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PhonePe retreats from ecommerce on ONDC; Good Glamm versus IAN
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PhonePe has returned to the drawing board to review its ecommerce strategy. This and more in today’s ETtech Top 5.
Also in this letter:
■ Zilingo's Ankiti Bose files FIR against cofounder, ex-COO
■ Firms invested Rs 13,000 crore in EV push
■ US Senate passes TikTok divestment-or-ban bill
From left: PhonePe cofounders Rahul Chari and Sameer Nigam
PhonePe’s Pincode is exiting several categories like fashion, grocery and electronics, except for food delivery, on the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC).
Go deeper: According to an internal note reviewed by us, Pincode will only be subscribed to ONDC domains of food delivery and unreserved travel ticketing from April 23, 2024.
What’s behind the rejig? People in the know said PhonePe is realigning its focus as the end consumer experience on ONDC is still not at par with other consumer delivery apps.
A senior government official told us that ONDC has been witnessing issues with grocery deliveries due to lack of standardisation of general trade and smaller modern trade kirana stores.
Flashback: We reported earlier today that PhonePe has ploughed in Rs 90 crore in Pincode in the last one year in two tranches – one in July 2023, and another earlier this month.
Between January 2023 and March 2024, ONDC fulfilled 50 million orders, of which nearly two-thirds were mobility transactions through participants such as Namma Yatri. In March 2024, of the almost 17.5 million non-mobility orders, grocery accounted for 4.5%, while food and beverages made up for nearly 10%.
Content-to-commerce unicorn Good Glamm group has initiated arbitration proceedings against Indian Angel Network (IAN), as the legal battle between the company, its portfolio firms and their investors intensifies.
Driving the news: The company has initiated proceedings at the Indian Council of Arbitration, after IAN, an investor in women’s hygiene brand Sirona that Good Glamm had bought, accused the firm and its board of attempting to cheat investors.
Good Glamm has alleged a breach of contractual terms against IAN and accused it of making defamatory comments, countering a default notice sent by the investor over payment dues related to the Sirona deal.
Tiff with portfolio firms: Founders of Sirona, which Good Glamm acquired in 2021 for Rs 100 crore, and The Moms Co, which it bought the same year for around Rs 500 crore, have sent default notices to Good Glamm, claiming that it had not paid the final due amount.
In Sirona, Good Glamm had acquired a partial undisclosed stake in 2021. The remaining shares were to be purchased by December 2023, subject to certain conditions, but that has not yet been done. It acquired 90% of The Moms Co, with an agreement to purchase the remaining this year.
Mounting troubles: The legal trouble at Good Glamm over payment of dues has come just over a month after it closed a $30 million round from existing investors at a flat valuation. The company has also put in place a set of measures, including laying off 150 people, to rein in its cash burn.
Ankiti Bose, former CEO of B2B fashion startup Zilingo, has filed a case of sexual harassment against the company’s cofounder Dhruv Kapoor and its former chief operating officer Aadi Vaidya.
Driving the news: According to the FIR, in March 2021, the two allegedly threatened Bose and sought sexual favours. It also states that she was threatened against speaking about the company’s deteriorating financial condition.
A case was registered against the two men under sections 354 (A) and 354 (D) pertaining to sexual harassment and stalking, respectively, of the Indian Penal Code on Tuesday.
Defence statements: Kapoor termed Bose's allegations against him as "completely baseless, untrue and malicious". "A thorough investigation has already proven her wrongdoing based on which she was terminated from the company. This appears to be nothing but retaliatory behaviour," he said. Vaidya also said the allegations against him were "completely baseless and untrue".
Ouster and allegations: In April 2022, after alleged discrepancies were found in Zilingo's accounting, the company suspended Bose as the CEO. Later in June that year, she resigned from the directorships at holding company Zilingo Pte Ltd as well as its subsidiaries.
Financial investigation: The alleged discrepancies in its accounting were discovered at the time of a due diligence process for a new funding round, through which it was looking to raise $150-200 million at a valuation of $1.2 billion. In May 2022, Zilingo commissioned Deloitte to look into the harassment charges levelled by Bose.
Automobile and auto parts makers in India invested a total Rs 13,000 crore in the past year for manufacturing green vehicles and related parts under the government’s Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme.
