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<ul><li>Snapdeal added 6 million new buyers on its platform during the pandemic.</li><li>Its recent 5-day sale kicked-off on October 16 and ended on October 20. </li><li>Rajnish Wahi, Senior Vice President, Snapdeal tells us some of the trends the platform saw during its pre-Diwali sale, its plan to go deeper into Bharat and USPs that helped it stand out in the clutter of online sales. </li></ul>Indian consumers have always been value-conscious, who take pride in their haggling skills and with the pandemic, buyers are expecting greater value for their spends. Therefore, e-commerce player Snapdeal’s sale, which took place between October 16 to 20, focused on offering ‘Kum Mein Dum Diwali,’ i.e., value deals for lesser money. According to Snapdeal, less than 5% percent of retail is online and during this on-going <keyword id="36208" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="festive-season">festive season</keyword>, the platform’s aim is to bring more users online and give them strong reasons to switch. Snapdeal observed that consumers weren’t willing to buy premium brands this year and wanted to access the online platforms in their regional language. So, as other e-commerce platforms offered premium brands at a discounted price, Snapdeal wanted to make online shopping more inclusive for buyers across India. It focused more on non-metro cities, which is a market with potential 400 million users and shipped orders to rural places like Palasner in Maharashtra, Abdasa in Gujarat, Kalsi in Uttarakhand, Chitkul in Himachal among many others. Ahead of the sale, Snapdeal added 1300 new pin codes to go deeper into Bharat, areas which were previously unserviceable or where users were compelled to travel to nearby towns to collect their orders. It also updated its user interface by adding eight languages including Hindi, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam, Gujarati, Punjabi, and Marathi. As a result, 70% of its orders were received by sellers located beyond the top 5 metropolitan areas of the country and 90% of its orders were placed from non-metro cities. We caught up with Rajnish Wahi, Senior Vice President, Snapdeal to further understand some of trends that the platform saw during its sale. Excerpts: Q. The role of engagement and communication has never been more important, especially in today’s digital-first world. How are you making sure your communication during this year's sale is relevant to consumers? Snapdeal is sharply focused on catering to the value-conscious consumers, who see e-commerce as the connecting link between their aspirations, access and affordability. Our theme for this year’s festive sale - “Kum Mein Dum Diwali '' clearly communicates our core message - your shopping rupee has more value this year. As part of our sale preparations, we had conducted a survey of nearly 1.25 Lakh users and one of the key insights was user unwillingness to pay for brand premiums this year and instead focus on the functional value of their purchases. Based on these inputs, the festive assortment was expanded in a focused manner by on-boarding additional sellers for popular products like kitchen appliances, kitchenware, bed linen, apparel, footwear and fashion accessories like watches, wallets, etc. Shaping our sale offers around the clearly-stated expectations of our customers and conveying the same unambiguously through our festive promotions and digital marketing is the sum and substance of our festive communication. Q. This year is different. People have been observed to be judicious in spending. How has the consumer sentiment improved? While 2020 has been a volatile year, we see that there are many tailwinds that are propelling our business. The pandemic has resulted in redistribution of demand between offline and online channels, with online gaining share due to its inherent advantages of reach, convenience, large assortment and safety of buying from home. It has also accelerated the familiarity and acceptance of e-commerce amongst new buyers. With the pandemic, consumers have become more price conscious and are likely to opt for lesser-priced products, while not compromising on their quality expectations. Given all of this, we have seen two sets of buyers come on Snapdeal - one which is trading up to a better assortment and one that is trading down and opting for better functional value instead of big brands. In fact, we have added 6 million new buyers on our platform in the pandemic. We are witnessing the return of enthusiasm for festivities and it is also apparent that online channels will be a preferred medium for a larger number of buyers this year. But it will also be different this year, as more people will be price conscious and will look to spend on quality products that suit their price sensibilities. In a way, Snapdeal’s “Kum Me Dum” focus is about “offering more choices at price points better than last year”, especially for popular categories like home &amp; fashion, which has been made possible by year-long focus on expanding our value selection. Q. With the on-going festive season, many other platforms will have their Sales days too. How do you then cut the clutter and make sure you win consumers? How will you be different from the other players in the segment? Snapdeal is synonymous with value e-commerce. While others in the industry are now starting to build a value segment, we at Snapdeal have been focused on “only value” for the last three years. While other platforms are making efforts to sell branded items at discounted prices, these are still not affordable for a majority of the buyers in the country. On the other hand, we are focussed on bringing the depth and diversity of India's bazaars &amp; markets to the doorsteps of our users. On Snapdeal, buyers find endless varieties of regional and local brands that not only serve their needs, but also offer immense value at affordable prices. The result of our “Kum Mein Dum” Diwali sale bears testimony to this - more than 80% of Snapdeal’s Diwali shoppers chose to buy regional &amp; local brands on Snapdeal. The strong growth of lesser-known brands relative to national/international brands has been because of two key reasons: increased choice and a substantial price difference. Our value-focused positioning runs consistently through our selection and communication and is one the reasons why 90% of our orders flow from non-metros cities and towns across the country. Q. What are some of the other trends you are expecting to see this festive? Our first sales results are out and are reflective of how close the lives of users revolve around their homes. The sale in the home products category has grown by 30% over last year and has become the largest category on Snapdeal this year, overtaking the fashion category, which has traditionally been the top-performer at Snapdeal. The growth in the home category is propelled by popular products like kitchen appliances, kitchenware, bed &amp; bath,decor,cleaning equipment, lighting and comforters &amp; blankets etc. This growth in the fitness category reflects the extra time that people have on their hands and also underscores heightened awareness about personal health &amp; fitness. This category has grown by 45% over last year led by gym essentials like tummy trimmers, push-up bars, wrist supports, fitness gloves, hand grip strengtheners etc. Users buying sports equipment like badminton racquets &amp; cricket sets and weighing machines are also strong consumer trends. While the fashion category has also grown from previous years in terms of shipped units, the growth is less than other higher-performing categories. In the fashion category, there is an increased spending on kidswear in the festive season. . Among popular picks in Snapdeal’s Diwali sale are men’s &amp; women’s grooming products, nutritional supplements, religious items (prayer books, temples accessories etc). With the deterioration of air quality in North India, the sale of N95 masks, air-purifier filters, anti-pollution skincare items, skin moisturisers, lip balms has also increased. Snapdeal also witnessed an increase in gifting via e-commerce early in this festive season. The range of festivals starting with Karva Chauth and followed by Dhanteras, Diwali, Bhaiya Dooj and Chhath Puja have become important gifting occasions for users in various parts of the country. While in the previous years, shoppers used e-commerce channels to buy and ship to families &amp; friends in other cities, this year many shoppers in metro cities are also sending gifts to people living in the same cities. This year gift cards have also been hugely popular among people to send to their friends and family, with a 3X surge in orders as compared to the festive sale last year. These included gift cards of travel, entertainment, food and retail brands which were upto 30% off. Q. How are you working towards improving the overall consumer experience? E-Commerce in India has grown beyond the first 100 Mn largely urban, English-speaking users. A market of potentially 400 Mn users is now emerging across India’s smaller non-metro cities. This is a very diverse cohort in terms of languages spoken, literacy levels, frequency of online purchases and familiarity with technology. A large part of Snapdeal’s existing user base and new users come from this cohort and all our focus and efforts are on building the right experience that our users want. That means we work tirelessly to give them a wide array of products to choose from, and at just the right prices they are looking to spend. We also make it easy in many other ways for users to buy on Snapdeal. This includes providing interfaces on our app &amp; m-site in eight Indian languages, so that they can browse through products &amp; transact in a language of their choice. We also enable conversation with our customer service agents in multiple Indian languages. Transaction and promotional messages all are available in many Indian languages. Some other ways, in which we support our users to buy is by helping them make well-informed choices through short 10-second product videos which are far more captivating and help buyers to make decisions faster than static pictures of the products concerned, easy 7-days return, no questions asked refunds policy. We are the only platform that provides uninterrupted access to cash-on-delivery option even during the turbulent early days of pandemic lockdowns. Q. Which are your strongest markets currently? How are you planning to strengthen your presence in other markets? We have a strong pan India presence. During the current sale and consistent with Snapdeal’s positioning, more than 90% of Snapdeal’s orders were placed from non-metro cities. Populous cities like Nagpur, Vijayawada, Surat, Bhopal, Chandigarh, Visakhapatnam, Ranchi, Patna, Guwahati and others continued to drive orders on Snapdeal, but smaller cities like Sagar (Madhya Pradesh), Raniganj &amp; Durgapur (West Bengal), Patiala &amp; Gurdaspur (Punjab), Anand, Bharuch, Una, (Gujarat), Miryalaguda (Andhra Pradesh) and Bhimavaram (Telangana) also clock impressive order volumes. With our recent network expansion, Snapdeal has also shipped orders to rural places like Palasner in Maharashtra, Abdasa in Gujarat, Kalsi in Uttarakhand, Chitkul in Himachal amidst many others. Q. What are your current MAUs? More than 70 million users visit Snapdeal every month to browse and buy from our vast catalogue of 220 million plus listings. Q. What kind of target have you set for this year's sale? Do you anticipate people to buy more, considering a lot of people might have pushed buying things for the festive season? What kind of numbers do you aim to reach this year? Less than five percent of retail is online, which is an incredibly small penetration number. In our view, Diwali or not, our job to bring more buying options for our users doesn’t change. Diwali does serve as a milestone to accelerate some of our related initiatives or build virtual infrastructure to connect the dots between demand and supply in our country. This year, ahead of the festive season, we on-boarded additional sellers of popular products like kitchen appliances, kitchenware, bed linen, apparel, footwear and fashion accessories like watches, wallets, etc., as indicated by our users in a survey. In the run-up to Diwali, Snapdeal also on-boarded 5000 manufacturer-sellers who sell products like water purifiers, choppers &amp; blenders, steel &amp; copper utensils, crockery items, bedsheets, quilts, geysers, etc directly from their manufacturing units. This year, we knew more and more people would be buying online and ahead of the sale, and expanded our network to add 1300 new pin codes to go deeper into areas which were previously unserviceable or where users were compelled to travel to nearby towns to collect their orders, reaching out to 50 million additional users. Today, we are India's leading value-focused marketplace with more than 500,000 registered sellers and we cover 27000 + pin code areas across the length and breadth of the country.

