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<ul><li><keyword id="761157" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Infibeam">Infibeam</keyword> is betting on its relationship with <keyword id="3820" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Mukesh-Ambani">Mukesh Ambani</keyword>’s <keyword id="8506093" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Jiomart">JioMart</keyword> to get the contract to handle the grocery outlet’s online payment transactions</li><li>Right now, JioMart is the only private company that is using Infibeam’s Government e-Marketplace (GeM) platform.</li><li>In an interview with Business Insider, Infibeam president of corporate finance — R Srikanth — explains how the company plans to meet its target of $100 billion in transactions over the next three to five years.</li><li>Scoring JioMart’s payments transaction business is one of the pillars the fintech firm is banking on to get there.</li></ul> The Ahmedabad-based fintech company, Infibeam Avenues, is looking to expand its relationship with Mukesh Ambani’s JioMart and ride that wave to $100 billion in transactions over the next three to five years. <div type="image" title="infibeam share price" msid="83111973" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Infibeam&amp;#39;s share price over the last one year&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> Infibeam, which started out as an ecommerce company around the same time as Flipkart, is also looking to improve its operating margins as a percentage of its revenue from 61% to 65%. That’s a jump of 400 basis points (bps) in the amount of profit it plans to generate from its earnings. <div type="ExtQuote" text="“We’ve seen a 60% growth, and considering that the same trend will continue, we will surpass $100 billion.”" auname="R Srikanth, president of corporate finance and investor relations at Infibeam"></div> Infibeam actually started out around the same time as Flipkart, in 2007, as an ecommerce platform. While Flipkart chose to go into the customer facing business, Infibeam decided to dive into digital payments between businesses. Right now, there are two main ways that the company makes money— payments and platforms. And, payment transactions are where Infibeam earns most of its revenue. Whenever a transaction occurs on one of its platforms — whether that’s CCAvenue, Bill Avenue or its flagship ResAvenue platform for the hospitality sector— Infibeam makes a cut. How much that share will be, depends on the value of the transaction. This means, the more money it processes, the more money it’s making. For this reason, JioMart, with its wide network of merchants and over 2.3 million active customers — according to a December 2020 JPMorgan report — is an opportunity that’s just around the corner. In an interview with Business Insider India, the president of corporate finance at Infibeam, R Srikanth, explains why the company has set its eyes on the $100 billion prize and how it plans to get there. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Here’s how Infibeam plans to grow manifold in the next 3-5 years" comment="subhead" text="Here’s how Infibeam plans to grow manifold in the next 3-5 years">Here’s how Infibeam plans to grow manifold in the next 3-5 years</cmsannotation> <table style="border-width: initial; border-style: none; table-layout: fixed; width: 468pt;"></colgroup></colgroup></colgroup></colgroup><tbody><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Segment </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Payments </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Government e- Marketplace </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Neo Banking </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Acquirer Processor (CPGS) </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">New umbrella entity (NUE) </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Rationale </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Acquire payments processing for JioMart and expand in the international market </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Expand business with Jio and GoI </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Expand secured lending, bring in unsecured lending </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Replicate success from Oman in India </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Already applied for licence to create NUE with Reliance using the So Hum Bharat Digital Payments </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Partner </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">HDFC Bank, JP Morgan Chase Bank and others </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Jio Platforms, the Government of India </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"> </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Bank Muscat and Bank Dhofar </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Reliance Industries </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Goal </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">$100 billion </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Not disclosed </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">$200 million </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Not disclosed </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Not disclosed </td></tr></tbody></table> <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Mukesh Ambani and Infibeam are already friends" comment="subhead" text="Mukesh Ambani and Infibeam are already friends">Mukesh Ambani and Infibeam are already friends</cmsannotation> The two companies already have a relationship with JioMart being the first private company to use Infibeam’s Government e-Marketplace (GeM) — an enterprise ecommerce software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform that was only available to the Indian government before Ambani. GeM crossed a cumulative transaction payments value of $13.5 billion in the last week of March 2021 and, according to Infibeam, the government plans to double that in the ongoing financial year. In October last year, Reliance <keyword id="2003276" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Jio">Jio</keyword> entered into an agreement with Infibeam Avenues to use its platform for JioMart. Not only is Jio running its systems and services on Infibeam’s platform, the maintenance and upkeep also fall with the fintech company. But, for Infibeam, GeM is only a stepping stone. It's is looking to capture JioMart’s payment gateway business to fuel its already growing transaction values even further. <div type="image" title="Copy of fake notes in circulation(1)" msid="83112453" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Infibeam&amp;#39;s quarterly transaction values over the last five quarters&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> <div type="ExtQuote" text="The fundamental point is that we’ve entered JioMart and the objective is that we would