Tell me more: The government expects to achieve its target of attracting investments worth Rs 42,500 crore in the next 2-3 years, well ahead of the initial timeline of five years
Eight automakers and parts suppliers, including Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Motors, Bajaj Auto and Ola Electric, have invested and got approval under the PLI scheme, senior government officials told us. They added that investments envisaged from the sector over the five-year period will exceed the initial estimate.
Catch up quick: The government had approved an outlay of Rs 25,938 crore under the PLI scheme to support the local automotive industry to make the transition to eco-friendly technologies. The scheme extends financial incentives of up to 18% to boost domestic manufacturing of advanced automotive technology products.
Also read | Why Elon Musk may not drive Tesla to India anytime soon
The US Senate passed legislation on Tuesday, giving ByteDance, the Chinese owner of TikTok, about nine months to divest the US assets of the popular short video app, or face a nationwide ban.
Tell me more: The bill was passed by the US House of Representatives on Saturday and US President Joe Biden has said he will sign it into law on Wednesday.
Tick-tock for TikTok: Once Biden signs the bill, a 270-day clock starts during which ByteDance must sell TikTok. If it looks like ByteDance is close to divestment near the end of the nine-month period, the president can authorise an additional 90 days for any deal to be finalised.
Legal battle: Once the bill is signed into law, TikTok is expected to sue to stop it. TikTok's lawyers are also expected to ask the court for a preliminary injunction. It would want an injunction barring enforcement of the law to allow its full case challenging the constitutionality of the law to move ahead.
US-China rift: The four-year battle over TikTok, which is used by 170 million people in the United States, is just one front in a war over the internet and technology between Washington and Beijing. Last week, Apple said Beijing had ordered it to remove Meta Platforms' WhatsApp and Threads from its App Store in China over Chinese national security concerns.
Today’s ETtech Top 5 newsletter was curated by Megha Mishra and Ajay Rag in Mumbai.
Also in this letter:
■ Zilingo's Ankiti Bose files FIR against cofounder, ex-COO
■ Firms invested Rs 13,000 crore in EV push
■ US Senate passes TikTok divestment-or-ban bill
PhonePe’s Pincode exits non-food categories in ecommerce biz rejig
PhonePe’s Pincode is exiting several categories like fashion, grocery and electronics, except for food delivery, on the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC).
Go deeper: According to an internal note reviewed by us, Pincode will only be subscribed to ONDC domains of food delivery and unreserved travel ticketing from April 23, 2024.
What’s behind the rejig? People in the know said PhonePe is realigning its focus as the end consumer experience on ONDC is still not at par with other consumer delivery apps.
A senior government official told us that ONDC has been witnessing issues with grocery deliveries due to lack of standardisation of general trade and smaller modern trade kirana stores.
Flashback: We reported earlier today that PhonePe has ploughed in Rs 90 crore in Pincode in the last one year in two tranches – one in July 2023, and another earlier this month.
Between January 2023 and March 2024, ONDC fulfilled 50 million orders, of which nearly two-thirds were mobility transactions through participants such as Namma Yatri. In March 2024, of the almost 17.5 million non-mobility orders, grocery accounted for 4.5%, while food and beverages made up for nearly 10%.
Good Glamm initiates arbitration against portfolio company investor IAN
Content-to-commerce unicorn Good Glamm group has initiated arbitration proceedings against Indian Angel Network (IAN), as the legal battle between the company, its portfolio firms and their investors intensifies.
Driving the news: The company has initiated proceedings at the Indian Council of Arbitration, after IAN, an investor in women’s hygiene brand Sirona that Good Glamm had bought, accused the firm and its board of attempting to cheat investors.
Good Glamm has alleged a breach of contractual terms against IAN and accused it of making defamatory comments, countering a default notice sent by the investor over payment dues related to the Sirona deal.
Tiff with portfolio firms: Founders of Sirona, which Good Glamm acquired in 2021 for Rs 100 crore, and The Moms Co, which it bought the same year for around Rs 500 crore, have sent default notices to Good Glamm, claiming that it had not paid the final due amount.
