Many leaders acknowledge that business transformation is needed to effect meaningful change and drive their organisation forward. Implementing a strategy to execute this effectively is the first thing that is required to ensure it runs smoothly, with KPIs introduced and measured throughout. However, whilst strategy is pivotal in the process, it is essential that this is not rolled out at the expense of the most important aspects of your business – the people, and therefore, the culture. Intersection of people and work is where the magic happens in every organisation.

Publication : Entrepreneur

Date : August 29, 2019

Ikea is said to open a two floor store in the R City Mall in Mumbai, The Economic Times India has learnt. Its sources speak of a five year lease with the possibility to extend for five more years. Analysts consider the plans to be a logical step after the opening of pop-up stores and smaller city centre stores. It is possible that the Swedish giant chooses this path also to test the ground for its Indian expansion, as real estate in the areas it is drawn to (like the capital New Delhi) is getting ever more expensive.

Publication : Retail Deal

Date: August 28, 2019

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) is likely to reject the push by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) to include ecommerce data in the proposed Personal Data Protection (PDP) Bill as this will be covered separately. “MeitY received a communication from DPIIT over a week back simply proposing that we also consider the issue of data localisation of ecommerce data generated in the country,” a senior government official told ET. “However, clarifications on the PDP draft are currently underway and ecommerce data pertains to community data, which will be tackled separately, later.”

Publication : The Economic Times

Date : August 29, 2019

One of the big questions that startups face as they begin to scale is whether they should promote their own employees up to new roles or hire laterally. How should they hire these leaders? What traits should they look for? How should they manage the inevitable tensions between the newcomers and the home-grown rock stars? How does this impact the culture of the company?Hiring and assimilating laterals is a key success factor for a startup to scale smoothly. Typically, a startup begins to refresh talent after the product-market fit has been established and the founders see an opportunity to scale.

Publication : Mint

Date : August 29, 2019

The easier norms for local sourcing by global single-brand retailers Peter Betzel, CEO, IKEA India, tells Asmita Dey could see it sourcing much more than merely textiles. IKea is aiming to reach 100 million Indian customers in the coming three years with a multi-channel approach, Betzel said. Excerpts:KEA has been sourcing from India for close to 35 years and we welcome the relaxation of local sourcing norms for single-brand retailers. The government’s efforts to enhance ease of doing business for single-brand retailers is encouraging. We have ambitious and optimistic plans to work with affordability and offer everyday low prices for the many people in India.

Publication : Financial Express

Date : August 30, 2019

In this protectionist era, instead of giving Indian investors an advantage for investing in India, our tax laws have handicapped Indian investors in their own country! The 2019 Budget saw the introduction of a 37% surcharge on incomes above Rs 5 crore earned in India; the fine print saw this surcharge being applied to trusts as well as individuals. Many foreign and domestic institutional investors are incorporated as trusts since it gives them the greatest flexibility to manage their investments.  This surprise surcharge caused panic in the markets and blood on the street.

Publication : Financial Express

Date : August 30, 2019

The beleaguered Indian economy is finally making a sensible bargain with the rest of the world: “Take our billion-plus customers, give us jobs.” Under a new foreign direct investment policy announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government Wednesday, India is undertaking its biggest liberalization of single-brand retail in seven years. One major concession: Contentious local sourcing requirements will need to be met as an average for the first five-year period, not annually. That’s a big help to Apple Inc., which will no longer have to struggle with a 30% local procurement norm to open its long-awaited own store in India.

Publication : The Economic Times

Date : August 29, 2019

Home-grown brands and private labels such as Fabindia and UrbanLadder will now be able to easily raise foreign funds for their ventures with the government allowing 100% foreign direct investment (FDI) in contract manufacturing. These companies rely on third-party outsourcing and and the move comes as a breather for them. Earlier, contract manufacturing was a debatable issue but the move to cover them under the overarching norms on manufacturing has brought them on a par with manufacturers.

Publication : The Economic Times

Date : August 30, 2019

India will be one of the major international markets to drive Amazon’s international sales, generating gross $32 billion by 2023, as per a report by RBC Capital Markets. Amazon India is expected to have a market share of 35% in e-commerce by 2023, up from 30% at the end of 2018. Among the international markets of Brazil, Mexico, Turkey and Australia, India would have the highest contribution to Amazon’s online sales. It is the largest factor among the ‘big five’ countries mentioned in the note.In fact, the report—authored by veteran technology analyst Mark Mahaney

Publication : ET Retail

Date : August 29, 2019

Swedish retailer IKEA, known for its ready-to-assemble furniture, it is going to lease space in a shopping mall in Mumbai to open a store, the Economic Times reported on Monday. This is the first time IKEA will be opening such a store – in a leased space in a shopping mall. Also, this is going to be a smaller store, unlike the standard IKEA stores across the globe. Typically, the size of an IKEA store is as big as five football grounds put together, or more than 300,000 square feet. Its only store in India is spread over 400,000 square feet in Hyderabad.

Publication : Moneycontrol

Date : August 27, 2019

On 23 August 2019, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, while announcing the non-applicability of Section 56(2)(viib) of the Income Tax (I-T) Act, 1961, popularly referred to as “angel tax” on startups registered with department for promotion of industry and internal trade (DPIIT), reassured entrepreneurs that the government was already sensitized to the importance of the startup ecosystem and was taking all possible steps to boost confidence of investors and other players in the startup sector. Recently, the I-T department’s sudden move to deduct a substantial amount from the accounts of two startups, Babygogo and Travelkhana.

Publication : Mint

Date : August 27, 2019

As every other millennial, getting out of my house to buy things would be blasphemy, so I turned to the holy shrine- the world wide web. Here are the options I gathered from IKEA, Pepperfry and Urban Ladder. Bed: While I would go for the Pepperfry option, however without the on sale price Urban Ladder would be the better option. However if you would rather go for a metal bed frame there were some pretty inexpensive options. Mattresses are a tough one to decide without checking them out personally, but IKEA gave some pretty good options under Rs 4,000/-.