like to do the payments processing for JioMart." auname="R Srikanth, president of corporate finance and investor relations at Infibeam"></div> <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Here are edited excerpts from the conversation:" comment="subhead" text="Here are edited excerpts from the conversation:">Here are edited excerpts from the conversation:</cmsannotation> You’ve set a target for $100 billion in the next three to five years. What makes you confident of achieving that goal? Right now, the good thing is that the government e-marketplace (GeM) is tracking around ₹1 lakh crore. Payments business is also in excess of ₹1.2 lakh crore . This is despite the fact that some sectors aren’t fully open like aviation, travel, rail bookings, hotel bookings. These sectors haven’t been fully opened, which is a major constraint as of now. That is our high margin-centric sector. The moment that gets opened, then you will have different results in terms of value of transactions. Highest volume right now is from the education sector, utilities, bill payments — these are fully opened. For all practical purposes, we’re at a run rate of $28 billion. On an average, ₹50,000 crore for the quarter, means we can hit above ₹2 lakh crore at an annualised growth rate, which is $28 billion. That is what gave us the confidence that in a 3-5 years time frame we can touch upon $100 billion in terms of transaction value purposes. $100 billion in 3-5 years is not such a big task given that the digital push is going to be there. Because, our current digital market is around 15-16%, and there’s headroom for higher digital push in the system. We factored all this in, when we guided 65% net revenue margin for FY22 from the current 61% in FY21. <div type="image" title="Infibeam rev + Profit" msid="83112534" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Infibeam&amp;#39;s net profits and revenue over the last two years&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> What role does your partnership with Jio play in reaching this target? The GeM [Government e-Marketplace] platform has only been given to Jio [in the private sector]. And using their customisations and so on, JioMart has now gone live with our platform. The fundamental point is that we’ve entered JioMart and the objective is that we would like to do the payments processing for JioMart. If that happens, we will have cornered the payments processing business of JioMart using our platform entry. In fact, platform entry only strengthened our relationship with Jio to a large extent. And, what does this have to do with the new umbrella entity (NUE) you’re trying to set up with Reliance? NUE is a different animal altogether. We applied for the licence with our subsidiary So Hum [Bharat Digital Payments] along with Reliance, but I think we will only know the outcome by around October or November. That is the timeframe. Beyond that I will not be able to comment. There is a lot of potential for NUE, the minute we get the licence. But, until such time that we get the licence, we’ll simply have to keep our fingers crossed. How much do you see gaining from Reliance’s payment business? All of this has been factored into our guidance. When we say $100 billion in 3-5 years, that includes payments transactions from main accounts and also from the [sic] Jio’s, existing merchants and so on and so forth. Obviously, due to confidentiality reasons, the main transaction accounts I will not be able to reveal. But, it is all factored into that figure. Can you shed a little light on what you’re expecting from the neo banking aspect of your business? In FY20, we announced neo banking to the public market. Under the neo banking umbrella, lending is an important portfolio and credit card issuance is another portfolio. For credit card issuance we’ve already acquired Cardpay Technologies in March 2020. They’re a card issuance platform that deals with artificial intelligence (AI). Today, we’re able to issue a credit card provided there is a corresponding bank and a non-banking financial company (NBFC). We are able to ensure credit cards to corporations in less than 15 minutes on a virtual basis. And, in less than four days depending on the logistics, on a physical basis. The technology platform and everything is in place, rigged with AI. Now, under regulation, we cannot take the credit extension. So, we have to partner with NBFCs, to take the credit exposure. Lending is not a science, it’s an art. Therefore, while one side the partner discussions with the NBFC banks are all in progress, they don’t want to limit the options of the neobanking umbrella. Therefore, we started a secured lending framework. Under the secured lending framework, we have done express settlement for our merchants. We want to take this to $200 million. Are you planning on investing in any new startups to bring in new technologies and new capabilities? We were not strong in card issuance. In order to do neo banking and unsecured lending, you need to have a card instance platform on your watch. And we did not have one. So, we acquired Cardpay Technologies and built AI over there, and today, we have the ability to do card issuance. The same way, global remittances is not our cup of tea. So that is being handled by our investee company, RemitGuru. Having said that, on the credit algorithm, there could be a possibility. As and when we’re ready for real lending through NBFCs and so on, we’ll actively sync in our credit algorithm on the tech platform and then, at that time, we also actively look for acquiring companies in that space. But, not right now. What kind of a timeline do you see for this? For partnership discussion in terms of the road map and also the credit algorithms and the corresponding banking relationships and so on, it will take a few quarters. Not right now. If you see our growth map, we’re very strong in our conventional payment gateway business. Same way, we’re very strong in the B2B payments business. Now, we have brought about two new business offerings — one is our CPGS [CCAvenue Payment Gateway Service] for banks. And, the second business offering that we’ve instituted is neo banking. We are settling CPGS, we have to accelerate on express settlement and parallelly, we have to start unsecured lending. How important is the global market for you? Our road map for growth includes market expansion. Right now, we’re in UAE, Saudi Arabia and Oman. And we also have a physical presence in the US. Our next cup of tea is building up our overseas business. Not the European market and UK, but in the US, we’ve already started our operation. Like, on the CPGS and PG [payment gateway] side, we’ve white labeled our solution to JPMC India for their India payments — we would like to replace that success in the US. The COVID-19 situation has created a little bit of a break on that front. But the US is a low hanging fruit. And, some of the Asian countries — like Indonesia and the Philippines — they’re all low hanging fruits.

