Even as India’s startup ecosystem expands, both domestic and foreign companies have identified Asia’s third-largest economy as one of the most attractive consumer markets globally. However, as is the norm worldwide, policy continues to trail innovation and market demands. The organisations profiled are looking to protect and promote domestic startups against their global counterparts, and in the process, influence policy making. While it is early days for most, their voices are loud and have become almost impossible to ignore.

Publication : ET Tech 

Date : October 15, 2019

Even as the Narendra Modi-government envisions India to become a $5 trillion economy, India’s e-commerce sector, which is likely to grow from $24 billion in 2017 to $84 billion in 2021 — as per a report by Deloitte India and Retail Association of India earlier this year, there is a need for the industry to stress about their contribution and goals aligned with those of the government in achieving the target GDP, according to Raghava Rao, Co-Chair, FICCI E-Commerce Committee; and VP, Finance & India CFO, Amazon Seller Services.

Publication : Financial Express

Date : October 16, 2019

The Indian government is reportedly looking into heavy discounts offered by e-commerce platforms Amazon and Flipkart during their special festive sales. The authorities will investigate if the foreign-owned online marketplaces have violated foreign direct investment rules. It does not come as a surprise. Last month, the Competition Commission of India reportedly said that the regulator will keep a close watch on these deep discounts following written complaints by the brick-and-mortar retailers lobby, the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), to commerce and industries minister Piyush Goyal.

Publication : Moneycontrol

Date : October 17, 2019

One major reason for the dim listing prospects of Indian startups is the trend of staying private through backing from mega funds like Softbank or Naspers, which have deep pockets and long investment horizons. The wisdom of their invest-at-any-valuation approach, though, must be questioned. Lot of good Indian companies can turn profitable without becoming overvalued unicorns and launch an IPO sooner. This is a better alternative to perpetually seeking private growth capital, where there is little compulsion to generate profits. To be sure, there have been a handful of successful startup IPOs in India over the years: Info Edge, Just Dial, Matrimony.com, Quick Heal, and more recently IndiaMART.

Publication : Quartz

Date : October 17, 2019