Why Snapdeal targeted non-metro cities and rural India during its pre-Diwali sale

Finance Minister <keyword id="129243" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Nirmala-Sitharaman">Nirmala Sitharaman</keyword> called startups the ‘strength of India’ as she pushed “job seekers” to turn “job creators”. In a big move, employees at startups who have stock options will be exempt from tax if they leave the company or sell their shares in the first five years. She proposed the tax relief given to startups. Earlier, a startup with turnover up to ₹25 crores was allowed 100% tax deduction on profits for seven years. The budget also proposed to expand it on two counts that can include older startups and those which are larger too. Here are some top reactions: Neelesh Talathi, CFO, Pepperfry 
 
 <div type="image" title="Neelesh Talathi, CFO Pepperfry" msid="73843354" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Neelesh Talathi, CFO Pepperfry&amp;lt;br&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div>





 “The Finance Minister has been empathetic about no tax harassment, resolving litigations. Resolving credit issues, app-based working capital solutions and more strategic aspects like National Logistic Policy are all initiatives that address core issues of our MSME sector.” “While these efforts will help boost the economy, it is imperative to arrest slippage in the Fiscal Deficit. To augur investment in our economy an aggressive disinvestment agenda, reforms including that of the government machinery etc. would have been welcome." <keyword id="258109" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Mayank-Kumar">Mayank Kumar</keyword>, Co-founder and MD of upGrad 
	
 
 <div type="image" title="Mayank Kumar" msid="73843449" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;strong&amp;gt;Mayank Kumar, Co-founder and MD of upGrad&amp;lt;/strong&amp;gt;&amp;lt;br&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div>





 We at upGrad believe that upskilling is the critical route to steer India towards becoming a $5 trillion economy. But I would have been happier if the Government had taken steps to encourage investment in reskilling among professionals by allowing them a tax-break privilege under Section 80C from the Income Tax Act, 1961, like that of Mutual Funds or Life Insurance." Kunal Bahl, CEO &amp; Co-founder, <keyword id="541988" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="SnapDeal">Snapdeal</keyword> 
	
 
 <div type="image" title="kunal snapdeal" msid="73843509" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Kunal Bahl, CEO &amp;amp;amp; Co-founder, Snapdeal&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div>





 “We are thankful for accepting the start-up sector's request for ESOP taxation reforms. Also, the higher time &amp; turnover limits for carry forward of losses for start-ups will enable them to optimize growth decisions in formative years." Overall, <keyword id="7836802" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Budget-2020">Budget 2020</keyword> is a thoughtful weaving together of specific proposals to tackle varied issues. Measures to improve access to finance for MSMEs and reduced taxation for the middle-income segment are welcome steps. Boosting physical infrastructure, expanding digital connectivity and growing use of technology in government functioning are important building blocks for the long-term growth of the Indian economy." Vivek Goyal, Co-Founder, PlayShifu 
	
 
 <div type="image" title="play" msid="73843683" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Vivek Goyal, PlayShifu&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div>





 "One of the core reasons behind a successful startup is the ability to hire from a very talented pool and to keep them motivated during the long and hard journey of scaling. This is the reason why startups from hubs like Silicon Valley grow up to become world-renowned and add value to society at large. The tax deferment on ESOPs will prove to be one of the significant factors and levers in motivating growth-enabling employees, a great step in helping startups in India to scale by hiring and retaining them! Reforms like these give more power to the Indian startup hub to make a mark on a global scale and contribute towards India's $5 Trillion vision by 2025." Raghav Gupta, Managing Director, India and APAC, Coursera 
	