INTERVIEW: With a partner like Mukesh Ambani's Jio, Infibeam expects to hit $100 billion in online transactions in the next 5 years

<ul><li><keyword id="761157" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Infibeam">Infibeam</keyword> is looking to acquire a fintech company that is into point of sale (POS) business, said Vishwas Patel, executive director at <keyword id="6674939" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="infibeam-avenues">Infibeam Avenues</keyword> in an interview with Business Insider.</li><li>With more than 3 million merchant databases, the company has announced its plans in the lending space by partnering with banks and NBFCs who can finance credit to merchants.</li><li>The gateway payment company aims at $28 billion of transaction processing value in the current financial year.</li></ul>Ahmedabad-based Infibeam is looking to acquire fintech companies that are into point-of-sale (POS) business. The company is eyeing to acquire a company in the POS terminal business with presence in 1000 cities and towns across India. “It is better to acquire a firm who has put all (POS terminal) infrastructure in place rather than building from scratch,” said Vishwas Patel, executive director at Infibeam Avenues in an interview with Business Insider To put into perspective, startups like Pine Labs and Mswipe are POS companies that provide point-of-sale solutions including payments, inventory management and accounting softwares. What is Point of Sale? Point of sale (POS) is the time and place where a customer makes a payment for products or services at your store. A digital retail point of sale system typically includes a POS terminal that can read debit/credit cards and enable payments through a swipe. Service providers that provide both POS hardware and software solutions are called POS companies. Patel said that the company already has a payment gateway -- CCAvenue -- that allows online merchants to process their all online transactions, but is lacking point of sale (POS) terminal business in order to complete its payment solutions portfolio. <div type="image" title="infibeam chart" height="900" width="1200" msid="85292292" hostid="261"></div> Latest acquisition In June last year, Infibeam had acquired Cardpay, which offers a spending management platform to corporations under the brand name “Grit.” The platform offers help with physical and virtual credit cards, invoice processing and early payments discounts. Now to enter lending space Further, with more than 3 million merchant databases, the company will enter the lending space by partnering with banks and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) to provide loans to merchants. R Srikanth, global president of finance at Infibeam, explained in an interview with Business Insider that its detailed database on the transaction history of merchants will help the banks to authenticate the customer before processing the loan. While these small shopkeepers may or may not meet the requirements of a bank to prove their creditworthiness, Infibeam’s data on the shop’s revenue and cash flow will help it determine the same without the formal documentation that banks would seek. Fintech startup BharatPe’s newly appointed chief executive officer (CEO), Suhail Sameer, also explained the same in an interview with Business Insider in June, right after its application for a banking licence with Centrum was approved. <div type="Video" msid="83975924" hostid="261" title="Crisis capital for capital crisis" dataSource="BUSINESSINSIDER" thumbUrl="https://denmark.timesinternet.in/cmslite/api/app/images.jpg?msid=83975924"></div> There is a $100 billion lending market out there. Therefore growth acceleration is also huge. “With 2.6 million merchants even if 5-10% lending customers happens through banks we will make money on every loan,” Infibeam’s Srikanth added. Confident to cross $30 billion transaction processing value in FY22 The payment gateway and e-commerce platform service provider’s profit rose by 18.14% year-on-year to ₹14.07 crore in June quarter while revenue reached ₹218.93 crore. Infibeam Avenues aims at $28 billion of transaction processing value in the current financial year compared to $19 billion in FY21. Awaiting response from RBI Besides, the company has a pending application for a new umbrella entity (NUE) licence along with consortium partners Jio Platforms, the telecom giant owned by India’s richest man Mukesh Ambani, Google and Facebook to offer payments globally. <a href="https://www.livemint.com/news/india/five-things-to-know-about-the-nue-license-being-chased-by-ambani-amazon-11614757036972.html">Reportedly</a>, those who receive the license will set-up, manage and operate new payment systems in the retail space, including ATMs, points of sales, remittance services, and Aadhaar-based payments. The entities will also manage newer payment methods, standards, and technologies. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/irctc-tata-steel-hero-motocorp-and-other-top-stocks-to-watch-out-for-on-august-13/slidelist/85291580.cms">IRCTC, Tata Steel, Hero MotoCorp and other top stocks to watch out for on August 13</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/investment/news/hacker-behind-610-million-crypto-hack-conducts-ama-claims-returning-the-money-was-always-a-part-of-the-plan/articleshow/85268481.cms">Hacker behind $610 million crypto hack conducts AMA — claims returning the money was always ‘a part of the plan’</a>

INTERVIEW: Infibeam Avenues is looking to acquire a point-of-sale company

New Delhi, Feb 19 () BSE-listed Infibeam Avenues Ltd on Wednesday said it has forayed into the US, the world's second largest digital payments market by revenue, and will offer its solutions to web and mobile-based small and medium enterprises (SME). Infibeam will offer its vast array of digital payment solutions to web and mobile based SMEs largely operating in the online retail, education, hospitality and travel and tourism industry, apart from other industry verticals under the brand CCAvenue, the company said in a statement. "US market presents a trillion dollar digital payments processing opportunity. As part of our vision to change the way customers trade and transact globally through digitisation of commerce, we are committed to provide the best-in-class online digital payment solutions to merchants and customers in the US," Infibeam MD Vishal Mehta said. He added that to strengthen its position in the region, the company will explore opportunities to partner and collaborate with large financial institutions including selective acquisitions to extend its digital payments solution reach to merchants and customers in the US. "After innovating and dominating the Indian and UAE markets, we are looking forward to launching our advanced real time payment gateway solutions in USA, which is a huge market with over 280 million electronic payment users doing over 450 transactions per capita per year," Infibeam Executive Director Vishwas Patel said. SR SHWSHW

Infibeam Avenues expands digital payments biz to US

<ul><li>SRBC &amp; CO, an EY affiliated company, is accused of sharing sensitive data over emails and with third parties by Infibeam Avenues. </li><li>Infibeam has its own problems with its stock opening to an 8% dip on Monday after reports of the <keyword id="608402" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="data-breach">data breach</keyword> came in over the weekend. </li><li>SRBC &amp; CO is "strongly" denying the allegations while Infibeam is citing "breach of trust" and "loss of faith."</li></ul>A chartered accountancy firm, SRBC &amp; Co — known for being affiliated to Ernst &amp; Young (EY) — is "strongly" denying the allegations of a data breach. But, Infibeam Avenues — a digital company in India that deals with online transactions and e-commerce — is still terminating its contract with the accounting firm, according to stock market filings seen by the <a href="https://www.cnbctv18.com/information-technology/infibeam-fires-auditor-for-sharing-price-sensitive-info-3203941.htm">Press Trust of India.</a> 
 <div type="ExtQuote" text="We strongly deny the allegations against us. We have conducted a comprehensive investigation in the matter and stand by our findings. We are confident of our position and are open to a third party/regulatory inspection in the matter and will respond to the regulators, as required." auname="SRBC &amp; Co Statement"></div>