Publication : Business Insider India

Date : August 27, 2019

E-commerce is growing at an unprecedented rate all over the globe. In 2018, global online retail sales amounted to 2.8 trillion U.S. dollars and projections show a growth of up to 4.8 trillion U.S. dollars by 2021. The e-commerce industry is escalating at a rapid pace, and it is up to e-commerce business owners to take advantage of this growth. If you’re looking for ways to grow your e-commerce business, here are 5 essential ways to increase your e-commerce revenue. 1. Repeat customers matter: Online retailers tend to pour most of their resources on strategies that bring in new customers but not to get them back to purchase again.

Publication :  Customer Think

Date : August 26, 2019

Gone-are-the-days when you had to wait for the festive season for exclusive discounts on your favourite brands. Nowadays, home furnishing brands are offering sales on their products all year round. Here, we list the five best online sales that are happening right now.Urban Ladder has a dedicated sale section, which displays the deals of the week across all categories such as dining, beds, mattresses, study, sofas and accent chairs. The discounts offered are up to 40% and you can furbish your entire apartment with products from this sale. The items include elegant dining tables, sleek desks, sophisticated TV units, luxurious beds, unique lamps, and compact storage cabinets.

Publication : Architectural Digest 

Date: August 27, 2019

To protect consumer interest, the government on Tuesday said the guidelines drafted for e-commerce firms will be made mandatory under the new Consumer Protection Act and stringent action against violators will be taken by a regulatory authority. The consumer affairs ministry has decided to frame the rules to implement the Consumer Protection Act by December and asked stakeholders to submit their views by 15 September. Meanwhile, the ministry has also sought views on the draft guidelines on e-commerce by the same date. “The draft guidelines on e-commerce will be made part of the rules under the new consumer protection law.

Publication : Livemint

Date : August 27, 2019

What do Facebook, Google and Snapchat have in common, apart from being some of the most powerful companies in the world? Unequal voting rights! Yes, at a time when the blue-eyed boy of the Indian startup ecosystem, Ritesh Agarwal of Oyo Rooms, had to devise a leverage-backed buyback in his unicorn to maintain shareholding befitting his founder status, world over, the likes of Mark Zuckerberg and Larry Page have had their voting rights safely secured, regardless of dilutions to their equity stakes through series and series of equity fundraising.

Publication : Financial Express

Date : August 26, 2019

Never has a tax displayed the flagrant disconnect between the bureaucracy and business like the angel tax does. In the measures to boost the Indian economy announced by the finance minister last week, angel tax found an explicit mention, causing entrepreneurs to rejoice that this ordeal is over. But the devil lies in the details, and the angel tax isn’t dead—it is simply deferred.Angel tax, or section 56(2)(viib) of the Income Tax Act, 1961, was an insertion by the UPA regime in 2012 as a means of checking the circulation of unaccounted funds through investments into private companies. It sought to attack “high share premium”—a supposed smoking gun of money laundering;

Publication : Financial Express

Date: August 26, 2019

About 12 years ago, more than half of the people in this country couldn’t have relied so much on e-commerce giants that are now ruling the Indian market. Even though a number of e-commerce players existed in the market, but the notion of purchasing not just rare items but household products, groceries, kitchen items and the likes didn’t seem much of a preferential idea to the consumers.Back then, most of the middle-income groups still preferred to visit the market and a lot many people considered online shopping to be confusing and unreliable.

Publication : ET Brand Equity

Date : August 25, 2019

Thank God it’s Friday—-that was the sentiment among investors and startup founders on Friday, after finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that section 56(2)(viib) of the Income Tax Act will not be applicable to startups registered with the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT). The said section of the Income Tax Act dealt with angel tax, which is the income tax payable on capital raised by unlisted companies. It created a lot of heartburn in the startup community, and for good reason: angel tax was being levied at a rate of 30.9%.

Publication : Fortune India 

Date : August 24, 2019

Ingenico Group, has tied up with IKEA India to enable digital payments for its e-commerce platform. The leading multi-channel home furnishings retailer will be powered by Ingenico’s payment gateway to streamline its multi-mode online and mobile payments. Henrik Tuner, Head of Multichannel, IKEA India said, “We are excited to present our vast range of products to the Indian consumers through our e-commerce platform. Through this platform we will continue to provide well designed and functional home furnishing solutions to the consumers, which is yet another step to our long term commitment to the Indian market.

Publication : The Economic Times

Date : August 23, 2019

The government on Friday announced several decisions to ease doing business in India, including scrapping the ‘angel tax’ for registered startups, expediting GST refunds for the MSME sector, as well as setting a time-bound window for the payment of delayed dues by public sector companies. “In order to mitigate genuine difficulties of startups and their investors, it has been decided that the relevant provisions of Section 56 of the Income Tax Act, which is commonly called the ‘angel tax’, shall not be applicable to a startup registered with the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade,” Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said while addressing a press conference to announce the decisions.

Publication : The Hindu 

Date: August 23, 2019

With the government of India relaxing the sourcing norms for foreign direct investment (FDI) in single-brand retail in 2012, Swedish furniture and home furnishing chain IKEA announced in October their intention to open stores in India. Pratap (M Pratap, Indian administrative services officer, and CEO of APInvest, Andhra Pradesh’s investment initiative) found out the contact name and phone number of Juvencio Maeztu, the CEO of IKEA India. I requested him to visit Hyderabad once.

Publication: Quartz

Date: August 22, 2019

Pepperfry, an eight year-old furniture and decor company has managed to succeed in a complex category like furniture where close to 90% of the sector is unorganized. While many other platforms entered the category and fizzled out with time, Pepperfry continues to hold its own. In the e-commerce adoption cycle, furniture comes in at a later stage (compared to books, electronics, fashion, grocery etc.) but Pepperfry now stands at 65 stores across 24 cities and aims to launch 100 Pepperfry Studios by next year.

Publication: AdAge

Date: August 21, 2019

To help startups move from the Innovators Growth Platform of stock exchanges to the main board, Sebi on Wednesday announced a new set of norms to allow them to shift after one year to regular trading and expanding their shareholder base to at least 200. The company would also need to have a profitablity/ networth track record of three years or at least 75 per cent of its shareholding should be with qualified institutional investors. After its board meeting, Sebi said the minimum promoter contribution would need to be 20 per cent, which would be locked in for three years.

