Old rivals, new game: Flipkart Azim Premji vs Amazon Narayana Murthy

August 14, 2014

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Bangalore, Aug 14: India's tech titans and fierce cross-town rivals, Wipro's Azim Premji and Infosys' N R Narayana Murthy, are squaring off in the burgeoning $3-billion e-commerce market space too. Premji has gone with the domestic players; he has investments in Myntra (recently acquired by Flipkart) and Snapdeal while Murthy has placed his bets on global e-tailing giant Amazon.

India's rapidly growing e-commerce market is turning out to be a two-horse race between Amazon and Flipkart.

Earlier this year, the Wipro chairman through his investment arm, Premji Invest, and a clutch of other investors, pumped in about $50 million in fashion e-tailer Myntra. Snapdeal, another e-commerce player, got $100 million in funding from five investors including Premji Invest.

More recently, Amazon and Murthy's family office, Catamaran Ventures, floated a JV to help small and medium businesses join the online bandwagon.

Catamaran holds a majority 51% in the JV—Taurus Business and Trade Services.

"Myntra and Snapdeal needed money and expertise from successful Indian entrepreneurs. From an investment perspective, Premji's investments are a more classic VC style investment that fosters local entrepreneurship with a very high risk-reward ratio," said Praveen Chakravarty, a successful angel investor and co-founder of Mumbai Angels. However, he has a counter view on the Amazon transaction. "It seems to me as a low-risk, financial return-focused yield investment that has risen out of an opportunity driven by regulations in India."

(Premji has gone with the domestic players; he has investments in Myntra and Snapdeal while Murthy has placed his bets on global e-tailing giant Amazon.)

Sources privy to developments in Amazon said that the US e-tailing behemoth was scouting for a big brand that could invest Rs 100 crore in cash with a guaranteed return on investment of around 20% at the time of exit. TOI could not ascertain the nature of the Amazon-Catamaran tie-up, as both parties have not disclosed the financials of the deal.

"Amazon doesn't need money nor does it need hand-holding and guidance," said a senior executive of a Bangalore-based VC fund-house, who requested anonymity as the subject was sensitive in his opinion.

Deepak Srinath, director—digital practice at Bangalore-based Allegro Capital Advisors, said comparisons between Premji and Murthy's venture is not like-to-like. "Having said that, it's easier to be a financial investor. But in the case of Catamaran, they are setting up full-scale operations and would be managing business operations. It's not easy to stick your neck out in this fashion which is a high-risk game in itself."

Aashish Bhinde of Avendus Capital said both Murthy and Premji have carved their own paths to align with players in the country's e-commerce play. When asked if Murthy's embraced a safe game plan with assured returns, while Premji's is a higher risk affair, Bhinde said he doesn't agree with those characterizations. "I believe they both are bullish about the sector but have different investment strategies. While one is taking a portfolio investment approach, the other has made a more strategic move," he added.

With Flipkart raising $1 billion in fresh funds and Amazon pouring $2 billion into the India market, many existing players could fall off the investors' radar paving the way for a two- or a three-way race between Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal in India. So far, Flipkart has raised close to about $1.7 billion from a clutch of investors as it fights Amazon and Snapdeal in a fast-growing e-commerce market. India has 243 million internet users, and this number continues to grow rapidly due to increased smartphone penetration.

Higher disposable incomes and internet connectivity are pushing the Indian middle class to shop online. The two IT czars are fighting it out in an e-commerce market that's expected to touch $32 billion by the end of this decade.

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News Network
June 8,2020

New Delhi, Jun 8: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has gone into self-quarantine after developing sore throat and fever, and will get himself tested for COVID-19 on Tuesday, officials said on Monday.

They said the chief minister, who is also a diabetic, was feeling unwell since Sunday afternoon.

"He has mild fever and sore throat since Sunday afternoon. As advised by doctors, the chief minister will undergo COVID-19 test on Tuesday morning," officials said.

Officials said the CM had attended a Cabinet meeting on Sunday morning and thereafter, he did not attend any meeting.

The chief minister has been holding most of his meetings via video conferencing from his official residence for past two days.

This come as the number of coronavirus cases in the national capital crossed the 28,000-mark with 1,282 fresh infections while the death toll climbed to 812 on Sunday, a health bulletin issued by the Delhi government said. According to the health bulletin, the total number of COVID-19 cases in Delhi rose to 28,936 with 1,282 fresh cases.

A total of 51 fatalities were reported on June 6, the bulletin said, adding that these lives were lost between May 8 and June 5. It, however, said the cumulative death figure refers to fatalities where the primary cause of death was found to be COVID-19, according to a report of the Death Audit Committee on the basis of the case-sheets received from various hospitals.

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News Network
June 27,2020

New Delhi, Jun 27: Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai on Saturday called an emergency meeting here to discuss the situation following a locust attack in neighbouring Gurugram.

The minister also directed the administration to be alert, an official said.

"After the emergency meeting, an advisory will be issued on steps to be taken to deal with the situation," Rai told PTI.

He asked the officials of the Agriculture department to make field visits to areas close to Gurugram.

The development secretary, divisional commissioner, director, Agriculture department, and the district magistrates of South Delhi and West Delhi will attend the meeting, the official said.

Earlier in the day, the skies over many parts of Gurugram turned dark as swarms of locusts descended on the town.

However, the migratory pests are likely to spare the national capital for now, officials said.

The swarms of locusts, spread across two kilometres, moved from west to east. They entered Gurugram around 11.30 am, K L Gurjar of the Locust Warning Organisation, Ministry of Agriculture, told PTI.

The pests, he said, were headed towards Faridabad and Palwal in Haryana.

Alarmed at the invasion of the locusts, which settled on trees, rooftops and plants, many residents of Gurugram shared videos from their high-rise perches.

In May, India battled a devastating desert locust outbreak. The crop-destroying swarms first attacked Rajasthan and then spread to Punjab, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.

According to experts, broadly four species of locusts are found in India – desert locust, migratory locust, Bombay locust and tree locust. The desert locust is considered the most destructive.

It multiplies very rapidly and is capable of covering 150 kilometers in a day.

This insect, a type of a grasshopper, can eat more than its body weight. A one square kilometer of locust swarm containing around 40 million locusts can in a day eat as much food as 35,000 people.

Experts blame the growing menace of desert locusts on climate change. They say breeding of locusts is directly related to soil moisture and food availability.

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News Network
June 19,2020

New Delhi, Jun 19: Petrol price on Friday was hiked by 56 paise per litre and diesel by 63 paise a litre, taking the cumulative increase in rates to Rs 7.11 and Rs 7.67 per litre respectively in less than two weeks.

Petrol price in Delhi was hiked to Rs 78.37 per litre from Rs 77.81, while diesel rates were increased to Rs 77.06 a litre from Rs 76.43, according to a price notification of state oil marketing companies.

Rates have been increased across the country and vary from state to state depending on the incidence of local sales tax or VAT.

This is the 13th daily increase in rates in a row since oil companies on June 7 restarted revising prices in line with costs, after ending an 82-day hiatus in rate revision.

In 13 hikes, petrol price has gone up by Rs 7.11 per litre and diesel by Rs 7.67 a litre.

The freeze in rates was imposed in mid-March soon after the government hiked excise duty on petrol and diesel to shore up additional finances.

Oil PSUs Indian Oil Corp (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) instead of passing on the excise duty hikes to customers adjusted them against the fall in the retail rates that was warranted because of fall in international oil prices to two decade low.

International oil prices have since rebounded and oil firms are now adjusting retail rates in line with them.

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