 
 <div type="image" title="coursera" msid="73843748" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Raghav Gupta, Managing Director, India and APAC, Coursera&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div>





 “It is a progressive budget that acknowledges the role technology can play in addressing challenges and improving access to quality higher education and employment opportunities for India's youth. Government's announcements related to the development of emerging technologies like AI, ML, Data Analytics ecosystem in the country and skilling opportunities for the youth, clearly reflect the focus on preparing the youth for jobs of tomorrow." <keyword id="36872" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Vamsi-Krishna">Vamsi Krishna</keyword>, CEO &amp; Co-founder, Vedantu 
	
 
 <div type="image" title="Vamsi Krishna, CEO and Co-founder of Vedantu" msid="73843907" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Vamsi Krishna, CEO &amp;amp;amp; Co-founder, Vedantu&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div>





 “The vision of making education accessible to the farthest corner of the country will greatly benefit students. The allocation of budget to hone the skill sets of teachers and educators will positively impact quality learning and thereby provide a boost to the education sector. Additionally the allocation of budget to BharatNet will also have a deep impact on skilling rural India as it has the potential to open up online learning to students and professionals from remote villages. With better bandwidth internet, a qualified teacher located in a metro city can impart LIVE online classes to students in small town India, where there’s a dearth of quality education. Technology will soon disrupt the entire concept of the classroom and make it an extremely personalized, one to one teaching-learning experience tailored for each mind.” Ola Mobility Institute “The clean-air fund of Rs 4,400 crores to be provided in the form of incentives to be notified by MoEFCC should consider measures to link the incentives to the electrification of vehicles and associated infrastructure such as battery-swapping and charging." Padmaja Ruparel, Founding Partner, IAN Fund “The budget 2020 represents a big win for the country’s startup ecosystem. The Government has paid heed to our concerns and rolled out reforms like a 5 year tax holiday for ESOP. This positive sentiment is evident in the Government’s drive to roll out “no tax harassment” policies along with the establishment of the investment clearance cell for assisting entrepreneurs in India." See also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/budget/news/startup-esops-to-be-non-taxable-for-five-years/articleshow/73824551.cms">Good news for startup employees - your ESOPs won’t be taxed for five years</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/budget/news/ikea-furniture-and-jimmy-choo-shoes-will-get-costlier-after-budget-2020/articleshow/73841697.cms?src=hp_latest">IKEA furniture and Jimmy Choo shoes will get costlier after budget 2020</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/budget/news/new-education-schemes-reforms-policies-in-budget-2020/articleshow/73836166.cms?src=hp_latest">Budget 2020: Indian education sector will now get students and funds from foreign lands</a>

This is how top startup founders reacted to budget 2020

Online job platform <keyword id="188512" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="monster-com" source="Orion">Monster.com</keyword> on Wednesday said that it has raised Rs 137.5 crore in a funding round led by <keyword id="6491998" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="mohandas-pai" source="Orion">Mohandas Pai</keyword> of Meridian Investments and Akash Bhanshali of Volrado Venture Partners, with participation from Quess, its parent company. The online talent platform said that the funds will be utilised towards enhanced investments on product development and marketing in India, SEA and Middle-East markets. Post the funding, Monster.com is now valued at $100 million. "The last year has been incredible for the company, achieving very healthy growth across all metrics. We have an exciting product and business road map in line with our view on how hiring will evolve in the next few years," said Sekhar Garisa, CEO, Monster.com, APAC &amp; ME. In 2018, Quess Corp acquired Monster.com's businesses in India, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, the UAE and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. According to Pai, the next two years will see a huge increase in available jobs, thanks to high economic growth, and job seekers will find a high-quality platform to plan their careers. "As employers also prepare for a new decade and an employee-first mindset, the platform will help them create a differentiated experience and build deeper relationships with their teams from day one," Pai said. Monster.com has over 60 million active users in India. "Quess acquired Monster for an investment of Rs 145 crore and embarked on a 'Digital First' journey with the objective of creating long-term value for our shareholders and clients," said Ajit Isaac, Executive Chairman, Quess. SEE ALSO <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/check-out-snapdeal-top-executives-like-kunal-bahl-rohit-bansal-salary-for-year-2021/slidelist/88426612.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">Snapdeal cofounders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal will take home up to ₹5 crore in salaries from this year</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/enterprise/news/apple-and-its-patents-in-2021-heres-what-the-tech-giant-could-bring-to-you-in-the-future/articleshow/88426551.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">Apple and its patents in 2021: Here’s what the tech giant could bring to you in the future</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/space/news/scientists-find-more-evidence-of-possible-life-on-venus/articleshow/88425043.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">Scientists find more evidence of possible life on Venus</a>

Job hunt platform Monster.com raises ₹137.5 crore from Mohandas Pai, others

India’s online market place <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=snapdeal&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Snapdeal </a>laid-off 600 employees recently and warned the co-founders employees for more tough decisions. Well, <keyword id="541988" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="SnapDeal">Snapdeal</keyword> is not along in <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=layoffs&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">firing its employees</a> as more<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=startups&amp;sortorder=effectivedate"> Indian startups </a>are handing out pink slips to hundreds. 
 
The fear of being fired is looming large on employees as many startups have begun giving notices to workers to trim costs, save money and make profits. 
 Apart from Snapdeal, other <keyword id="982553" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Indian-startups">Indian startups</keyword> such as <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=craftsvilla&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Craftsvilla</a>, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=yepme&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">YepMe</a>, Tolexo, etc have laid-off employees recently. 
 "(<keyword id="635221" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Craftsvilla">Craftsvilla</keyword>) has laid off more than 100 staffers in recent weeks, including its entire product and technology teams and most of its operations and marketing teams,” a former senior executive of the company told ET. 
 
In fact, some senior employees aware of the coming troubles had put in their papers a couple of months ago, sources told ET. 
 
Industry experts say the lay-offs could be due to slowing funding, rash decisions by founders, etc. 
 "More (<keyword id="6357067" type="EVENT" weightage="20" keywordseo="layoffs">layoffs</keyword>) will happen throughout 2017. The cleanup has started and most consumer internet companies will go through this,” Harminder Sahni, managing director at consultancy Wazir Advisors, told ET. 
 "While we were preparing for the worst, we still had a little hope. But when it was clear the company was shutting, the main priority was to relocate the employees,” Ipe Walliaveetil, who was senior manager for operations at <keyword id="1112419" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Stayzilla">Stayzilla</keyword>, told ET. 
 
Fashion retailer YepMe recently laid off an unspecified number of people from its warehousing and quality control teams. 
 