Publication: The Economic Times

Date: August 21, 2019

The government recently issued two circulars—No. 92/11/2019 GST, dated March 7, 2019, followed by the June Circular—to elucidate the provisions contained under section 15(3)(b) of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, and which post-sale/secondary discounts merit consideration under said provisions. The March Circular went on the premise that secondary discounts, where the supplier reduces the value of goods, initially supplied to the buyer, at a later stage (post-supply), are typically unknown to buyers, and they would not warrant deductions under the law.

Publication : Financial Express

Date : August 23, 2019

The Narendra Modi government has proposed a major change in the online transfer of funds as it looks to clamp down on illegal transactions. The proposal mooted by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman will require banks to obtain prior approval of account holders before money is credited to their accounts. At present, any body can register another person as a beneficiary and transfer the money without prior approval. Banking industry experts say the proposal, if implemented, will delay online payments that have evolved in the direction of real time payments with the advent of technologies like IMPS and RTGS.

Publication : Financial Express

Date : August 22, 2019

Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) on Thursday said that startups with turnover up to Rs 25 crore will continue to avail the tax holiday as per the Section 80-IAC of the Income Tax Act, 1961 that offers deduction for 100 per cent of income of an eligible startup for three years out of seven years since the incorporation year. The board also said that even if the startups are DPIIT recognised, they cannot become eligible for deduction under Section 80-IAC and that startups must comply with the conditions mentioned under the said section to become eligible.

Publication : Financial Express

Date : August 22, 2019

Swedish home furnishings major Ikea on Monday said it has launched its online store in the city offering more than 7,500 products. Mumbai will see a multi-channel offer including smaller format stores, and a big format store in Navi Mumbai, it said in a statement. “India’s retail landscape is changing at a scale and pace not seen before driven by increasing urbanisation and changing customer behaviours. To be a key partner to the many of India in this journey, Ikea is also transforming.”

Publication: News18

Date: August 20, 2019

If you want to apply for an initial public offer (IPOs) through an intermediary such as stockbrokers, depository participants, and registrar and transfer agents, you will now need a Unified Payment Interface (UPI) ID to do so. UPI facilitates instant money transfer between any two entities’ bank accounts and is expected to bring greater digitization to the IPO process. The Securities and Exchange Board of India’s (Sebi) rule for retail investors came into effect on 1 July 2019, and the earliest IPO to test this rule opened on 29 July—Affle India Ltd’s IPO was open till 31 July.

Publication: Livemint

Date: August 20, 2019

Much of the debate in recent months has been focused on the sharp loss of economic momentum in India. The big question is whether the ongoing slowdown is structural or cyclical. The usual thumb rule is that the policy response to a structural slowdown is through economic reforms that ease supply constraints. And a cyclical slowdown has to be tackled with measures to stimulate demand. Rathin Roy of the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy argues that India is currently facing a structural demand problem, which further complicates policy choices.

Publication: Livemint

Date: August 20, 2019

The long-awaited changes in India’s over half-a-century-old income tax rules may finally be upon us—perhaps by the next fiscal year. A panel set up by the government to review the direct tax code (DTC) has submitted its report. If implemented, its recommendations would supplant the existing Income Tax Act of 1961. None of them has officially been made public yet, but media reports point to a relief in tax rates for individual taxpayers, simpler assessment procedures and a lower corporate tax rate even for large companies, among other changes, such as fewer exemptions and the use of Artificial Intelligence to curb tax evasion.

Publication: Livemint

Date: August 20, 2019

Indian startups continue to see strong capital inflows despite macroeconomic headwinds, including a slump in consumer demand. Startup funding so far this year has risen to a record level, surpassing last year’s peak, as these young companies grow faster than ever before. As a result, investors with large pools of capital are chasing Indian startups. In the first seven months, $4.7 billion has been invested in Indian startups across 346 deals, compared to the $4.3 billion across 338 deals during the corresponding period last year, according to data from Venture Intelligence, a startup data tracker.

Publication: Livemint

Date: August 21, 2019

Jim Stengel, a marketing expert and author describes an approach to innovation that many large corporations are embracing.  Start-ups can teach older companies how to move faster, take more risks and learn from failure. On the flipside, established companies can teach start-ups how to build a brand that fosters a lasting emotional bond and how to set up an organization to support global expansion. Bridging the different worlds and experiences of young and old companies might actually turn out to be one of the keys to surviving in an increasingly complex world.

Publication: Forbes India

Date: August 19, 2019

The Income Tax department should leverage technology for certainty and efficiency in the issuance of withholding tax certificates. The government has introduced several measures to improve its tax delivery system and make it more business-friendly. Regular reviews of the delivery system and improvements to processes to reduce turnaround time demonstrate its commitment. One aspect of the journey towards ‘Tax 2.0’, however, that requires immediate attention is the process of granting lower withholding tax certificates. Businesses depend upon the Income Tax department to obtain a withholding tax certificate before making or receiving a payment.

Publication: The Hindu Business Line

Date: August 21, 2019

Research shows that while mobile phone penetration has grown significantly in India, there remain sharp disparities in how the phones are used. Singh and Kumar categorize Indian mobile phone users into four groups by “feature use”. Group 1 mobile phone features rank low in complexity and do not require internet access (such as making or receiving calls). Group 2 features are high in complexity but do not require internet access; while group 3 features are comparatively low in complexity, but need internet access. Finally, group 4 features are both complex and need internet access (e.g. e-commerce and mobile banking applications).

Publication: Livemint 

Date: August 20, 2019

As much as 42% of companies in the IT, startup and SME sectors find getting top tech candidates as the biggest challenge during recruitment, according to a report by talent assessment firm Mercer|Mettl. The report, titled ‘Tech Hiring & Technology Adoption Trends 2019’, is based on a survey of 350 top executives from more than 200 companies. Of these companies, 40% were SMEs, 30% were startups and the remaining were big IT services providers. Lack of budget came in a close second for nearly a quarter of the respondents during recruitment.

Publication: Economic Times

Date: August 19, 2019

In a first, the e-commerce sector comprising e-tailing platforms, food aggregators and ride-hailing platforms, has formulated certain self-governing principles for the sector. The national e-commerce committee at the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) formulated the voluntary guidelines and has also shared these self-governing principles with the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DPIIT). The national e-commerce committee at Ficci comprises 30 companies including e-tailing platforms such as Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal, Paytm Mall and Indiamart.