 Infibeam — a digital company in India that deal with online transaction and e-commerce — informed the Indian stock exchanges that its auditor SRBC &amp; Co, shared unpublished price sensitive information (UPSI) over emails and with third parties not once, but multiple times. And, as the stock markets opened Monday morning, its stock price plummeted by almost 8% to ₹40 per share before recovering. The National Stock Exchange (NSE) and the <keyword id="43628" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Bombay-stock-exchange">Bombay Stock Exchange</keyword> (BSE) — two of India’s biggest stock markets — are yet to act on the issue but Infibeam maintains that there has been a breach of trust and loss of faith. 
 <div type="ExtQuote" text="The board was not convinced with the auditor's explanations, processes and conduct leading to unauthorised sharing of company UPSI. Thus in the interest of the company and with board approval, the auditors were terminated." auname="Infibeam Avenues statement"></div>



 The relationship between Infibeam Avenues and SRBC &amp; Co is dates back to the merger between Avenues India and Infibeam. The accused had raised several alarms over Avenues India’s payment gateway. For one, ₹240 million of the <a href="https://m.dailyhunt.in/news/india/english/entrackr+english-epaper-entrackr/auditor+alarms+concerns+over+advance+payments+to+vendors+and+revenue+filed+by+infibeam+in+q3-newsid-109043718">reported</a> revenue by Infibeam in December 2018 actually belonged in the first and second quarters of the financial year according to the auditors asking Infibeam to clarify its calculation processes. Even in the market, things haven’t been the smoothest for Infibeam, where its stock prices <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/stocks/news/how-a-whatsapp-note-triggers-crash-in-infibeam-avenue/articleshow/66002863.cms">dipped</a> by 75% in the last financial year. After SRBC &amp; Co’s termination, accounting firm Shah &amp; Taparia will continue on as auditors for the company. The public scrutiny has a detrimental effect on SRBC &amp; Co’s reputation as well as EY in light of IL&amp;FS defaulting on its payments to lenders. EY, along with PwC, <keyword id="6358918" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="deloitte">Deloitte</keyword> and KPMG, have been <a href="https://www.livemint.com/companies/news/govt-likely-to-ban-deloitte-for-five-years-for-alleged-malpractice-in-il-fs-accounts-1556425159041.html">asked to refrain</a> from practicing law until otherwise specified as well as disclose all of their financial details and dealings with IL&amp;FS. In fact, the biggest financial scandal of 2018 may end up costing Deloitte <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/the-biggest-financial-scandal-of-2018-may-cost-deloitte-five-years-of-business-in-india/articleshow/69090512.cms">five years of business in India.</a> See also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/the-biggest-financial-scandal-of-2018-may-cost-deloitte-five-years-of-business-in-india/articleshow/69090512.cms">The biggest financial scandal of 2018 may cost Deloitte five years of business in India</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/here-are-the-most-controversial-data-breaches-of-2018-that-affected-indian-users/articleshow/67148364.cms">Here are the most controversial data breaches of 2018 that affected Indian users</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/sbi-data-breach-leaves-millions-of-users-data-exposed/articleshow/67767832.cms">India’s largest bank leaves the data of millions of users exposed</a>

Indian e-commerce firm Infibeam fires its auditor for alleged data breach — stock tanks as much as 8%