"We were planning to break-even in January. But demonetisation hit, (the option for cash payments on delivery) disappeared and sales were down. We decided to move our focus outside of India,” Vivek Gaur, founder of YepMe, which recently began operations in the United Kingdom, told ET.

Working for a startup? Your job is in danger

<ul><li>The most popular items on <keyword id="18635" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Amazon">Amazon</keyword>, <keyword id="6354742" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Flipkart">Flipkart</keyword>, <keyword id="541988" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="SnapDeal">Snapdeal</keyword> show that Indians are actually getting ready to stay home for a long time as they bought products to make life at home easier. </li><li>Both Amazon and Flipkart saw a 9X increase in the number of sellers coming back to the platform for business.</li><li>Within the first 24 hours of opening up of e-commerce, Amazon saw a 31X growth in demand for robotic vacuum cleaners, 10X for dumbbells &amp; weights and more.</li></ul>With Lockdown 4.0, e-commerce companies in India finally began selling non-essential items across the nation. E-retailers like Amazon, Flipkart have seen a huge surge in demand ever since then. Both Amazon and Flipkart saw a 9X increase in the number of sellers coming back to the platform for business. “We are proud to see a 9X spike in the number of sellers and MSMEs resuming business this week, compared to the first week of the nationwide lockdown,” said a Flipkart spokesperson. But interestingly, the most popular items on Amazon show that Indians are actually getting ready to stay home for a long time as they bought products to make life at home easier. Within the first 24 hours of opening up of e-commerce, Amazon saw a 31X growth in demand for robotic vacuum cleaners, 10X for dumbbells &amp; weights, 23X for dishwashers, 12.5X for bicycle trainers, women’s flip flops witnessing 2.3X growth, 3.5X in innerwear, 3.9X seen for guitars and 3.6X for children’s books, as compared to the lockdown phase. “We are humbled by the customer response and geared up to meet the pent up demand for priority products that customers need over a prolonged period of lockdown. The sellers on Amazon.in have seen orders for consumer electronics, kitchen &amp; home appliances, smart devices, laptops, phone accessories, apparel and more. Work from home and online schooling enablers such as laptops, books, headphones and computer accessories continue to interest customers,” said an Amazon spokesperson. Meanwhile, Flipkart saw a hike in the demand for kitchen appliances including Hand Blenders, Microwave Ovens and Induction cooktops as well as fans, air coolers and air conditioners “Considering more people are spending time with families who have different entertainment, professional and educational needs, there is a growing requirement for multiple screens in a single household. This is reflected in the high demand for Mobiles, Tablets, Laptops, and Televisions, all of which have doubled in demand. Fashion choices have become more functional. Inner-wear and Lounge-wear are seeing an increased demand, with women's sleepwear witnessing a very good growth,” said a Flipkart spokesperson. Similar trends were also seen at Snapdeal as personal grooming products, work from home needs like monitors, keyboards, extension cords, external hard disk, were among the most ordered items. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/this-indian-angel-investment-platform-has-invested-in-eight-cos-in-60-days-and-plans-to-fund-startups-every-week/articleshow/76082960.cms">This Indian angel investment platform has invested in eight cos in 60 days and plans to fund startups every week</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/renault-to-axe-15000-jobs-worldwide-india-employees-await-their-fate/articleshow/76085943.cms">Renault to axe 15,000 jobs worldwide⁠— 1,500 employees in India await their fate</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/corporates/news/microsoft-mukesh-ambani-reliance-jio-are-partners-but-satya-nadella-wants-more/articleshow/76057690.cms">Microsoft and Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio are already partners in India⁠— but Satya Nadella reportedly wants more</a>

Orders on Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal show Indians are preparing to stay home for a long time

Indian job sector is marred with the fear of layoffs because of cash crunch or increasing automation, which has resulted in a major rise in the number of resumes on hiring platforms. 
 
Applications from people from IT and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Indian-e-commerce-market-is-slowing-down/articleshow/52940196.cms">e-commerce</a> industries have increased by 20-25%, as per Lohit Bhatia, business head, staffing solutions, IKYA Human Capital Solutions. 
 
"It's happening at firms where the management is either reducing workforce or rationalising the headcount to balance demand and supply," Bhatia told ET. 
 
Last year, there were about 9,200 employee layoffs, a lot more than about 5,500 in 2015, says research platform Xeler8. Major industries that saw these layoffs were food delivery, e-commerce and consumer services companies. 
 
Also read: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/indias-manufacturing-sales-shrink-expect-more-layoffs/articleshow/57376642.cms">India's manufacturing sales shrink. Expect more layoffs</a> 
 <keyword id="541988" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="SnapDeal">Snapdeal</keyword>, the e-commerce major, is also <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/snapdeal-has-started-down-sizing-600-employees-have-already-been-fired/articleshow/57343065.cms">firing employees</a> because of cash crunch, as reported earlier. 
 
While on one side job seekers are knocking on the doors of these platforms, employers are increasingly withdrawing. Online recruitment activity in e-commerce stumbled from 3% in December 2016 to a negative 3% in January 2017, says Monster. Month-on-month, there has been a 4% decline in hiring activity. 
 
Also read: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/telecom-industry-is-going-to-witness-massive-layoffs-over-25000-pink-slips-loom/articleshow/57161647.cms">Telecom industry is going to witness massive layoffs; over 25,000 pink slips loom</a> 
 
A major change has come in the Indian IT sector because of automation, artificial intelligence and machine learning, and as a result, Indian techies are more and more <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/possible-restructuring-poses-threats-to-mid-level-employees-in-indian-it-sector/articleshow/57512270.cms">worried about their jobs</a>. 
 However, things are not as bad in the e-commerce space, with <keyword id="6354742" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Flipkart">Flipkart</keyword> planning to hire 20-30% more people in 2017 compared to 2016, and Paytm founder Viay Shekhar Sharma announcing vacancies in tech and product space. 
 
(Image source: LinkedIn)

Layoffs jeopardize job security; resumes flooding hiring platforms

<keyword id="6362513" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Startups">Startups</keyword> such as <keyword id="6354742" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Flipkart">Flipkart</keyword>, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/snapdeal-has-started-down-sizing-600-employees-have-already-been-fired/articleshow/57343065.cms">Snapdeal</a>, YepMe and Craftsvilla, have been on a firing spree and employees are sinking into depression, holding themselves responsible for the layoffs. 
 
However, these employees need to keep in mind the fact that the layoffs happened more because of business conditions and not specifically because of their poor performances. 
 <keyword id="6362476" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="investments">Investments</keyword> in startups dropped to $1.4 billion in 2016 as compared to $2 billion in 2015, which led companies in banking, infrastructure and information technology to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/working-for-a-startup-your-job-is-in-danger/articleshow/57405822.cms">tighten their hands</a>. 
 
"It's unfortunate, but layoffs are simply a way of corporate life now. So, maintain a positive outlook and think about what you want to do," Rohit Sandal, HR director at Lenovo, told ET. 
 
