Bharti Airtel aims to leverage its 180 million plus digital service customers and its wide presence in rural areas to grow its payment bank business. "We are well placed as we can leverage the 180 million plus customers we have across our digital assets. "We offer a plethora of services such as lucrative interest rates, gift cards, FASTag, telecom recharges, payments and debit cards. "Our large merchant base of more than eight million allows us to drive both engagement and monetisation.
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.
India's consumer digital economy which was pegged at $85-90 billion in calendar year 2020, is expected to become a $800 billion market by 2030, according to reports released by consulting firm RedSeer at its flagship event Ground Zero 5.0. The digital economy includes 60 per cent of travel, 40 per cent non-grocery retail, 30 per cent of education, 25 per cent of food and beverages services and 6 per cent of pharma/grocery going through digital channels by calendar year 2030. Online retail is set to become the third-largest market by scale by CY30 with an annual gross merchandise value (GMV) of $350 billion in CY30, said RedSeer.
The demands from retailers are fourfold: One, allow kiranas, general trade stores, supermarkets, hypermarkets, and wholesalers to operate every day of the week till 9 pm. Two, ensure uniform and regular opening of all categories of retail. Three, hassle-free movement of goods and employees, and four, lift bans on malls in states like Maharashtra.
FB deal puts RIL on course to be debt-free next year; Reliance Retail biggest gainer from WhatsApp, JioMart arrangement.
Reliance has significant investments in telecom, consumer retail and media businesses in India.
Capital dumping is being used by foreign e-commerce firms to subsidise and engage in predatory pricing, oil-to-telecom conglomerate Reliance Industries (RIL) has told the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) in an internal document. The document alleges that this is leading to massive unemployment and financial distress among small merchants and kirana stores. It consists of various recommendations and proposed changes that deal with Press Note 2 of 2018 (PN 2), which RIL wanted Assocham to present to the government, according to sources.
'After household expenses, we are left with nothing...' 'Sometimes I think it is better to shut the store...'
'You have come out with a package for the kisan.' 'You have a package for industry.' 'But has anyone addressed the issues concerning small traders?'
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.
The purpose, behind slashing property tax on small commercial establishments by 70%, was to allow growth of small shops in residential areas, so that people do not have to travel long distances for their daily needs.
Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Ltd on Friday announced to raise Rs 7,350 crore from two investors -- Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC and Global alternative asset firm TPG -- by selling a stake in group's retail arm.
'For all of us at Amazon, it is 'Bharat first'.' 'We are keeping the Indian customer at the centre of what we are doing.'
... and I learn more about economic trends than from books, says Ajit Balakrishnan.
'People are angry.' 'First notebandi, then GST, now losses on the farm have ruined us.'
Since September, Reliance Retail has raised money from Silver Lake, KKR, Mubadala, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority , GIC, TPG, General Atlantic and Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund in a divestment programme that mirrored sister Jio Platforms a few months earlier.
Investment by US PE firm KKR will add fire to Ambani's battle for dominance in the retail market that is also being eyed by Jeff Bezos' Amazon and Walmart's Flipkart.
The 12th edition of EORS will be held from June 19-22. There will be a dedicated central virtual war-room for tactical problem solving across all phases of the event. Shoppers across the country will have access to over 700,000 styles from over 3,000 fashion and lifestyle brands. Myntra is expecting 3 million people to shop from the safety of their homes.
This is the second investment by General Atlantic in a subsidiary of Reliance Industries, following a Rs 6,598.38 crore investment in Jio Platforms announced earlier this year.
While JioMart is doing 250,000 orders per day, BigBasket and Amazon pantry are doing 220,000 and 150,000 orders, respectively.
Amid the ongoing festival season in the country, the hiring of gig workers has zoomed across sectors as the businesses have begun opening up leading to an uptick in consumer sentiments and rising pent-up demand, according to experts. "In the third quarter, with the onset of festive season, we are witnessing a 400 per cent spike in the hiring for gig workers. Earlier, in the first quarter of this year, as many businesses and companies were not operating at full strength, growth was muted. "However, things began picking up and became more promising from the second quarter, as the demand for gig workers across sectors grew," Taskmo, a subsidiary of Quess Corp, co-founder Prashant Janadri told PTI.