<ul><li>The <keyword id="1783182" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="NUE">NUE</keyword> licence would enable the entity to hold pan-India control in payments, rivalling the likes of the government backed National Payments Corporation of India.</li><li>Reliance has reportedly signed up with Google and Facebook to set up a ‘new umbrella entity’ (NUE), which will be promoted by RIL and Infibeam Avenues’ So Hum Bharat.</li><li><keyword id="6355725" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="tata-group">Tata Group</keyword>, <keyword id="18635" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Amazon">Amazon</keyword> and Paytm too have formed their own consortiums to apply for the licence.</li></ul>When <keyword id="3820" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Mukesh-Ambani">Mukesh Ambani</keyword> signed up for a $5.7 billion cheque from Mark Zuckerberg in April, 2020, he made a promise to the Facebook founder to help boost their payments innovations in India. While WhatsApp pay is yet to take off, one year later, it seems Ambani is delivering on that promise through another route which can only be bigger. Reliance has <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/tech-bytes/reliance-partners-google-facebook-in-seeking-nue-licence-from-rbi/articleshow/81237979.cms">reportedly </a>signed up with Google and Facebook to set up a ‘new umbrella entity’ (NUE), which will be promoted by RIL and Infibeam Avenues’ So Hum Bharat. Infibeam Avenues’ currently runs the payments gateway CCAvenue. India’s central bank had floated the bid for NUE licences in August, 2020. The NUE licence would enable the entity to hold pan-India control in payments, rivalling the likes of the government backed National Payments Corporation of India. NPCI is an initiative backed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) which acts as an umbrella entity that operates retail payments and settlements. The NUE licence would give the companies the opportunity to set up, manage and operate “ATMs, White Label PoS; Aadhaar based payments and remittance services; develop new payment methods, standards and technologies; monitor related issues in the country and internationally; take care of developmental objectives like enhancement of awareness about the payment systems,” according to the RBI guidelines. The RBI, which had initially set a deadline of February 26, 2021 for the application of the licences, recently extended it until March 31, 2021. According to <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/tech-bytes/reliance-partners-google-facebook-in-seeking-nue-licence-from-rbi/articleshow/81237979.cms?from=mdr">reports</a>, RBI is initially going to give out only two NUE licences. Competition is high A stake in the control over India’s burgeoning digital payments market, which sees over 93 million transactions worth $12 billion daily, as per a report by HDFC Securities from December, 2020, is an opportunity that Reliance isn’t the only one vying for. <div type="image" title="payments transaction." msid="81268420" hostid="261"></div> The 152-year old conglomerate Tata Group, which is looking to build its own Super App spread across retail and payments, has <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/tech-bytes/tata-group-takes-over-sbi-bid-for-nue-licence-from-rbi/articleshow/81237978.cms">reportedly</a> taken over the bid initially expressed by State Bank of India and Bank of Baroda. The Tatas are bidding through their subsidiary company Ferbine Private Limited, in which HDFC Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank had already picked up a 9.99% stake each. The deal is also backed by Mastercard, PayU and Reliance’s telecom competitor Bharti Airtel. In an exchange filing declaring its stake in Tata-owned Ferbine, Kotak Mahindra Bank had said, “The main business of the company would be to operating a pan-India umbrella entity for retail payment systems, as would be allowed/licenced by RBI, subject to the approval of the NUE application.” <keyword id="191583" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Jeff-Bezos">Jeff Bezos</keyword>’ e-commerce firm Amazon, which has been bullish about the Indian payments sector and rolled out its own product Amazon Pay, <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/tech-bytes/amazon-icici-bank-axis-bank-ready-with-nue-plan-to-rival-npci-upi/articleshow/81181363.cms">has partnered</a> with ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and others for the NUE licence. Meanwhile, India’s digital payments poster boy Vijay Shekhar Sharma too isn’t one to miss out on the opportunity. Paytm too has<a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/technology/paytm-ola-and-indusind-bank-team-up-to-apply-for-nue-license/articleshow/81217427.cms"> reportedly</a> partnered with Induslnd Bank, Ola Financial and others to bid for the licence. The partnerships have sprung up as the RBI mandates that ‘no single promoter/promoter group shall have more than 40% investment in the capital of the NUE’. The latest developments in the payments sector with the Tata Group, Reliance and Amazon is just the latest in the rivalry between the three companies, who are already competing in the Indian retail sector. The Tata Group is eyeing a 68% stake in Indian grocery e-retail startup BigBasket. The Indian e-grocery sector is heating up with the world’s richest man Jeff Bezos betting on it with Amazon Pantry, India’s richest man Mukesh Ambani upping the game with JioMart. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/elon-musk-and-reliance-industries-mukesh-ambani-compete-in-energy-storage-skytran-and-hyperloop/articleshow/81266903.cms">Elon Musk is facing a challenge from Asia’s richest man Mukesh Ambani in India⁠— both in energy and transportation</a>

EXPLAINED: The NUE licence for payments that Tata, Ambani and Bezos have applied for

<ul><li><keyword id="8087626" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="prosus" source="Orion">Prosus</keyword>, the company behind PayU has terminated a $4.7 billion deal to acquire <keyword id="225041" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="billdesk" source="Orion">BillDesk</keyword>.</li><li>The company has said that certain conditions precedent were not met by the deadline at the end of September.</li><li>Prosus had announced the deal in August last year.</li></ul> Prosus NV, which owns PayU, has terminated a $4.7 billion (about Rs 38,400 crore) deal to acquire Indian payments firm BillDesk after conditions on the deal weren't met. In a statement, Prosus said certain conditions precedent weren't met by the deadline at the end of September. Approval of the Competition Commission of India (CCI), which was one of the conditions precedent, was received on September 5 but Prosus did not specify which other conditions were not met. A condition precedent is a stipulation that defines certain conditions that must either occur or be met by either party to ensure progress or execution of a contract. The amalgamation of BillDesk with PayU of Prosus would have created a digital payments giant with an annual total payment volume (TPV) of $147 billion. Its closest rivals in India such as Razorpay and CCAvenue, which is owned by Infibeam, are estimated to have an annual TPV of over $50 billion and $18-20 billion, respectively. This would have been the largest acquisition of Prosus, a Dutch e-commerce company. Prosus had on August 31 last year announced the acquisition of BillDesk in an all-cash deal to expand its footprint in India's booming fintech sector under the umbrella of its payment gateway PayU. There is no break-free associated with the deal. Prosus, majority owned by Naspers, serves more than 4,50,000 merchants with over 100 payment methods. Prosus has been a long term investor and operator in India investing close to $6 billion in technology companies like Swiggy, and Pharmeasy since 2005, it said. BillDesk, founded by three consultants from Arthur Andersen LLP - MN Srinivasu, Ajay Kaushal and Karthik Ganapathy - in 2000, benefited from a surge in growth in digital payments as smartphones adoption grew and Internet access became ubiquitous. The founders would have collected $500 million each from the deal. "Closing of the transaction was subject to the fulfilment of various conditions precedent, including approval of the CCI," Prosus said in a statement. While CCI approval was secured on September 5, 2022, "certain conditions precedent were not fulfilled by September 30, 2022 long stop date and the agreement has terminated automatically in accordance with its terms and, accordingly, the proposed transaction will not be implemented," it said. It remains committed to the Indian market and growing its existing business within the region, Prosus statement added. Launched when the term fintech didn't even exist, BillDesk - which counts private equity firm General Atlantic as its single-largest shareholder with a holding of about 14.2 per cent - is said to have the largest roster of business clients among payment gateways in India. It provides solutions ranging from settlements, collections, reconciliations, and auto settlements. It also partners with companies in categories such as billing, utility payments, direct-to-consumer procurement, government payments, financial services, and telecom. TA Associates held a 13.1 per cent stake while Visa had 12.6 per cent in the firm. The three founders had close to 30 per cent shareholding. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/heres-all-you-need-to-know-about-suzlon-energys-1200-crore-rights-issue-after-founder-tulsi-tantis-death/articleshow/94617068.cms">Here’s all you need to know about Suzlon Energy’s ₹1,200 crore rights issue after founder Tulsi Tanti’s death</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/corporates/news/infosys-to-lead-it-sectors-q2-show-with-4-revenue-growth-says-jefferies/articleshow/94606976.cms">Infosys to lead IT sector’s Q2 show with 4% revenue growth, says Jefferies</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/mumbai-tops-real-estate-sales-and-new-launches-in-september-quarter/articleshow/94613731.cms">Mumbai tops real estate sales and new launches in September quarter</a>