Also read: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/forget-appraisal-cognizant-might-fire-more-than-6000-employees-this-year/articleshow/57729436.cms">Forget appraisal! Cognizant might fire more than 6,000 employees this year</a> 
 
While some employees who were laid off decided to immediately look for another job, some decided to take a break and volunteer for a cause, giving them a different perspective in life and also giving them a chance to stand out in the eyes of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/heres-someone-who-is-ready-to-employ-laid-off-employees-ofsnapdeal-and-stayzilla/articleshow/57343884.cms">future employers</a>. 
 
Mental health can get adversely impacted if one keeps thinking about the negative things in life, which is why one needs to opt for de-stressing exercises, yoga and meditation. 
 
One can also make good use of this free time to learn something new and enhance their skills, which would have been difficult to manage with the job. 
 
Also read: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/layoffs-jeopardize-job-security-resumes-flooding-hiring-platforms/articleshow/57554146.cms">Layoffs jeopardize job security; resumes flooding hiring platforms</a> 
 
At the end, what matters is that laid off employees remain positive and take it as a chance to reinvent themselves, knowing that it was not their fault that they were let go. 
 
(Image source: Benzinga)

Losing that job was not your fault! Don’t let yourself sink into depression

<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Alibaba&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Alibaba</a>’s Founder-CEO <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Jack+Ma&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Jack Ma</a> is a known face in the Indian startup scene. He’s invested in <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Snapdeal&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Snapdeal</a> and a couple of other <keyword id="6362513" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Startups">startups</keyword>, and has melted the best of the West and East to create the world’s largest ecommerce company <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Alibaba&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Alibaba</a>, which is soon to land on India. 
 
Valued at a mind-boggling $240 billion, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Jack+Ma&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Jack Ma</a> has built what might be the most diversified global technology ever, both in terms of management culture and product offerings. It has three primary platforms – <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Alibaba&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Alibaba</a> (B2B), Tmall (B2C) and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Taobao&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Taobao</a> (C2C). This has also made him the richest man in China with a personal valuation of over $18 billion. 
 
Here are the main elements of Crazy Ma’s management style that made him the man he is: 
 
Take it easy 
 
<a href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/542d71fbeab8ea725ec5ed81-960-720/the-company-also-hosts-annual-talent-shows-and-ma-is-a-natural-entertainer-at-a-company-anniversary-event-he-dressed-up-as-a-punk-rocker-for-a-performance-in-front-of-20000-alibaba-employees.jpg">Image Source</a> 
A lot of who Ma’s company culture is built around who he is, and that’s about being charming, holding fun events and singing karaoke. His outspoken and fun-loving side has seeped into his management style. He believes you don't have to be grumpy if you're in charge. 
 
This doesn’t mean he doesn’t take business seriously. Ma has worked really hard from the beginning, and has air of inclusion and comradery around himself. 
 
He’s created an image around himself where his employees treat him as their leader, and also a father figure. This has ended up creating a solid and tight-knit hardworking workforce that’s always at Ma’s command. This was no accident, it was by design. 
 
You don’t have to be ‘shrewd’ 
 
<a href="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/54c23b75ecad04871b3f9714-1190-625/alibaba-ceo-jack-ma-isnt-worried-about-chinas-slowdown.jpg">Image Source</a> 
There’s a naive innocence with which Ma approaches life’s problems, and that ensured he never backed down. 
 
Mind, he started off as a teacher, earning $15 a month, and was supplementing his income peddling on the streets. He wasn’t disheartened when <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=KFC&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">KFC</a>, a hotel and the police turned him down for jobs, and kept going. At 50 yeard old, he's not in it for the money, but with a mission to change how business is done is China and the world. 
 
He sees the world through the hopeful eyes of a child, believing in the essence of technology and its power to touch lives. This has led him to overcome the impossible, and keep his focus where it needs to be. 
 
Did we tell you his favorite movie is <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Forrest+Gump&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Forrest Gump</a>? Makes sense. 
 
Innovating is not always about inventing 
 
<a href="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/54623d76eab8ea9721bca64b/chinas-richest-man-jack-ma-im-not-happy-being-so-rich.jpg">Image Source</a> Believe it or not, Ma has it clear in his head that innovation isn’t always about invention. When eBay was being touted as the largest and most successful C2C e-commerce site in the world, Ma launched <keyword id="163403" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Taobao">Taobao</keyword> and completely changed the rules of the game. 
 
What Ma did was adapt the concept specifically for China. He knows his country inside-out, and knows that consumer mind-set is as important as anything else. He’s included a real-time chat function on Taobao. That way buyers and sellers can chat in real time, and every transaction is personal. 
 
If you think it straight, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Steve+Jobs&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Steve Jobs</a> didn’t invent the digital music player, nor did <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Bill+Gates&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Bill Gates</a> invent computer OS. All these people built the best they could on top of what was already there. The rest is history. 
 
<a href="https://cdn01.vulcanpost.com/wp-uploads/2015/11/jack-ma-this-is-alibabas-most-dangerous-moment.jpg">Image Source</a>

Alibaba Founder Jack Ma and his crazy Management
style every startup founder must follow

Companies like SAP, General Mills, Snapdeal and Marico are scouting for best talent to strengthen their respective technology competencies, especially in mobility, big data and analytics. 
 
They are aggressively hiring techies from India and abroad. SAP plans to add 1,000 engineers in next one year to its lab in India, its second-largest globally. For this, it will increase the intake of graduates from the country's premier engineering colleges. 
 
Due to shortage of niche talent, the company will look for techies overseas, including Silicon Valley and Europe. 
 
Economic Times reported that about 70% of the German software company's 6,500 employees in India are part of its R&amp;D and product engineering, while 20% are in consulting and implementation and the rest in sales and marketing. 
 
"Hires will be largely in R&amp;D and product engineering. In the past 75% of professionals with experience in SAP technology were hired and only 25% hiring was niche skills. This year the ratio will change to 50:50, between conventional SAP hiring and high-end technology-data scientists, research analysts and architects," Anil Warrier, director and India head of talent acquisition at SAP, told ET. 
 
SAP is looking to both groom talent from within and new hires. Apart from offering stocks to attract talent, the company is banking on other benefits. "SAP offers its employees work across the globe. Here, you can easily work in four or five locations. High percentage of our leadership team is people who have joined us as college graduates," Warrier told the financial daily. 
 
India’s online marketplace Snapdeal wants to double the number of people in its technology team by appointing 1,000 people by the end of this year, including talent from Silicon Valley to build a product and engineering leadership team. 
 
"We will bring in the best of talent in the space of technology as technology is the backbone for runining a big enterprise like ours," Saurabh Nigam, Vice President of HR at Snapdeal, told ET. 
 
Meanwhile, Managing Director at General Mills Mainak Dhar said the company intends to up the manufacturing at its Indian plant for which it was required to have more talent around technology. 
 