To create a community, the consumer can share the details of the offer with friends and family who want to buy the same goods.
Social e-commerce platform Meesho is set to disrupt the food and grocery market by offering free home delivery on all orders in over 200 below Tier 1 cities in a year's time, in the first phase. It is also disrupting the monetization model by focusing primarily on advertising revenues rather than commissions from sellers, as distinct from its competitors. The move is expected to challenge the big players in the sector which include Jio Mart, Tata's Big Basket, Amazon, Grofers, and others, many of which have minimum prices for free delivery.
Footfalls will invariably come down to a trickle even after lockdown restrictions go away, and the only way to prevent someone else from poaching your consumer is to go down to the consumer herself. Consumers will prefer products and services to be delivered to their doorstep, hygienically and safely.
From small kiranas to banks to potentially entire FMCG chains all have a digital date with money transfers on cellphones.
For last two months, much of the discussion, a large part of due diligence, agreement negotiations, etc, have happened remotely.
E-commerce giant Amazon on Thursday announced a $250 million (about Rs 1,873 crore) fund that will focus on digitising small and medium businesses, and driving innovation in the areas of agri-tech and health-tech in India. "Small and medium sized businesses are often the engine and the lifeblood of economies and I think it's true in India as well. "And we are very passionate about trying to enable acceleration of SMBs in fuelling innovation and the economy in India," Amazon Web Services CEO Andrew Jassy said.
While Reliance has the clout to negotiate prices with suppliers for its e-commerce, not to forget the cost advantage of integrated warehouse and supply chains, Amazon and Walmart are no pushovers, they too have deep pockets.
Live commerce, quick commerce, group buying, WhatsApp commerce, dukaantech have made their mark.
This was the one Budget that required radical departures on all these fronts, when it had none, asserts, Shreekant Sambrani.
Move could delay FDI liberalisation in the sector.
'I am concentrating on working in Hollywood but if the right opportunity from the Indian film industry comes, I will be open to working there.'
Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd, run by India's richest man Mukesh Ambani, on Tuesday raised Rs 5,512.50 crore from Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), taking the total fundraise to Rs 37,710 crore in less than four weeks.
Tax concealment in case of Walmart-owned Flipkart's unit is about Rs 650 crore while the remaining estimation is related to Swiggy.
E-commerce companies have said they are well prepared and working closely with delivery partners to ensure smooth and safe delivery of packages in Maharashtra where the government has announced a slew of restrictions, including night curfews and weekend lockdown to control the spike in COVID-19 cases. However, there are concerns around the mandate for delivery staff to be either vaccinated or carry a negative RT-PCR report. According to the health ministry data, till 8 am on Tuesday Maharashtra's COVID-19 caseload was 452,777 with an addition of 20,881 from the previous day. In an order on Sunday, the Maharashtra government said all personnel belonging to home delivery services will have to be vaccinated and in case they are not vaccinated, they will have to carry a negative RT-PCR report.
This makes it the most valued fintech company in the country after Paytm and Walmart-owned PhonePe.
While the investment amount could not be immediately ascertained, a report pegged it at about $2 billion.
Wrapped in blue and orange wax paper, it's a familiar sight on the shelves of kirana stores across the country. Given how well travelled and mobile it is - starting its journey in Chennai, then turning to Singapore and now landing in Mexico - you could say it lives up to its name: Modern. Modern Food Enterprises, the company that manufactures and sells the bread in question as well as other bakery products under the "Modern" brand name, has recently been sold to the world's largest baking company, Grupo Bimbo, for an undisclosed amount. This latest transaction is the second change of guard at Modern within five years and third since the government divested the company at the turn of the century. At a time, when the National Democratic Alliance government has decided to privatise, or shut down, public sector enterprises except for those deemed strategic, Modern makes for a promising case study of how divestment led to the brand's growth, both in revenue and reach.
'They treat us like garbage. We are not humans for them'
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