Prosus terminates $4.7 bn deal to acquire BillDesk

<ul><li>The fintech startup is looking to file its DRHP with market regulator SEBI in July.</li><li>It plans to raise $3 billion through its IPO, making it the biggest public market debut in India.</li><li>Food delivery app Zomato and online auto classifieds CarTrade have also filed their documentation to go public this year.</li></ul>Digital payments giant <keyword id="6357120" type="DEFINITION" weightage="20" keywordseo="paytm">Paytm</keyword> has appointed <keyword id="6361649" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Goldman-Sachs">Goldman Sachs</keyword> and <keyword id="63460" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="JP-Morgan">JP Morgan</keyword> as merchant bankers for its upcoming initial public offering (IPO), a source aware of the development told Business Insider. The fintech startup is looking to file its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) in July, and expects to make its debt in the public market by November 2021. The company is also looking to appoint more merchant bankers and advisers such as Morgan Stanley and Citigroup Inc for the IPO. The company plans to raise ₹21,800 crore or $3 billion through this public offering, at a valuation of $25 billion to $30 billion. This could be the largest IPO in India, surpassing Coal India Ltd’s offering to raise ₹15,000 crore ($2 billion at current conversion rate) in 2010. Paytm declined to comment when Business Insider reached out. Paytm is currently valued at $16 billion, after <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/vijay-shekhar-sharma-opens-next-chapter-at-paytm-as-it-raises-1-billion-from-t-rowe-softbank-and-others/articleshow/72217033.cms">raising </a>$1 billion in November 2019 from T Rowe Price, Ant Group and Softbank Vision Fund. The round catapulted Paytm to the position of the most valued startup in India, and it was recently <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/byjus-most-valuable-startup-in-india-and-11th-in-the-world-with-a-valuation-of-16-5-billion/articleshow/83477466.cms">overtaken by BYJU’s</a> that raised $350 million at a valuation of $16.5 billion. Overall, Paytm has raised close to $3.2 billion to date from investors like Berkshire Hathaway, Alibaba Group and more. One97 Communications was founded in 2000 by Vijay Shekhar Sharma, who launched Paytm in 2010. Paytm is one of the biggest digital payments companies in India with offerings across several digital modes of payments like unified payments interface (UPI), credit and debit cards payments. It also offers wealth management solutions through Paytm Money and banking services through Paytm Payments Banks. Paytm is currently said to be in talks with BillDesk, PayU and publicly-listed Infibeam Avenues for a possible acquisition, merger or investments. While Paytm denied the report, a source<a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/startups/paytm-in-exploratory-talks-with-three-payment-gateway-firms-sources/articleshow/83452283.cms"> told</a> ET that the talks are still in the initial stages. Notably, Paytm too has a payment gateway, but the above-mentioned platforms have specialised businesses. Besides this, the Noida-based company may also<a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/technology/paytm-to-get-7-stake-in-japans-paypay/articleshow/82579967.cms"> acquire </a>about 7% stake in QR code-based payments business PayPay Japan. PayPay is a cashless payment service, which is run by a joint venture between SoftBank and Yahoo Japan. It has about 40 million users and facilitates 2 billion transactions annually. Paytm is a technology partner of the Japan-based fintech company. Paytm had reported a marginal drop in its revenues in the financial year 2020, as its revenue dipped from ₹3,391 crore in FY19 to ₹3,350 crore. It also reduced its net loss by 28%, from ₹3,954 crore to ₹2,833 crore. The Indian startup ecosystem is all set to witness some high profile IPOs this year. Food aggregator business Zomato and auto classifieds platform CarTrade have already filed their DRHPs, whereas insurtech platform <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-04-07/softbank-backed-policybazaar-said-to-plan-ipo-filing-next-month#:~:text=Indian%20online%20insurance%20platform%20Policybazaar,The%20SoftBank%20Group%20Corp.">PolicyBazaar,</a> fashion and logistics unicorn <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/startups/delhivery-to-list-in-6-8-months-expects-to-raise-500-million-via-ipo/articleshow/83296599.cms">Delhivery</a> will be doing so soon. Earlier this year, Nazara Technologies and EaseMyTrip made their debut in the public market. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/retail/news/bigbasket-makes-more-revenue-than-32-year-old-spencers-retail/articleshow/83570315.cms">Did you know? BigBasket makes more revenue than 32-year old Spencer’s Retail</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/apps/news/twitter-may-now-be-directly-responsible-for-every-single-tweet-in-india/articleshow/83565645.cms">Twitter may now be directly responsible for every single tweet in India</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/policy/news/china-will-not-buy-iron-copper-aluminum-zinc-and-some-other-commodities-from-foreign-countries/articleshow/83565216.cms">China has decided to take global commodity bulls by their horns ⁠— to protect the profit margins of its small businesses</a>

Paytm ropes in Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan as bankers for upcoming IPO ⁠— there may be more along the way

Is e-commerce 2.0 over in India? Going by the recent ripple of mergers and closures, impacted by an overall volatile economy, we often assume the worse. Investors’ loss of trust in the Indian ecosystem has become a litany for some time now but in spite of the downtime, a handful of Indian e-commerce firms have hit the headlines in 2013 for fast-paced growth and the big bucks they have managed to raise. Their operations vary widely – it can be as simple as business listing, as predictable as selling books and lifestyle items online or as unique as creating a whole new platform for a consumer requirement. But routine or innovative, these six Indian companies have gained both investors’ support and consumer trust that keep them going. Find out what’s making them tick while we bring you a tongue-in-cheek account of possible mergers &amp; acquisitions that may happen on their way. 
 