Marico is looking for experts in cutting edge technologies to further build its consumer product offerings. “We are looking at talent beyond India especially to build our strength around innovation and R&amp;D," Ashutosh Telang, Marico's chief human resources officer, told financial daily. 
 
(Image: Reuters)

SAP, Snapdeal aggressively scouting for techies to hire best talent

As the first phase of placements at IITs comes to a close, trends highlight a lot about how India's premier institutes fared in this recruitment season. 
 
While several big ticket companies stayed off campuses and international offers took a hit this time, the younger IITs had the last laugh as they fared much better than the older ones in terms of salaries and international offers to students. A lot of other interesting points came out. 
 
Here's all you need to know about the IIT placements that just concluded: 
 
Number of job offers dwindled 
These are mostly the older IITs like Kharagpur and Kanpur which have registered a significant slump in recruitments. At IIT-Kharagpur, the number of offers came down to 1,080 from 1,300 in 2016 while IIT-Kanpur saw the number fall to 725 from 800. IIT Roorkee made an exception - the number of recruiters visiting the campus was up to 243 from last year's 180 while the total number of offers were almost the same as last year, at about 680. The reason for this is being seen as: 
 
Offers per company saw a decline At IIT-Mumbai, Madras and Guwahati, the number of total offers went up, but offers per company were fewer than previous years. Large recruiters like Coal India, <keyword id="10387" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Microsoft">Microsoft</keyword> and <keyword id="6361649" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Goldman-Sachs">Goldman Sachs</keyword> were particularly conservative in handing out letters. At <keyword id="57604" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="iit-delhi">IIT Delhi</keyword>, average number of offers from each recruiter was down by about 15 per cent compared to last year. 
 
Many companies like Boston Consultancy Group, Goldman Sachs and Microsoft, which had hired in huge numbers from the campus last year, radically cut the number of recruits. Several opted for pre-placement offers instead of coming to the campus and holding interviews. Those students who had already joined them as interns were given full-time placement offers. 
 
Top recruiters stayed off IIT campuses At IIT Roorkee, officials blamed the absence of bigtime recruiter <keyword id="6355629" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Google">Google</keyword> for the total number of offers going down to 700 from 2015's 740. Google chose to hire off-campus. <keyword id="6354742" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Flipkart">Flipkart</keyword>, after its strained relations with IITs for deferring campus offers in the previous placements, was nowhere to be seen this time around. <keyword id="541988" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="SnapDeal">Snapdeal</keyword> stayed off-campus too. 
 
Top offers not too high Not many croreplus packages were handed out this time. The number fell by more than 50 per cent since 2014. Plunging international offers from US firms and the likes of <keyword id="6354576" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Facebook">Facebook</keyword> and Google going off-campus is being seen as the reason behind this. Moreover, Cost to company among the international offers made by companies like Oracle barely crossed Rs 1.2 crore this year (inclusive of bonuses and stock options) compared to Rs 2 crore-plus in 2014. 
 
Newer IITs had the last laugh Newer IITs saw an increase in top as well as average salaries. <keyword id="666989" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="IIT-Indore">IIT Indore</keyword>, Ropar and Mandi received their first international offers this year, with salaries touching as high as Rs 40 lakh a year. At IIT Hyderabad, there were 16 offers for international positions. At <keyword id="642435" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="IIT-Mandi">IIT Mandi</keyword>, four students got international offers from a Japanese company. An IIT student Patna bagged an international offer of Rs 35 lakh. The highest salary at IIT Indore increased from Rs 28 lakh last year to more than Rs 30 lakh, at Hyderabad it increased by Rs 4 lakh to Rs 38 lakh. Also, one of the big recruiters at IITs, Amazon, was seen visiting 17 IITs including the young ones in Indore, Jodhpur and Bhubaneswar this year. 
 
PSUs made a stunning comeback 
Public sector units returned to the IITs post the ban on PSU hiring from campuses was lifted. Companies like Coal India, Indian Oil Corporation Limited, and Bharat Petroleum visited colleges early in the placement season. For the first time, IIT Delhi, Madras and Roorkee gave day 1 slots to PSUs and the companies obliged by offering double digit salaries to students in the first two weeks of placements.

Top offers not too high; number of jobs dwindled: Here's all that happened at IITs as they wrap up first phase of placements

If you are looking for a job in sector such as wholesale, retail (including e-Commerce), utilities -mainly logistics - and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=transportation">transportation</a>, there is a good news for you. These sectors are likely to hire aggressively in the fourth quarter, ending December 2015. 
 
Globally, Indian employers are the most upbeat on hiring plans in the Q4, according to the Manpower Employment Outlook Survey. 
 
The survey also said that more than 41% of employers in India would be looking at increasing hiring numbers for the fourth quarter as compared to the quarter ending September. 
 
The survey covered around 5,000 employers in India and found that about 45% and 44% of employers in the wholesale &amp; retail sector (including e-Commerce) and the transportation &amp; utilities sector, respectively, are looking at increased hiring in the next quarter compared to the previous one. 
 
From a regional perspective, around 42% employers in the eastern region anticipate the most opportunities for <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=job+seekers+">job seekers</a> in the months ahead. 
 
Moreover, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=e-Commerce">e-Commerce</a> sector will provide more job opportunities. “With the onset of the festival season, there is a renewed focus on employing additional staff to boost businesses and greater hiring is expected across all domains," said AG Rao, group managing director at <keyword id="652409" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="ManpowerGroup-India">ManpowerGroup India</keyword>. 
 In view of the positive outlook for the <keyword id="34412" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="economy">economy</keyword>, e-Commerce firms are ramping up their workforce across functions, particularly engineers and other specialists with an intention to be technology, product and engineering-driven companies, added Rao. 
 <keyword id="6357066" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="ShopClues">Shopclues</keyword>.com, for instance, is planning to add 1,200 employees to its team of 800, while <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Snapdeal+">Snapdeal</a> is looking at doubling its headcount of 5,000 by FY16. 
 
"We have robust hiring plans in place for the coming months. Most e-Commerce companies at this stage are busy ramping up their teams," said ShopClues co-founder, Sanjay Sethi. 
 
At the same time some industry sectors reported weaker hiring plans when compared with the fourth quarter of 2014. 
 Mining &amp; construction sector employers report the most notable decline of nine percentage points while outlooks are seven and four percentage points weaker in the <keyword id="25455" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="finance">finance</keyword>, <keyword id="35450" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="insurance">insurance</keyword> and <keyword id="6354553" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="real-estate">real estate</keyword> sector and the services sector, respectively. 
 
However, while comparing Q4 outlook with the Q3 2015, hiring intentions remain relatively stable in the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=finance%2C+insurance+%26+real+estate+sector+">finance, insurance &amp; real estate sector</a> and the mining &amp; construction sector. 
 
