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BANGALORE|NEW DELHI: Even a decade ago, the name "Bansal" would have brought in images of coaching classes in Rajasthan's Kota, but today it is the common factor binding the who's who of India's fledgling e-commerce sector. 
 Five young men who answer to that name have emerged as trailblazers of Indian e-commerce, taking on global biggies like <keyword id="18635" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Amazon">Amazon</keyword> and eBay for top honours in the country's exploding market for online retail. 
 Online marketplaces <keyword id="6354742" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Flipkart">Flipkart</keyword> and Snapdeal, apparel retailer <keyword id="319719" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Myntra">Myntra</keyword> and eyewear retailer <keyword id="1518229" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Lenskart">LensKart</keyword> all have Bansals at the helm. Such is their clout that they account for nearly Rs 10,000 crore of the total online retail pie of about $2 billion. 
 
But their adeptness at trade and commerce is not a state secret. As a sub-sect of the Aggarwal community, the Bansals are known for running a tight ship when it comes to business and entrepreneurship. 
 "We (Bansals) have the math, <keyword id="25455" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="40" keywordseo="finance">finance</keyword> and data skills that are extremely important for e-commerce," said Rohit Bansal who teamed up with schoolmate and Wharton alumnus Kunal Bahl to set up online marketplace Snapdeal in 2010. 
 
 
 
The Bansals of the new economy also sport degrees from IIT and IIMs. The five Bansals with their four companies - Flipkart, Myntra, Snapdeal and LensKart - set up shop within the last seven years and control about 85% of India's entire e-tailing industry. 
 
But they have to contend with the might of $75-billion (Rs 4.5 lakh crore) Amazon, which entered India last year and is investing heavily. Heading the fightback are <keyword id="225032" type="PERSON" weightage="40" keywordseo="Sachin-Bansal">Sachin Bansal</keyword>, 32, and Binny Bansal, 31- founders of Bangalore-based Flipkart - who met each other while studying at IIT-Delhi. Their company today generates about Rs 6,100 crore in sales, half the industry total.Flipkart is also the biggest challenge for Amazon, a company where both the Bansals honed their skills before setting up on their own in 2007. Coming second is Snapdeal, whose Rohit Bansal, 31, graduated ahead of Sachin and Binny from IIT Delhi. <div style="page-break-after: always;">
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 "My ancestors from my paternal and maternal sides have all been <keyword id="80597" type="POSITION" weightage="40" keywordseo="Businessmen">businessmen</keyword>," said Rohit Bansal, who is from Malout, a small town in Punjab, just four hours from Chandigarh where the Bansals from Flipkart grew up. 
 
Snapdeal’s turnover is now half of Flipkart, and it is expected to cross the $1 billion mark next year. The Bansals are making a mark not just in horizontal marketplaces, but also single-category retail. Bangalore-based Myntra Designs, founded by another IITian Mukesh Bansal, is giving stiff competition to Flipkart in apparel, one of the highest-margin categories, where profits range from 30% to 50%. 
 “It has come full circle with me getting in fashion retail online,” said Mukesh Bansal, <keyword id="5645" type="POSITION" weightage="40" keywordseo="CEO">CEO</keyword> at Myntra, who hails from Haridwar. His father had opted for a public sector job over joining the family business — ironically, clothes trading. “No family influence made me think of entrepreneurship. But the startup bug bit me in Silicon Valley,” said Myntra’s Bansal, 38, who moved to India to start Myntra in 2007. His venture is targeting sales of Rs 1,500 crore next fiscal from apparel sales, the largest in its category. 
 
LensKart, founded by another Peyush Bansal, 30, is considering selling his other portals such as WatchKart, BagsKart and JewelKart to a horizontal player at the ‘right price’ to focus on the eyewear market. “My parents didn’t understand while I was starting up. But they came around later. You have to understand that they are products of their generation,” said Bansal, who is targeting revenue of Rs 100 crore from LensKart next fiscal. 
 
RBI Chair Professor for Economics &amp; Social Sciences at IIM Bangalore Charan Singh says that a community’s dominance over a certain trade is a factor of its social interactions. “It can be likened to the Jewish community in the US which continues to hold top posts in US banking and technology industry.” Ashish Jhalani, head of retail advisory firm eTailing India, agrees. “Certain communities in India do encourage entrepreneurship. The Bansals and Aggarwals have definitely dominated businesses in India, particularly retail trading, for centuries.”