Publication: CNBC Tv18

Date: August 16, 2019

Retail giant Walmart keeps on pushing back against Amazon, winning more on-line sales. Last week, the company reported a 2.8% jump in same-store sales and a 37% jump in online sales for the fiscal second quarter. That’s on the top of a 3.4% jump in U.S. Q1 comp sales, and a 37% jump in online sales for the first fiscal quarter. All in all, Walmart has reported 19 quarters of positive transactions, and the future looks brighter according to comments from its CEO following last week’s report. This means that the retail giant’s big comeback is for real. And that’s bad news for Amazon.

Publication: Forbes

Date: August 17, 2019

Start-ups and technology companies will be able to issue shares with differential voting rights (DVRs) with the government amending the Companies Act provisions to help entrepreneurs retain control even as they raise equity capital from global investors. The ministry of corporate affairs (MCA) has raised the existing cap of 26 per cent of the total post issue paid up equity share capital to 74 per cent of total voting power in respect of shares with DVRs of a company. Such shares have rights disproportionate to their economic ownership. In June, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) had issued a framework for filing shares with DVRs.

Publication: Business Standard

Date: August 17, 2019

Having declined in both numbers and valuations this year, initial public offerings may shrink to a trickle in the second half, hit by continuing volatility in the markets on account of domestic and global issues, investment bankers said. After a lacklustre first half, three IPOs hit the markets in the last fortnight—those of Affle Ltd, Spandana Sphoorty Financial Ltd and Sterling and Wilson Solar Ltd. But while Affle’s IPO was heavily subscribed, the other two deals barely managed to cross the finish line.

Publication: Livemint

Date: August 17, 2019

Warehouse leasing by corporates rose a healthy 31% Y-o-Y to surpass 13 million sq ft during the first half of the 2019 calendar year (CY), with Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore accounting for more than 60% of the activity. The demand during the period was mainly driven by third-party logistics (3PL) players, followed by e-commerce companies.  Except the Delhi-NCR and Bangalore, all other cities witnessed a marginal growth in leasing. In a few instances, tier II cities like Hosur (Tamil Nadu) and Vijayawada (Andhra Pradesh) saw rise in leasing with large e-commerce players taking up 0.64 million sq ft and 0.15 million sq ft, respectively.

Publication : Financial Express

Date : August 16, 2019

“In the coming days, 1.5 lakh wellness centres will be created at villages. One medical college in the midst of three Lok Sabha constituencies, housing for 2 crore poor people, drinking water supply in 15 crore rural households and 1.25 lakh km roads in rural areas, besides connecting every village with broadband and optical fibre network are some of the targets to be achieved,” Modi said. High-speed internet will be key for a host of facilities to reach rural hinterlands, including digital payment, online education, telemedicine, etc.

Publication : Mint

Date : August 16, 2019

The government’s recent decision to give relief to start-ups on assessment of angel tax notices would provide a safeguard to them and promote their growth, according to experts. Seeking to calm the nerves of start-ups worried about angel tax, the government last week assured that explanation given by them to a tax notice in a limited scrutiny case would be summarily accepted without any questions asked by the taxman.The Central Board for Direct Taxes’ (CBDT) circular with this effect “brings in more safeguard by requiring assessing officers to procure his or her supervisor’s consent before starting on any inquiry

Publication : Moneycontrol

Date : August 15, 2019

Walmart’s international unit saw operating profits fall by nearly 30% to $900 million in the second quarter ended July of the financial year 2020, primarily due to the inclusion of Flipkart. The company also saw its net sales in international markets fall by 1.1% to $29.1 billion even as the Bentonville-based retail giant reported strong numbers in its home market US. This is the second continuous quarter for Walmart where its international earnings have been impacted due to Flipkart as it saw a fall of 38% in operating profits to $790 million in the first quarter.

Publication : ET Retail

Date : August 16, 2019

Businesses that meet this criteria will be hugely successful in this retail landscape both now and into the future because they will be best placed to meet three inescapable trends emerging quickly: In-store retail is naturally becoming less about inventory and more about providing intermediary and indispensable, location-based services that result in sales, craft relationships with customers and capture new data.Advances in fulfilment and same-day delivery services will dictate largely the role of retail shops as points of sheer fulfilment

Publication : Inside Retail

Date : August 14, 2019

While many pundits and operators remain focused on rapidly growing e-commerce revenue, the inconvenient truth is that e-commerce profits have been far more elusive. There are four primary issues challenging to e-commerce profitably: information parity, scale, returns and shipping costs. Information Parity Historically, in-store shoppers rarely knew what other retailers were charging for the same goods, but online consumers are one click from perfect competitive pricing information. This shift toward transparency has caused many to adopt dynamic pricing, rapidly dropping prices in response to a competitive threat. The result is a “race to the bottom” pricing strategy.

Publication : Forbes

Date : August 14, 2019

IKEA, the world’s leading multi-channel home furnishing retailer, continues its one-year-anniversary celebrations by offering an opportunity to win a 6 days and 5 nights trip to Sweden, IKEA’s country of origin, for members of IKEA Family, a loyalty club for people who love their Home, and love to shop at IKEA.This opportunity is through a contest open to IKEA Family members in Telangana only. All one has to do is, register themselves for n IKEA Family membership, shop for their favourite products at the IKEA Hyderabad Store till August 18, 2019, scan the IKEA

Publication : UNI 

Date : August 14, 2019

Tax terrorism is not new in India — the ‘Raid Raj’ years typified tax terrorism. The reasons for tax terrorism are not hard to seek — just like marketing managers, the tax department has stiff revenue targets to meet. To meet these targets, they become hyperactive in the months of February and March. Show-cause notices are issued at will, visits to the premises of taxpayers are made, injudicious positions are taken on tax laws, and tax is collected at any cost. Taxpayers are forced to play along as taking on the department head-on could have collateral repercussions on shareholder expectations.

Publication : The Hindu Business Line

Date : August 14, 2019

After the e-commerce foreign direct investment rules caused a lull in the plans of Amazon’s deal with Future Retail, the deal is now reportedly back on track. A Bloomberg report cited people aware of the development to say that Future Group is seeking a valuation of about $281 Mn from Amazon for the stake Both companies have been in talks since last year to align their businesses together through a stake deal. Amazon and Future Group have met several times to explore joint business plans about distribution, warehousing and creating special products for Amazon’s marketplace and its grocery offerings Pantry and Amazon Now.