French multinational, Saint Gobain, is also looking at adding more to its manufacturing and marketing teams. "India is a very important market for Saint Gobain and in the coming months, we hire for new positions in manufacturing and marketing," said P Padmakumar, team leader &amp; head -human resources, flat glass business. 
 Globally, ManpowerGroup interviewed nearly 59,000 employers across 42 countries and territories to forecast fourth quarter <keyword id="6357125" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="labour-market">labour market</keyword> activity . 
 
(Image: Indiatimes)

Be ready with your updated CVs! It'll be raining jobs beginning September

Time is money and this theory is being used by <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=HR+managers">HR managers</a> who are hiring potential candidates for e-Commerce industry in flat 12 minutes! 
 
The new concept of ‘<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=speed+hiring">speed hiring</a>’ is catching up as recruiters want that e-Commerce giants like <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=snapdeal">Snapdeal</a>, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=foodpanda">Foodpanda</a>, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=ola">Ola cabs</a>, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=quickr">Quickr</a> and other startups should spend less time in hiring professionals. 
 Under '<keyword id="3003193" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Speed-hiring">speed hiring</keyword>', candidates are tested on their cognitive abilities in just about 12 minutes and those selected are offered joining letters. 
 
"In start-ups and new age businesses, life moves very fast and scenario changes every fortnight and therefore it is important to show the result to the investors. So, it may not be viable to invest half of the time in recruiting," executive search firm GlobalHunt MD Sunil Goel told news agency PTI. 
 
CoCubes Technologies has undertaken hiring in the fast lane. It has developed a Cognitive Ability Speed Test (CAST), which carries 50 objective type questions on English grammar, ratios, percentage and inductive reasoning to assess the cognitive abilities of the candidates. 
 
"While CAST is definitely more popular among start-ups with large-scale hiring, larger established companies like WNS and Allianz Cornhill are also using it,” CoCubes' co-founder and CEO Harpreet Singh Grover told PTI. 
 
Meanwhile, experts say the result from this new-age <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=hiring">hiring</a> is quite impressive. 
 Saurabh Nigam, Vice President (HR) at e-commerce major <keyword id="541988" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="SnapDeal">Snapdeal</keyword>, which used the CoCubes' platform told the news agency, "In the last six months of implementation, with over 22,000 assessments, CAST has shown correlation of 81 per cent with offer ratio and has helped to provide a seamless experience for the candidates.” 
 
IT outsourcing firm GlobalLogic' associate vice president (HR and L&amp;D) Rajiv Naithani told PTI speed hiring at fresher level helps organisation in big way when companies are looking for immediate absorption of talent pool at junior level. 
 
However, chemical and textile company GHCL Limited's vice president Rajesh Tripathi also informed one may tend to miss out on the cultural fitment of the candidate in the organization during the speed hiring process. 
 
"It may also happen that the recruiter may initially feel less ownership of the entire process," Tripathi told PTI. 
 
(Image: Thinkstock)

Now get hired in 12 minutes flat!

Some of the Indian startups such as <keyword id="6354742" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Flipkart">Flipkart</keyword> and <keyword id="541988" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="SnapDeal">Snapdeal</keyword> have already made their mark in the industry in terms of gross revenue earnings. Now, cab aggregator <keyword id="6354720" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Ola">Ola</keyword> will soon be joining the league. The online cab aggregator might earn gross revenue of $1 billion (Rs 6,364 crore) by the next quarter. 
 The Bengaluru-based company is expanding rapidly to smaller towns and cities after it has acquired rival <keyword id="1428790" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="TaxiforSure">TaxiForSure</keyword> in March. It aims to provide 5 lakh trips every day in the next three months to reach the $1 billion revenue target, three company executives told the Economic Times. 
 
This will make it only the third Indian startup after e-Commerce companies Flipkart and Snapdeal to have crossed the coveted milestone. 
 "$1 billion run rate looks achievable in the next quarter," said one of the senior executives. According to one of the persons quoted above, Ola, which raised $400 million (Rs 4,456 crore) last month led by Russian billionaire <keyword id="303107" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Yuri-Milner">Yuri Milner</keyword>'s <keyword id="794823" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="DST-Global">DST Global</keyword> and is preparing for another round of fund raising that could close in the next four months. 
 
"In the next 12 months it will be a $10-billion (Rs 63,640 crore) valuation company," the source said. 
 
However, a spokesman for Ola declined to comment on the latest developments. 
 
The four-year-old company was valued at $2.4 billion in its last round of funding. It has received around $700 million in funding from a slew of marquee investors. 
 
The online cab aggregator has revenue run rate of around $450-500 million. It has to maintain its rapid pace of growth, estimated at over 10% every week, even as it expands to 200 cities in the coming months. The company sources that ET spoke to said both Ola and TaxiForSure together clock up about 2.3 lakh trips per day. 
 
 Moreover, Ola's spurt in revenues is being aided by the rapid growth being registered by TaxiFor-Sure — which has doubled revenue in the two months since it was bought by Ola. Earlier this month, TaxiForSure announced that it completed 10 million rides. 
 Ola has plans to expand its base further as it is also expecting a revenue spurt from new services such as delivery of food, which it introduced earlier this year. It is also looking to tap the <keyword id="1186907" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="grocery-business">grocery business</keyword> and is training about 90 delivery boys in Bangalore to launch the service. 
 
(Image: Reuters)

Ola is doing a good job! Its gross revenue to reach $1-billion by next quarter

Much has been written about what <keyword id="6404679" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="start-up">start-up</keyword>s can learn from real life and put to use for their business success. But have you ever thought of it the other way? If you look closely at the start-up space and follow their lifecycle, you will be stunned to realise what <keyword id="390673" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="small-businesses">small businesses</keyword> can offer in terms of <keyword id="1599955" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="life-lessons">life lessons</keyword>. Here are 5 <keyword id="2207042" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Strategic-tips">strategic tips</keyword> you can pick up from them to make your life more meaningful. 
 
1. There’s no end of the road. We are not being overoptimistic here. <keyword id="53533" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="entrepreneurs">Entrepreneurs</keyword> all over the globe witness a series of <keyword id="6453368" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="failures">failures</keyword> before they can hit it right. And those who have been immensely lucky and succeeded in their very first ventures will tell you how many twists and turns they face every day to keep the show running. But when it comes to the business of survival – be it your professional or <keyword id="29559" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Personal-life">personal life</keyword>, these <keyword id="2207051" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Disaster-pangs">disaster pangs</keyword> must be dealt with, without losing your courage or confidence. “Failure is most difficult to accept once you have tasted success,” admitted an Indian <keyword id="6359301" type="POSITION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Entrepreneur">entrepreneur</keyword> whose <keyword id="1225933" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="maiden-venture">maiden venture</keyword> had to be wrapped up due to fund crunch. But after a business paralysis for a few months, he had sold off the bits and pieces of his earlier venture to his advantage (it took a lot of cool-headed <keyword id="6354839" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="marketing">marketing</keyword> to show the next buyer the true value of things he was handing over); learnt from his earlier <keyword id="27460" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="experience">experience</keyword> and is about to set up another new venture in a couple of months (watch this space as we bring you the story of this upcoming Indian start-up). 
 For most of us, failure is not an option, and we fear it so much that we stop taking risks (just like some businesses do) and stop acknowledging our <keyword id="399000" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="weaknesses">weaknesses</keyword>. But that kind of inertia won’t help you evolve. Get cracking, even if it means a series of blunders, but make good of what you learn from those and stand by your own convictions. That is how you gain the knowledge and power to come up with the <keyword id="2207054" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Next-success">next success</keyword>. 
 