In Sirona, Good Glamm had acquired a partial undisclosed stake in 2021. The remaining shares were to be purchased by December 2023, subject to certain conditions, but that has not yet been done. It acquired 90% of The Moms Co, with an agreement to purchase the remaining this year.
Mounting troubles: The legal trouble at Good Glamm over payment of dues has come just over a month after it closed a $30 million round from existing investors at a flat valuation. The company has also put in place a set of measures, including laying off 150 people, to rein in its cash burn.
Zilingo's Ankiti Bose files FIR against cofounder Dhruv Kapoor
Ankiti Bose, former CEO of B2B fashion startup Zilingo, has filed a case of sexual harassment against the company’s cofounder Dhruv Kapoor and its former chief operating officer Aadi Vaidya.
Driving the news: According to the FIR, in March 2021, the two allegedly threatened Bose and sought sexual favours. It also states that she was threatened against speaking about the company’s deteriorating financial condition.
A case was registered against the two men under sections 354 (A) and 354 (D) pertaining to sexual harassment and stalking, respectively, of the Indian Penal Code on Tuesday.
Defence statements: Kapoor termed Bose's allegations against him as "completely baseless, untrue and malicious". "A thorough investigation has already proven her wrongdoing based on which she was terminated from the company. This appears to be nothing but retaliatory behaviour," he said. Vaidya also said the allegations against him were "completely baseless and untrue".
Ouster and allegations: In April 2022, after alleged discrepancies were found in Zilingo's accounting, the company suspended Bose as the CEO. Later in June that year, she resigned from the directorships at holding company Zilingo Pte Ltd as well as its subsidiaries.
Financial investigation: The alleged discrepancies in its accounting were discovered at the time of a due diligence process for a new funding round, through which it was looking to raise $150-200 million at a valuation of $1.2 billion. In May 2022, Zilingo commissioned Deloitte to look into the harassment charges levelled by Bose.
PLI scheme: Auto firms invest Rs 13,000 crore to make EVs, parts
Automobile and auto parts makers in India invested a total Rs 13,000 crore in the past year for manufacturing green vehicles and related parts under the government’s Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme.
Tell me more: The government expects to achieve its target of attracting investments worth Rs 42,500 crore in the next 2-3 years, well ahead of the initial timeline of five years
Eight automakers and parts suppliers, including Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Motors, Bajaj Auto and Ola Electric, have invested and got approval under the PLI scheme, senior government officials told us. They added that investments envisaged from the sector over the five-year period will exceed the initial estimate.
Catch up quick: The government had approved an outlay of Rs 25,938 crore under the PLI scheme to support the local automotive industry to make the transition to eco-friendly technologies. The scheme extends financial incentives of up to 18% to boost domestic manufacturing of advanced automotive technology products.
Also read | Why Elon Musk may not drive Tesla to India anytime soon
US Senate passes TikTok divestment-or-ban bill: all you need to know
The US Senate passed legislation on Tuesday, giving ByteDance, the Chinese owner of TikTok, about nine months to divest the US assets of the popular short video app, or face a nationwide ban.
Tell me more: The bill was passed by the US House of Representatives on Saturday and US President Joe Biden has said he will sign it into law on Wednesday.
Tick-tock for TikTok: Once Biden signs the bill, a 270-day clock starts during which ByteDance must sell TikTok. If it looks like ByteDance is close to divestment near the end of the nine-month period, the president can authorise an additional 90 days for any deal to be finalised.
Legal battle: Once the bill is signed into law, TikTok is expected to sue to stop it. TikTok's lawyers are also expected to ask the court for a preliminary injunction. It would want an injunction barring enforcement of the law to allow its full case challenging the constitutionality of the law to move ahead.
US-China rift: The four-year battle over TikTok, which is used by 170 million people in the United States, is just one front in a war over the internet and technology between Washington and Beijing. Last week, Apple said Beijing had ordered it to remove Meta Platforms' WhatsApp and Threads from its App Store in China over Chinese national security concerns.
Today’s ETtech Top 5 newsletter was curated by Megha Mishra and Ajay Rag in Mumbai.
Want this newsletter delivered to your inbox?
I agree to receive newsletters and marketing communications via e-mail
Thank you for subscribing to Daily Top 5
We'll soon meet in your inbox.
