ops with it and exit business
The Bansals losing out operational control of Flipkart comes at a time when global rival Amazon, in which Tiger Global holds a minority stake, is stepping up investment in India in an attempt to overtake the Bengaluru-based e-commerce firm.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has barred four non-banking finance companies (NBFCs), including two microfinance institutions (MFIs), from sanctioning and disbursing loans for charging exorbitant interest rates to the borrowers. These four entities are Asirvad Microfinance, Arohan Financial Services (also an MFI), DMI Finance, which provides personal, consumption, and micro, small and medium enterprises loans, and Flipkart co-founder Sachin Bansal's Navi Finserv, which offers home and personal loans. The ban will take effect on October 21 to "facilitate closure of transactions in the pipeline", the regulator said in a statement.
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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.
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.
Not displaying the mandatory information, including country of origin, on products sold on their platforms in India, draws government's attention.
The aim is to replace nearly 40 per cent of its existing last mile fleet of delivery vans with EVs by March 2020. o start with, the company is looking at deploying nearly 160 e-vans by the end of 2019.
It took Flipkart a little over 24 hours to complete due diligence and come up with a final offer that was $20 million higher than what Snapdeal was ready to forfeit.
At present, Flipkart's total seller base is 60,000.
Loses notional value by 37.5% because of markdowns by investors
Alnoor Peermohamed & Raghu Krishnan find out why the new CEO is said to be the perfect man for turning around Flipkart's fortunes.
Who invested how much into Flipkart in its latest round of $1 billion funding? Vicky Nanjappa/Rediff.com finds out.
Whether it's Carrefour, Ford, or other foreign majors, they are ready to adjust their strategies and design their plans in a way that would address the Indian consumption story.
Three years and Rs 28,710 crore worth of transactions later, it has more than double the number of sellers than Flipkart.
Flipkart has not been able to process with its plans of getting into the grocery vertical and is stuck on running pilots in select cities.
Sellers, especially the smaller ones, are planning to go to court as well as move CCI as they fear that Walmart could bring multiple private labels in India and flood the e-commerce platform with its own products.
Pilot project in Bengaluru; Snapdeal got into the category last month
Flipkart claims to have more than 90,000 sellers on its platform.
The strategy these online marketplace companies follow in the next few months will determine whether Amazon gets to be the leader in 2017.
The tide of startup-funding is turning in India, with a rising trend of overall funding while the deal sizes grow bigger. However, the spotlight now is on late-stage startups, many of which are seen to be headed for initial public offerings (IPOs). Record surge in stock markets and consistently improving performances of listed startups are understood to have turned the sentiment for the better, especially for those that exhibit a clear path to an IPO.
The Walmart chief stated that the values of the two companies were "very much aligned"
Flipkart, Jabong-Myntra and PhonePe will operate under this group structure and their CEOs will report to Binny
India's largest online retailer Flipkart on Wednesday announced the addition of two new members to its leadership positions, Vice President of Fashion (Retail) and the Vice President of HR (Supply-Chain).
Flipkart intends to use the funds for building and strengthening its technology capabilities, bolstering the robust supply chain and developing the talent pool.
With an existing consumer base of 400 million across airports, electricity and gas distribution businesses, the Adani group is revving up its retail play. It is planning to use the 2.4 billion consumer interactions a year with group companies to push various products and services. The group has already launched the 'Adani One' super app that will eventually sell products across the spectrum, top executives said.
Amazon has increased the commission on non-core segments by 2-9 per cent.
The deal that promises to make Flipkart a leading force in fashion segment - estimated at Rs 3 lakh crore - came after hectic weekend parleys.
Consumers are exposed to trends from across the globe and now expect creative as well as unique products.
Dabbawalas have been in the profession of transporting lunch boxes.
Ever since the deal was announced of Walmart spending over $16 bn for a 77 per cent stake in Flipkart, the road to the takeover of India's biggest online marketplace has been quite bumpy
Currently, Flipkart has tied up with about 5-10 agencies and plans to add 50-60 by the end of this year.
Myntra founder Mukesh Bansal takes over as marketing chief.
Sellers on platform listed products out-of-stock on Monday against increased commission, fees on returns.
According to experts, the company might be trying to ape Amazon, the largest e-commerce player in the world.
Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal's recent comments on large e-commerce players have reignited the debate about their impact on smaller offline retailers. On Wednesday, Goyal said that the rapid growth of e-commerce in India is a "cause for concern" and is diminishing the market share of small, mom-and-pop stores by offering high-margin products such as consumer electronics and apparel at discounted rates.
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.
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