2. <keyword id="2207058" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Ide-fixe">Idée fixe</keyword> doesn’t work. You have heard so much about businesses pivoting and might have smiled a secret smile, inwardly proud that your own life is in apple-pie order – it is going the way you have planned it. Well, nothing can be further from the truth. Nor can every piece of your life offer you <keyword id="2207060" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Optimum-returns">optimum returns</keyword>. Take, for instance, the <keyword id="6374782" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="journey">journey</keyword> of <keyword id="541988" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="SnapDeal">Snapdeal</keyword>.com, an e-commerce marketplace that pivoted as many as seven times – from a never-launched movie booking site to discount voucher business to daily deals site to what it is today. Or think of <keyword id="164941" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="inMobi">InMobi</keyword> that started as a mobile-based local search and went on to become one of the top mobile ad <keyword id="50752" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Networks">networks</keyword> and a key <keyword id="491" type="POSITION" weightage="80" keywordseo="player">player</keyword> in the <keyword id="6676401" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="m-commerce">m-commerce</keyword> space. We actually came across an inspiring story when UK-based <keyword id="2207062" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Lloyds-List">Lloyd’s List</keyword>, one of the world’s longest published newspapers (first <keyword id="106984" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="edition">edition</keyword> was printed in 1734), turned completely digital last December to go global and <keyword id="2207063" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Stay-profitable">stay profitable</keyword>. Could they have gained name, fame and profit, had they stuck to their initial business concepts instead of opting for strategic changes? 
 Beginning a new chapter can be challenging at first, but it may lead to a different kind of prosperity – the chance to live your life according to your own choice and do better than before without giving up on your <keyword id="2049143" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Core-expertise">core expertise</keyword>. For instance, you may have proven skills in business development but doing that for a social enterprise may make you feel happier than doing it for a big firm. <keyword id="6385724" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="change">Change</keyword>, so that you can change and impact many more lives. 
 
3. <keyword id="444366" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="non-performance">Non-performance</keyword> is an issue. Have you ever tried dealing with the shortcomings that hinder your life’s growth? <keyword id="457758" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Procrastination">Procrastination</keyword> at work, a <keyword id="2207065" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Bloated-ego">bloated ego</keyword>, an <keyword id="702969" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Unhealthy-lifestyle">unhealthy lifestyle</keyword> or a total lack of concern for your fellow humans can be your undoing in the long run. Worse still, there will be no external authorities around to measure and monitor your life’s performance. When things are below par, you are actually responsible for those and you need to amend your life with some strategic tools just like some businesses do. 
 For starters, set up <keyword id="2207067" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Achievable-goals">achievable goals</keyword> in every area of your life and keep a tab on how you are doing. Next, learn and practise all that you need to – so that you can substantially improve the quality of your life. But while doing so, don’t forget your <keyword id="6411617" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="mission">mission</keyword> and <keyword id="6526661" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="vision">vision</keyword> – your long-term goals. <keyword id="2207070" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Nurture-growth">Nurture growth</keyword> slowly but surely, like a start-up does. And quickly kick the habits that do not add value to your life. As we all know, firing the wrong persons quickly saves your business and the same holds true for <keyword id="2207072" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Unproductive-habits">unproductive habits</keyword>. Finally, don’t delay things just because it feels too uncomfortable or you have been too used to a particular lifestyle. If your head and <keyword id="24479" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="heart">heart</keyword> are attuned, you will make the best <keyword id="5645" type="POSITION" weightage="80" keywordseo="CEO">CEO</keyword> of your life and never fail to bring about an <keyword id="2207073" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Uplifting-change">uplifting change</keyword> to yourself. 
 
4. You can’t sell unless you create the need. All our life, we are trying to market ourselves – consciously or unconsciously. Sounds rude, doesn't it? But that is the truth, whether we like it or no. Of course, when we are attending <keyword id="27244" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="job-interviews">job interviews</keyword> or trying to raise capital for our ventures or selling our company’s products – the promotion and marketing part is done deliberately, as part of our professional endeavours. But what happens when you are <keyword id="2207077" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Networking-on-social-media">networking on social media</keyword> or trying to build a relationship with a prospect/connector of any sort? You are still marketing yourself and your ideas, hoping it may result into sales some day. 
 That is precisely the <keyword id="489452" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="marketing-strategy">marketing strategy</keyword> most businesses follow, especially if they are new. According to a popular <keyword id="48646" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="theory">theory</keyword>, a company can’t really sell anything to anyone unless customers are ready to buy it. So new businesses try to engage and impact <keyword id="666350" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Prospects">prospects</keyword> via <keyword id="6354632" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Social-media">social media</keyword>, trying to drive the need of their customers. 
 One can follow the same plan to improve one’s social branding. Do remember that you have to create your own value across your networks and let others see that you can be a meaningful contributor when they require your kind of skills and expertise, help and support. <keyword id="2207085" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Resonate">Resonate</keyword> with your <keyword id="2207082" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Social-connects">social connects</keyword> and execute your ideas creatively – that is bound to prove your value. 
 
5. You can’t walk those miles alone. To execute these life lessons, you will need help. After all, who doesn’t when he/she is reimagining the business and seeking success? Entrepreneurs often seek the right kind of <keyword id="164586" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="mentors">mentors</keyword> for their experience and <keyword id="2207087" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Strategic-help">strategic help</keyword> while <keyword id="382595" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="co-founders">co-founders</keyword> try and form a strong team to complement each other’s strengths. Even Angels/VCs help them out with sound business advice. So when it comes to life and living and all its tough challenges, you are entitled to get as much help as you can. 
 However, most people hesitate to ask for help and try to figure things out on their own. That may or may not work, depending on how complex the issues are and how comfortable you are in revealing sensitive topics. Still, discussing your problems with <keyword id="2207090" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Immediate-family">immediate family</keyword> or <keyword id="74013" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="close-friends">close friends</keyword> is likely to bring in a new perspective and some viable solutions. Otherwise, you may try and find a formal or informal group of advisors/mentors who can help you out. That long road stretching ahead has plenty of ups and downs in store for us. Do not go it alone. 
 
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