Publication : Inc.42

Date : August 13, 2019

The rules for Consumer Protection Act 2019, recently passed by Parliament, would be framed within three months and the States would be consulted during the process, said Ram Vilas Paswan, Minister for Consumers Affairs, Food and Public Distribution on Tuesday.“We want the rules to be in place at the earliest,” Paswan told the media rebutting Ministry Officials who said Parliament has given six months to frame the rules. The Minister added that he would make sure that the rules are formed within three months.

Publication : The Hindu Business Line 

Date : August 14, 2o19

All too commonly we see groups of leaders fail to accomplish their goals- legislators who cannot agree upon a bill, heads of state who cannot broker meaningful peace deals, or boards of directors who make disastrous decisions for their companies. Why do powerful people, when working together, fail as often as they do? The question in particularly vexing because researchers have long found power to boost individual performance in a variety of ways.  When people work alone, feeling powerful helps them process information more effectively, think more creatively, and focus for longer stretches of time.

Publication : Mint 

Date : August 14, 2019

When IKEA unveiled its Indian store in Hyderabad on Aug. 9, 2018, the southern Indian city gave it a roaring welcome. In the first week of its launch, the Swedish furniture giant saw an average of 28,000 visitors per day. On some days during the first week, there were two-hour-long queues just to enter the store, and long winding traffic jams outside. Enthused by the response, IKEA is now all geared up to launch in Mumbai, Delhi, and Bengaluru, having picked up a few lessons through its first year. For instance, the Swedish furniture giant is shifting its strategy by opening smaller stores and debuting online.

Publication : Quartz

Date : August 13, 2019

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw can be quite upfront about issues close to her heart. In a tweet in late July, the chairperson and managing director of biotechnology company Biocon asked finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman to clarify if the tax rebate she announced would be on corporate tax too. The same month, she tweeted on Nike’s innovative tribute to Chandrayaan 2 and congratulated women scientists in space science. “I took to social media because I realized that these platforms enable you to share your views with the world at large and shape opinions as well as engage and influence people and policy in the right direction,”

Publication : Mint

Date : August 12, 2019

Can’t slow down; got to keep moving on—that’s essentially the life of an entrepreneur. Twenty four months into operations, you’re most likely to have survived near death a couple of times before finding your business niche and building a steady revenue flow for your business. You are cash-fuelled for expansion and energized, yet you have some niggling thoughts: My team is good but sluggish in thinking, territorial in their work; or processes masked as governance have slowed down the organization. Maybe you miss the contact with your original team as it’s all via division heads now, and so, you feel that all-hands-on-deck conversations aren’t as frank as they were before.

Publication : Mint 

Date : August 12, 2019

In Poetics, Aristotle described the Greek word Hamartia as “a fatal flaw leading to the downfall of a tragic hero or heroine.” Though used in the context of literary criticism, it can be easily be co-opted to describe Indian tax law—of how every notification of exemption that seems too good to be true always contains within it the seeds of its downfall. Nowhere is this art of the Achilles heel more prominent than in the “Angel Tax” notifications. The “Angel Tax”, or Section 56(2)(vii b), is a 2012 insertion by the then UPA government

Publication : Financial Express

Date : August 13, 2019

As large players continue to push e-commerce delivery times from two-day to next-day to same-day, they reset customer expectations with each advance. That is putting pressure on everyone else to keep up. In fact, a recent DHL e-commerce report shows that delivery timing is one of the key issues for meeting customer expectations, with nearly half of respondents rating it as extremely important, second only to customer service. Meeting existing expectations is already proving challenging for many organizations and moving to even shorter delivery times may require significant investments in facilities, people and technology.

Publication : CSA

Date : August 12, 2019

Amazon launched the Amazon Marketplace Appstore in India on Monday. The platform, exclusively created for sellers, will help them automate, grow, and manage their businesses. Accessible through Amazon Seller Central, the marketplace appstore will enable sellers to browse and filter applications across 13 categories including Accounting and Tax Remittance, Inventory and Order Management, and e-commerce solution connectors, among others. The Amazon Marketplace Appstore will provide access to up to 100 applications from across the world. Indian sellers will be able to explore features including browsing apps from Amazon and third-parties.

Publication : Yourstory

Date : August 12, 2019

The US along with former members of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement as well as the EU has proposed plurilateral rules at the World Trade Organization (WTO) that would further weaken the role of governments in overseeing global electronic commerce. The US for example, does not want any discriminatory restrictions on the treatment of digital products, cross-border transfer of information by electronic means, and location of computing facilities, including cloud computing among others.

Publication : Mint 

Date : August 12, 2019

Amazon India has made a slew of changes in the seller mix on the platform, reducing dependence on vendors in which it owns a stake — like Cloudtail and Appario — after the updated online marketplace policy was announced in December. The e-tailer is now focusing on around a dozen mid-sized, third-party sellers who drive 30-33% of its total sales in India, up from about 20% earlier, according to two sources familiar with the development.Similar to its platinum seller programme, which ran into problems due to GST in 2017, these sellers on Amazon India include Green Mobile, Rocket Kommerce, Primarc and Redlily, sources aware of the goings-on said.

Publication : ET Retail

Date : August 12,  2019

Impressed with the public response to its one-year-old Hyderabad store, Ikea has announced that it would soon increase its local sourcing of material from the present 20% to 50% in the coming years. The Swedish home furnishing giant with its 403 stores in 49 countries and an annual turnover of around 38.3 billion euros, will soon open its stores in Mumbai and Bangalore. Ikea CEO Peter Betzel, on the first anniversary of his Hyderabad store on 9 August said that the company would soon announce dates of launch of a store in Mumbai and Bangalore followed by many more Indian cities.

Publication : Sunday Guardian Live

Date : August 11, 2019

To say Startups are the in-thing is sort of repeating a cliche. The last decade or so startups booming or startups mushrooming (depends on which side you are) has been one of the hot topics- on and off the internet. At the last count, 7,200 Startups figured in India alone, according to the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM)- the premier non-profit trade association of Indian IT and Business outsourcing industry. In a way, this culture which has ushered in teenage billionaires and tech wizards have rewritten the mosaic of business once for all. With this phenomenon surfaced the concept of startup funding- a relatively new mode of financing business enterprises.