 
<keyword id="430602" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="JustDial">JustDial</keyword>: What’s next after a roaring listing business? 
Forget MakeMyTrip and its iconic NASDAQ listing – here is one success story just as good. Fresh from a mind-blowing IPO that was oversubscribed 12 times, this India-focused local business listing site has already entered online food ordering space and has some more projects in the pipeline. Of course, the Rs 950 crore IPO – a pure offer for sale in which founder VSS Mani and investors, including Tiger Global, Sequoia Capital and SAP Ventures, sold some 1.75 crore shares – is the largest on the Indian bourses this year and one of the biggest by an Indian Internet firm. 
 
However, the start-up had done its fair share of tight-rope walking earlier in the day. Since his first-ever business directory service AskMe failed in the early 90s, Mani made sure to make the next initiative failure-proof – taking one cautious step at a time (initially answering consumer queries over phone, then graduating to web queries and next moving on to mobile apps). Finally, India got its biggest business listings company, built from a paltry seed capital of Rs 50,000. And here is another interesting bit of information. Since 1999, Mani had taken six shots at the bourses and the last one has gone right home. 
 
Road ahead: What feels good about this start-up is that, JustDial is already up and about, looking at new businesses. In a recent media interview, Mani confirmed that the company would soon expand its online service range – diversifying into cab, movie ticket and doctor appointment booking. 
 
If consolidation happens: What if... search giant Google wants to focus more on India and requires a local partner that has scale and reach across multiple businesses? In fact, <keyword id="45395" type="CITY" weightage="40" keywordseo="Google-India">Google India</keyword> has already introduced Product Listing ads that will display features like product images, pricing and more, to highlight merchant offerings. Will it thrive more if JustDial comes on board? 
 
<keyword id="541988" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="SnapDeal">Snapdeal</keyword>: All about pivots, deals &amp; marketplace, but can it do a TaoBao? Talk about pivots and you have Kunal Bahl who has done it as many times as Robert Bruce and courted success. His business pivoted seven times as Bahl started by selling restaurant deal vouchers (and printed ones at that); came up with a daily deal site and finally pivoted to a zero-inventory, e-commerce marketplace just like Amazon, with a B2C (business to consumer) focus. That definitely makes it different from <keyword id="161767" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="eBay-India">eBay India</keyword> where the focus is C2C. Snapdeal claims to be doing it big – with 20 million registered users and around 14-15 million visitors each month, according to his recent interaction with AllThingsD. And a total funding of $114 million or so (eBay is an existing investor in the company as well) definitely speaks a lot in terms of investor confidence. Snapdeal is not profitable yet, but it is eyeing an annual GMV of $400 million this fiscal and wants to do a billion dollar in GMV by 2015. 
 
Road ahead: Media reports say Bahl is all set to do a TaoBao Mall (a dedicated B2C e-commerce marketplace run by China’s Alibaba Group) right here in India. The seasoned entrepreneur prefers to call the marketplace a vast product discovery platform with fast and furious growth and has recently introduced a customer protection service called TrustPay – a service that ensures 100% money-back guarantee in case of any issue with product quality, size or delivery. It also serves as a seller protection service against any kind of consumer fraud. Snapdeal’s agility to move ahead of the market could be its USP, especially now that it has started working on ad revenues, but can it really achieve the momentum and the scale in the Indian context? 
 
If consolidation happens: That eBay is one of the investors in Snapdeal is an interesting fact. If the company ever considers a readymade marketplace with a B2B focus, this will be a good deal. Then there is <keyword id="6354743" type="COMPANY" weightage="40" keywordseo="Amazon-India">Amazon India</keyword> who could be buying out all competition. But given a choice, would it buy <keyword id="6354742" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Flipkart">Flipkart</keyword> or Snapdeal? Well, your guess is as good as ours. 
 
Flipkart: Big bucks are rolling in, but is the business booming? 
Don’t shop, Flipkart it – that’s the new mantra of this prolific e-com player, founded by Sachin and Binny Bansal (they are not related). They started as a book e-tailer, but soon expanded into all possible categories – from fashion to fitness and accessories, gadgets &amp; electronics to home &amp; lifestyle products, baby care items, toys and more. The success mantra is simple – best pricing and speedy delivery, backed by a dedicated logistics team. Understandably, the traction is awesome – the company claims to have 10 million registered users and over 1 million unique visitors a day. 
 
Flipkart has recently raised a fifth round of funding worth $200 million from its existing investors – Tiger Global, Accel Partners, ICONIQ Capital and South African Internet company Naspers – taking the total funding to more than $380 million. But that doesn’t mean all is well in paradise. It has recently shut down some digital businesses like Flyte (a much-hyped MP3 store launched only a year ago) and cut down on a number of electronics categories. On the plus side, it has launched its own payment gateway called PayZippy, introduced a voice-based search on the site, started selling e-books and has come up with a marketplace where third party vendors can sell directly to consumers. Flipkart has also entered a deal with the US-based indie e-book distributor Smashwords, Inc., which gives it access to Smashwords’ eBook store – a catalogue of 2 lakh-plus vetted and formatted e-books from more than 60,000 authors and publishers. 
 