Flipkart, Lenskart, Myntra & Snapdeal, Led By Bansals, Account For 10k Crore Of 12k-Crore E-Commerce Market

BANGALORE: Flipkart could be weeks away from concluding a deal to buy rival Myntra as the two sides engage in last-minute haggling over valuation before concluding what will be the biggest transaction in India’s online retail industry. People with knowledge of the talks said fashion portal Myntra is aiming for a valuation of $400 million (Rs 2,400 crore). 
 
The company, based in Bangalore, is founded by Mukesh Bansal, 38, an IIT-Kanpur graduate. But Flipkart, also based in Bangalore and cofounded by 32-yearold IIT-Delhi alumnus Sachin Bansal (the two Bansals are not related), may not be willing to concede that much. 
 
Negotiators are considering a "target valuation" of $350 million, and may push the offer to $370 million, but there is "no possibility" of valuing Myntra at $400 million, according to a source with direct knowledge of talks. Representatives of Flipkart and Myntra declined to comment. The deal is being stitched during a period of frenetic activity in the ecommerce space. 
 
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Holding co to own shares in cos 
 
Amazon, the world’s largest online retailer, is steadily building out its India operation -- it will start selling fashion items in the next few weeks -- while the country adds hundreds of thousands of new online shoppers every month. 
 
The timing of the transaction also takes into account an initial public offering of Flipkart’s shares next year, most probably on the Nasdaq stock exchange in the United States, sources said. Flipkart, which raised $360 million in two rounds in 2013, was valued at around $1.6 billion in July last year. 
 
The valuation is "significantly more" now, the sources said without disclosing how much. India's largest online retailer hit the billion-dollar milestone in annual gross merchandise value last month. 
 
The sources who briefed ET about the contours of the deal that is taking shape said that Mukesh Bansal will most likely be given independent responsibility for all fashion retail at the combined business, including Myntra as well as Flipkart’s fashion unit. This is the model that Amazon followed when it acquired shoe and clothing retailer Zappos in 2009, which even now runs as an independent company. A holding company will own shares in Flipkart and Myntra. 
 
A Flipkart-Myntra combine is aimed at shoring up the former's leadership in India's booming online retail industry, projected to reach $8.5 billion (over Rs 51,000 crore) in size in 2016. Moreover, Amazon is making its presence felt just eight months after entering India -- it has introduced about 20 categories of products and more are on the way. 
 
Myntra's Mukesh Bansal has said the company needs about $100-150 million (Rs 600 crore to Rs 900 crore) in the next three years to reach its goal of becoming a Rs 20,000-crore fashion company in 2020. Flipkart has made a commitment to pump in over $100 million (Rs 600 crore) into the company, said a consultant. 
 
"This will help (the country’s biggest fashion portal) Myntra take on competition like Jabong and other fashion sites. And by joining hands, both will be able to take on Amazon, which is the major driving force in these talks," said the consultant who has worked with Flipkart and Myntra. 
 
Ashish Jhalani, head of advisory firm eTailing India, said the potential merger indicates how Amazon has changed the game in a short time. "It is imperative that the merger goes through and a very formidable domestic player emerges that can compete with Amazon and eBay," said Jhalani. 
 
Common investors such as earlystage investor Accel Partners and investment fund Tiger Global are expected to remain invested in Myntra, as also recent investor Premji Invest, which participated in the Rs 300-crore funding round in the fashion portal in February. 
 
The two companies now have three common investors — Accel, Tiger and Belgium-based family office Sofina. Myntra’s other investors are IDG Ventures India and Kalaari Capital. 
 
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"If a deal happens, it will get done by end of the month," a source said, adding that the transaction will have elements of cash and stock without providing details. 
 
Fashion, which delivers over 35% in operating margin, is among the most contested categories in ecommerce and has seen the emergence of players like Jabong, Fashionara and Limeroad and even web-only brands like Yepme and Zovi. 
 
"The Flipkart and Myntra merger will create the first Indian e-tailing powerhouse, and provide a big fillip to India's still nascent but very promising e-commerce industry," said Arvind Singhal, chairman of retail advisory services firm Technopak. 
 
Flipkart, which introduced fashion in 2012, has a focus on providing a large selection, while Myntra is seen as a curated fashion destination with focus on quality of selection.

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Flipkart, Lenskart, Myntra & Snapdeal, Led By Bansals, Account For 10k Crore Of 12k-Crore E-Commerce Market

Economic Times

Flipkart And Myntra Enter Final Lap In Negotiation

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