Publication : Inc42

Date: August 11, 2019

It’s a Battle Royale out there. We have one of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s most brilliant projects, Startup India, which promises to increase both employment as well as self-employment in the country. Just look at the over 30,000 employees of Flipkart, or the over 5, 50,000 drivers used by Ola Cabs, and you begin to see the impact of startups on employment. However, pitted against Startup India is a formidable opponent, popularly known as Angel Tax. But let’s start at the very beginning.

Publication : Firstpost

Date : August 10, 2019

India’s e-commerce sector, poised to grow four times to $150 billion by 2022, is still a work in progress when it comes to safeguarding customer interest. Consumers are still compelled to take wild chances in online transactions. There is little they can do if their calls go wrong. Returns and reimbursements are risky and cumbersome. There are no authentic ways to figure out if product reviews, ratings or even discounts are genuine.So, it is heartening to see the government coming up with a set of guidelines to protect interests of consumers.

Publication : The Hindu Business Line

Date : August 10, 2019

Ikea is celebrating its first anniversary of operating in India. Even though the company secured regulatory approval to enter the country in 2013, it took five years of effort and significant investment before the first Ikea megastore opened its doors to Indian consumers in Hyderabad in 2018. The response was overwhelming – 40,000 shoppers turned up on day one, resulting in two-hour long queues just to get inside, while traffic built up outside the store. Ikea has since purchased land parcels in Mumbai, Bangalore and Gurugram (near Delhi), announced a ten-fold increase in its employee strength to 15,000 and set a target to reach 200m customers in three years.

Publication : The Conversation

Date: August 10, 2019

On August 9, 2018, images of jam-packed roads leading to the IKEA store in Hyderabad had gone viral on social media. Now, the Swedish home furnishing giant, which is celebrating its first ‘birthday’ of the store in India, aims to become more accessible to customers, a top official said here on Friday. To do this, the company, which is known for large-format stores worldwide, will not only turn its focus to e-commerce but also towards small-format stores across the country. “If you look at the big cities in India… then we know time and value of time plays a big a role. We would like to be close to the customer.

Publication : Financial Chronicle

Date : August 10, 2019

To help startups to move from the Innovators Growth Platform of stock exchanges to the mainboard for regular trading, regulator Sebi is planning a new set of norms to allow them to shift after one year of trading and expanding their shareholder base to at least 200. However, the regulator is of the view that if companies listed on the IGP are allowed to be traded in the regular category of mainboard without following stringent criteria, it may be misused to bypass the rigorous route of coming up with a mainboard IPO, officials said.

Publication: Economic Times

Date: August 9, 2019

The income tax (I-T) department has relaxed its assessment and scrutiny norms for start-ups. In a circular it directed its officers not to raise additional tax demands for start-ups recognised by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT). This will be done in cases where scrutiny is limited to Section 56 (2) (viib) of the Income Tax Act, or what is called in popular parlance angel tax. Angel tax refers to income tax payable on capital raised by unlisted firms by issuing shares where the share price is considered more than the fair market value.

Publication: Business Standard

Date: August 9, 2019

The Narendra Modi government has made tall claims pertaining to supporting the growth of small and medium businesses through startup-friendly policy making, and by prioritising the ease of doing business to a large extent. This is somewhat reflected in the Global Innovation Index 2019 (GII 2019), where India jumped five places this year to improve its position from 57th last year to 52nd. But are the lack of clarity and the red-tapism in some of India’s startup-related policy decisions also seriously harming businesses and businessmen? However, with Cafe Coffee Day founder VG Siddhartha having allegedly committed suicide citing harassments by income tax officials, ‘tax terrorism’ is back in the news.

Publication: Inc 42

Date: August 8, 2019

Swedish furniture manufacturing giant Ikea is completing its one year journey in India this week. The company started its venture by establishing a format store in Hyderabad exactly a year ago i.e. on 8th August 2018. The store in Hyderabad was the first of 25 stores Ikea planned to open across India. The startup is already localizing its strategies and as part of the major plan to set up five-six smaller format stores in Mumbai, it is now scouting for locations in ‘The City of Dreams’. These smaller outlets would range from 50,000 – 150,000 square feet which is a digression from its flagship store stretch

Publication : Silicon India

Date : August 8, 2019

As for the third category of notices, which were served on start-ups not recognised by DPIIT and are concerned with multiple sections of the law including angel tax, the AO will proceed only after a nod from supervisory officer, the CBDT said. In what would bring clarity to the start-ups that have been served with notices by the income-tax department under the so-called angel tax provision, the Central Board of Direct Taxes on Thursday said the department would ‘summarily accept’ contention of start-ups recognised by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), if the notices pertained only to the angel tax section.

Publication: Financial Express

Date: August 9, 2019

Ikea has spent five years in India, and its flagship store in Hyderabad is turning a year old. Now,  it’s time for its debut in the country’s financial capital, Mumbai, according to Peter Betzel, the Swedish furniture retailer’s Managing Director in India. An announcement is expected within the next few days, according to another source. “While the Navi Mumbai store is getting ready, our focus now is to launch e-commerce in Mumbai very shortly, to be able to meet as many Mumbaikars sonner.” Betzel told Business Insider in an exclusive interview.

Publication : Business Insider

Date : August 7, 2019

Food delivery and restaurant discovery platform Zomato has laid-off around 70-100 employees in its customer support team at its office in Gurgaon, as the company looks to cut costs and reduce redundancies across its food delivery business, said three people aware of the development. Zomato confirmed the development. It said that the lay-offs were carried out due to redundancies in its current customer support workforce. “Over the last few months, our service quality has improved, and the percentage of orders requiring support have come down significantly creating a small number of redundancies for 1.2% of our workforce.

Publication : Livemint

Date :  August 7, 2019

E-commerce has been primarily unregulated and the government has worked to bring every aspect of its operations under its legal framework. The creation of guidelines on consumer protection was one of the last aspects of the draft National e-commerce Policy proposed in February.The government has proposed that e-commerce companies should abide by a 14-day deadline for refund requests. Besides, it wants e-commerce retailers to disclose details of sellers, protect “personally identifiable information of customers (under the provisions of the Information Technology (Amendment) Act, 2008) and have a defined procedure for redressal of consumer complaints.