Road ahead: Ambitious, to say the least, especially after the Series E booster. Just like Snapdeal, this e-com biggie wants to reach an annual GMV of $1 billion by 2015 besides doubling up the number of sellers on the marketplace to 1,000 by the end of this year. Although Flipkart is constantly harping on global level hiring, the biggest chunk of the funds raised is bound to be spent on technology, supply chain and (don’t be shocked) product development. PayZippy could be just the beginning and going ahead, Flipkart may evolve into a technology enabler for offline businesses keen to have an online presence. Infibeam’s Build A Bazaar, SmartStore from BigFoot Retail and PayU India’s PayUPaisa are doing just the same, but Flipkart can actually do a PayUPaisa by integrating the proprietary payment gateway with the Web stores for additional revenues (just like PayUPaisa does). 
 
But it is the Smashwords deal that intrigues us most. According to Nielsen BookScan Retail Panel data, in 2013, Flipkart holds an average of 40-45% in terms of value when it comes to the organised books market in India and the company has plans to grow it substantially. If that happens, it will become the undisputed market leader in the books category – both online and offline. And before we forget, Flipkart may focus even more on private labels – it already markets a private label brand called Digiflip for digital accessories such as laptop bags and camera pouches. But the biggest challenge is to get over the few setbacks, bring back the positive drive and get ready for a much-anticipated IPO. 
 
If consolidation happens: A head-on between Snapdeal and Flipkart or Amazon and Flipkart will be extremely interesting. However, the company is not losing much sleep over the competition from existing marketplaces. Another possibility is Flipkart acquiring Tradus since they have a common investor in Naspers and such deals have taken place before. 
 
<keyword id="6388367" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Jabong">Jabong</keyword>: Fashion e-tailing on a roll, but for how long? 
Shun the incremental and go for the leap, said Jack Welch of GE. And if there’s one online retailer in the fashion and lifestyle segment that has literally fallen for this mandate, it’s Jabong.com, the dark horse in the fiercely competitive Indian e-commerce space. In less than 20 months, the Rocket Internet-backed venture has banged into the top rung – the third most-visited online shopping site after Myntra.com and Flipkart.com, according to a recent report by comScore. Reasons for such eyeballs? Huge inventory, aggressive marketing, speedy delivery and best-in-class customer care (including third-party logistics services). The deep pockets of the Samwer brothers help it burn the cash left, right and centre, and around 50-60% of its sales are coming from small towns, its founder, Arun Chandra Mohan, said in a recent media interaction. 
 
Road ahead: Could be bleak, going by Rocket’s reputation of creating hype and disposing its assets at the earliest. Jabong claims to do around 14,000 orders a day (average ticket size not disclosed), but it is yet to hit profitability. The company is said to be experimenting with private labels, but does not seem to be pushing it big time in spite of potential big margins. Moreover, just like Flipkart, Jabong has also handed out the pink slips. At the end of the day, it has to find a viable business model and we hope that the third-party logistics can bring in some hard cash as e-tailing spreads across the country. 
 
If consolidation happens: A takeover bid, either by Myntra or by Flipkart, will definitely put the bidder on the top. However, Flipkart is an unlikely candidate as its late initiative to enter fashion and lifestyle space is yet to gain traction and scale. Of course, it is not lacking in funds, but considering that the firm has already launched a marketplace in April this year and facing some stiff competition from Amazon India and other desi e-com marketplaces, will it really invest in an inventory-led model? Myntra, on the other hand, could be game if it is seriously considering a No. 1 slot. Interestingly, Bangalore-based Myntra is one of the heaviest funded players in the e-commerce space and has raised around $64 million till date. It has also made some interesting acquisitions and a shot at a competitor might not be unlikely. 
 
Just Zomato it: You can’t find a spicier chunk of food business 
Is this online restaurant guide doing a Jabong in terms of fast and furious growth? Well, apparently, going by the latest report card. Just five years into the business, this Gurgaon-based firm has expanded to 28 cities across 8 countries (India, the UAE, Qatar, Sri Lanka, the UK, the Philippines, South Africa and New Zealand) – with listings of over 1,18,000 restaurants and 15 million monthly users (web and mobile). And it all happened because founder Deepinder Goyal, while working for Bain &amp; Co. in Delhi, decided to do something about easy access to food joints, rather than stomaching an overcrowded office cafeteria or flying blind to find nearby eateries. 
 
Zomato’s USP is its user-generated reviews (pretty stringent, going by the new parameters set up not too long ago). Moneywise, it is pretty well-funded. Info Edge (India) Ltd, which runs a string of consumer internet portals including the coveted job listing site Naukri.com, is the majority stakeholder in Zomato and invested around Rs 86.06 crore in the company. 
 
Road ahead: Next destinations are Brazil and Turkey, to say nothing of the recent tie-up it had with UK-based toptables for restaurant booking in London, Manchester and Birmingham. And for a change, this start-up has reached break-even in India and Dubai could be next on the cards. As of now, revenues roll in via ads, event ticketing and restaurant booking. 
 
If consolidation happens: If you are not on Zomato, you are not really there – that’s how the saying goes for restaurants. So the next logical step is to expand into restaurant booking (it has already done it in the UK) and online food ordering. Zomato has reportedly declined such expansion plans in India, but going by JustDial’s latest foray into the online food ordering space, a look at Foodpanda (India), a food ordering platform backed by Rocket Internet, or other homegrown restaurant reservation sites like TableGrabber.com, Dineout.co.in, PoshVine.com and Tablewalla.com may just work out well for Zomato.

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