Publication : Moneycontrol

Date : August 7, 2019

Amazon.com Inc., Facebook Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google defended their business practices to U.S. lawmakers conducting a broad antitrust inquiry, seeking to underscore their companies face stiff competition in their respective industries. Amazon, for example, argued that much of the data it keeps regarding third-party merchants who use its online marketplace is public and that analyzing aggregate sales data to bolster its private-label strategy is a common practice in the retail industry. “Customers’ shopping behavior in our store is just one of many inputs to Amazon’s private-label strategy,” David Zapolsky, Amazon’s general counsel

Publication : Yahoo News

Date : August 8, 2019

The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) will take a call on India’s position on data localisation, considering its strategic and security aspects, even as it asked for fresh consultations on the proposed Personal Data Protection Bill. While the commerce and industry ministry had called for strict data localisation norms in its draft e-commerce policy, the electronics and information technology ministry is working on the Personal Data Protection Bill and has become the nodal agency for all data-related matters.Separately, the Reserve Bank of India has clarified that a copy of domestic data can be stored abroad in the case of cross-border transactions.

Publication : The Economic Times

Date : August 8,  2019

The bill seeks to establish authorities for timely and effective administration and settlement of consumer disputes Parliament on Tuesday approved a new bill to revamp the process of administration and settlement of consumer disputes, with strict penalties including jail term for adulteration and misleading ads by companies. The Consumer Protection Bill 2019, already passed by Lok Sabha, was approved in the Upper House by voice vote and will replace the Consumer Protection Act, 1986.

Publication: The Hindu BusinessLine

Date: August 7, 2019

Facebook was urged in June by the Competition and Markets Authority to probe the sale of fake reviews via these groups. Which? claimed to have uncovered several active groups that recruited people to write fake testimonies. Facebook said it had removed almost all the groups reported to it and was still investigating the issue. For its investigation, Which? said it joined 10 separate Facebook groups looking for recruits. In a 30-day period, it said, recruiters added more than 55,000 posts to the groups that offered free products to people who wrote highly-rated reviews on Amazon.

Publication : BBC 

Date : August 7, 2019

In a recent paper, titled The Market For Data Privacy, Tarun Ramadorai and his co-authors describe an interesting study they carried out on a large sample of privacy policies to evaluate the extent to which the content of these policies affected the manner in which personal data was transferred. They discovered that even though large firms with only an intermediate level of knowledge capital intensity had longer, more legally watertight policies, they were more likely to share the browsing history of their users with third parties.

Publication :  Livemint

Date : August 7, 2019

On July 27, 2018, the Srikrishna Committee published a draft bill for a new, comprehensive data protection law, the Personal Data Protection Bill 2018 (PDPB) in response to a mandate the Indian government received from the Indian Supreme Court the previous year following its ruling that recognized privacy as a fundamental right. While the bill has not yet been passed it, Telecom and IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has made it a priority to take the data protection bill to Parliament during his current term.

Publication : Moneycontrol

Date : August 6, 2019

India is proposing a series of consumer safeguards that forbid e-commerce companies such as Amazon.com Inc. and Walmart Inc.-owned Flipkart Online Services Pvt. from influencing pricing, adopting unfair promotion methods or misrepresenting the quality of goods and services. E-commerce companies must self-declare compliance and also provide a way for customers to contact them directly, said the proposed e-Commerce Guidelines for consumer protection 2019, published on the Department of Consumer Affairs website. The department invited parties to provide feedback by 16 September.

Publication : Livemint, The Hindu Business Line 

Date : August 6, 2019

The combined market capitalization of just four companies—Facebook, Apple, Alphabet (Google) and Amazon—is greater than the gross domestic product (GDP) of India. In the US, in China and, of late, in India, corporations which have a disproportionately large share of their consumer markets are rising. The current regulatory architecture is woefully inadequate to comprehend and determine whether this corporate concentration gives rise to monopoly power. The dictionary definition of monopoly is “a market situation where one firm, or a group of firms acting in concert, controls the supply of a good or a service”.

Publication : Livemint

Date : August 6, 2019

To protect consumers’ interest, the Centre has proposed guidelines for e-commerce firms that entail a 14-day deadline to effect refund request, mandate e-tailers to display details of sellers supplying goods and services on their websites and moot the procedure to resolve consumer complaints. The consumer affairs ministry has sought views of stakeholders on the draft guidelines on e-commerce by September 16. Meanwhile, the government is planning to come out with a national e-commerce policy to facilitate achieving holistic growth of the sector.

Publication: Economic Times

Date: August 6, 2019

Amazon.com Inc.’s determination to offer shoppers the best deals is prompting merchants selling products on its marketplace to raise their prices on competing websites, a testament to the company’s growing influence over the e-commerce market. Amazon constantly scans rivals’ prices to see if they’re lower. When it discovers a product is cheaper on, say, Walmart.com, Amazon alerts the company selling the item and then makes the product harder to find and buy on its own marketplace — effectively penalizing the merchant. In many cases, the merchant opts to raise the price on the rival site rather than risk losing sales on Amazon.

Publication: Bloomberg Quint

Date: August 6, 2019

IKEA is considering small stores or ‘experience centres’ within city limits to boost its direct customer outreach and wade into India’s online sales segment currently dominated by Flipkart and Amazon. The Swedish furniture giant plans 25 such sites by 2025, reports the Economic Times.Known worldwide for its huge off-city warehouses, usually ranging more than 400,000 square feet, the company now plans to function sites as small as 15,000 sq ft as digital planning points and sites ranging 50,000-100,000 sq ft for stores within city limits, the report added.

Publication: Moneycontrol

Date: August 6, 2019

Companies are free to raise prices of products and services as per their business cycle without fear of getting caught in the anti-profiteering provision in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) law once they have passed on the benefit of tax rate cuts to consumers, said a government official. The clarification from the official, who has knowledge of how the National Anti-profiteering Authority (NAA) and its investigative arm work, comes at a time when ambiguity in the law and the recent extension of the profiteering watchdog’s tenure as well as an increase in penalty for violation have led to concerns that the pricing liberty of businesses stands curtailed.

Publication : Livemint 

Date : August 5, 2019

Prospective entrepreneurs can build a successful e-commerce business with some effort, the right marketing methods, and a quality product. Business owners can enter the e-commerce industry on a small scale with a relatively limited budget, but they can also grow their businesses into significant operations over time. Since online businesses eliminate many challenges, like the staffing and management of a physical retail location, it makes sense for many entrepreneurs to pursue online businesses.

Publication: Boss Magazine

Date: August 5, 2019

E-commerce companies are betting big on small towns to explore the opportunities offered by a large customer base and are expanding their talent pool in these cities to fuel growth, experts say. They expect recruitment to go up by 15 percent in this space. Small towns are becoming the driving force behind e-commerce growth in the country as online retailers are targeting last mile connectivity and are increasingly focusing on getting the small-town Indian customer to shop online.

Publication: Economic Times

Date: August 4, 2019

Startups hoping for relief from angel tax on capital investment see their merger and acquisition (M&A) plans going for a toss after the latest conditions for immunity, laid out once startups get registered with the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP).One condition, however, is that startups must not invest in any shares or securities, hampering M&As, industry trackers said.

Publication: Economic Times

Date: August 3, 2019

The 2020 Ikea catalog has landed in the States and we’ve had a sneak peek at what’s (hopefully) in store for us later this year. You can check out the digital catalog now (just keep in mind that prices are in American dollars) – but in the meantime, we’ve picked out the top 7 products on our wishlist. Think beyond the kids’ room – this playful lamp will add a touch of personality to any space. It can be changed to seven different colours, depending on your mood. Too much fun! Looking for a way to add warmth or introduce a natural element to your dining room?

Publication: Better Homes

Date: August 3, 2019

The government has proposed the Consumer Protection Bill, 2019, which it said, will facilitate appropriate and swift intervention to protect consumers’ interests. The Bill, which was passed in the Lok Sabha earlier this week, will replace the existing consumer protection law, passed in 1986. India has multiple laws that enable consumers to act against and seek relief, from faulty products or services. Aggrieved consumers can initiate action under the Indian Contract Act. The Bill centralizes remedies and protection available to consumers.

Publication: Bloomberg Quint

Date: August 3, 2019

The road to e-commerce business success is hardly a straight and narrow one. Every step in a business lifecycle — from launch and growth to scale and maturity — is fraught with peaks, valleys, bumps, hazards and roadblocks. Your plan and reality are usually very different! Following are the top five roadblocks when transitioning from startup to growth:Competition, Insufficient Time, Hiring the Right Staff,Operational Issues, Sales Execution.Rarely do these issues exist in a vacuum. Many e-commerce small and mid-sized businesses will face any number of these and other roadblocks at any given time and need to be prepared to do so.

Publication: E Commerce Times

Date: August 3, 2019

Last month, the Monetary Policy Committee of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) reduced the policy rate by 25 basis points, against the backdrop of a slowdown in global as well as domestic growth. In its monetary policy statement, the central bank mentions that the recent slowdown in the March 2019 quarter is predominantly a consequence of decelerating consumption and export growth in the previous quarter. So, the question needs to be asked: What has been affecting consumer demand? To understand consumer behaviour better, we have to go back to the basic microeconomic theory.

Publication: Financial Express

Date: August 2, 2019

The Centre’s e-commerce platform, government e-marketplace (GeM), was launched in 2016 with an ambitious goal to become the ‘Flipkart’ — then the byword for large-scale e-commerce in India — of government procurement. Three years and Rs 28,710 crore worth of transactions later, it has more than double the number of sellers than Flipkart. According to official statistics, the portal, under the commerce and industry ministry, has 259,000 sellers and service providers combined. GeM is yet to catch up on its basic task of digitising government transactions, estimated at an annual Rs 5.5 trillion.

Publication: Business Standard

Date: August 2, 2019

Amazon.com Inc founder Jeff Bezos sold shares worth $1.8 billion in the last three days of July, reducing the value of his stake in the world’s third most valuable company to about $110 billion. The move by Bezos was part of a previously adopted trading plan and was revealed in regulatory filings that also showed that his former wife Mackenzie Bezos is now the online retailer’s second-largest individual shareholder. Her stake, stemming from a divorce settlement of the pair’s previous joint holdings, is currently worth more than $37 billion.

Publication: Business Standard

Date: August 1, 2019

Ecommerce giant Amazon India has signed a deal with GMR Hyderabad Airport City to expand its largest fulfillment centre in Hyderabad to empower small and medium-sized businesses and enable fast delivery in the region. “With the further expansion of our largest fulfillment centre in India, we are excited to create many more hundreds of skilled jobs in the region and empower thousands of local sellers t use the local infrastructure thus helping them save capital and grow,” said Akhil Saxena, Vice President, customer fulfillment –  Asia, Amazon.

Publication: Techcircle

Date: August 1, 2019

Entrepreneurs and start-up teams from across Chennai gathered at the Cafe Coffee Day outlet in Ispahani Centre in Nungambakkam to show their solidarity with Cafe Coffee Day’s late founder V.G. Siddhartha. The entrepreneurs also decided to set up a call centre and create a peer group that would help entrepreneurs in stress. The gathering was organised by R. Balachandar, CEO and co-founder of Wassup Laundry, and Sakthivel Paneerselvam, the founder of the6.in. The entrepreneurs discussed various solutions they can offer to the start-up ecosystem to overcome stress and crisis.

Publication: The Hindu

Date: August 2, 2019

Shapoorji Pallonji Group company Sterling & Wilson Solar and microfinance company Spandana Sphoorty Financial Services have cut the size of their initial public offering (IPO) by a third to realign with market conditions, said sources in the know. To hit the market next week, the two IPOs will raise a cumulative Rs 4,300 crore, down from nearly Rs 6,000 crore planned earlier. The IPO of Sterling & Wilson Solar has been cut from Rs 4,500 crore to Rs 3,150 crore. Meanwhile, Spandana Sphoorty Financial Services has retained the fresh issue component of Rs 400 crore but cut the OFS component from Rs 1,200 crore to Rs 800 crore.

Publication: Business Standard

Date: August 1, 2019

Venture Capital (VC) funding is a key element in the growth of innovative technologies and solutions. Innovations by their nature carry large risks in their development and adoption and VC funding provides the risk capital that can bring them to market. This class of investors typically do not look towards nurturing a start-up and earning profits from its operations over its lifetime but rather look at how easily the investment can be exited at a profit. The range of investment time horizon is typical 3-7 years.

Publication: Entrepreneur

Date: July 30, 2019