Hyperlocal deliveries fuel 300% stock rise for Shopee owner
Shopee, owned by Sea Ltd., has experienced a remarkable resurgence in Southeast Asia's e-commerce market, with its stock soaring. This comeback is largely attributed to SPX Express, Shopee's in-house logistics network powered by local community members. By investing heavily in its own delivery infrastructure, Shopee has successfully navigated the region's logistical challenges, driving growth and investor confidence.
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In the battle royale of global e-commerce, the names are familiar and formidable: Amazon. TikTok Shop. Shein. Temu. But in Southeast Asia, home to 675 million people and a $160 billion online shopping market, the reigning monarch is an app the color of a traffic cone.It's called Shopee. And it's thriving.Owned by Singapore-based Sea Ltd ., Shopee has pulled off one of the more improbable corporate comebacks in recent memory, sending its stock soaring more than 300% since the start of 2024. A key secret weapon is a little known logistics operation powered by an army of homemakers, students and retirees. And the help of some very large Ikea bags.That operation is SPX Express , a homegrown in-house delivery network that Sea spent years building in the shadows. While rivals like Amazon.com Inc. plastered ads across the city for Black Friday and TikTok Shop flooded feeds with flash sales, Shopee was busy rewiring the infrastructure of Southeast Asian commerce one community at a time.They're a familiar sight in Singapore. The retired "uncle" in flip-flops, slinging parcels across a housing block in an ever-practical blue Ikea bag. Or an entrepreneurial homemaker busily sorting a makeshift Shopee kiosk beside the elevator. They're the human backbone of SPX Express, which now handles the majority of Shopee's several billion parcels annually.And Wall Street has noticed. Shopee's success has helped Sea inch toward a $100 billion market cap, on the heels of Singaporean banking giant DBS, the region's most valuable company. The stock, listed on the New York Stock Exchange, has soared 324% since hitting a low in January last year. Of the 41 analysts tracked by Bloomberg who rate Sea, 33 of them have a "buy" recommendation on the stock."Sea's significant recovery was largely driven by growth in its e-commerce business, which was executed really well during the post-Covid period," said Hussaini Saifee, an equity research analyst at Maybank Securities, who rates the stock a "buy."In 2021, Shopee was facing a conundrum: demand was exploding-especially during the Covid pandemic-but its delivery pipeline was buckling under the pressure. Until then, Shopee had relied mostly on third-party carriers like J&T Global Express and Singapore Post to navigate the logistical complexity of Southeast Asia: thousands of islands, alleys too narrow for vans, dirt roads more familiar to scooters than trucks.That changed almost overnight. As online orders more than doubled in 2021, Sea bet big on building its own logistics arm.During a 2022 Sea earnings call, Chief Executive Officer Forrest Li pledged to build up its logistics business, spending nearly $1 billion that year alone. Lowering the cost of delivering parcels will be "key to long-term growth," he said.It was a big risk during a difficult period. Sea had just lost almost 90% of its value from its 2021 peak. Investors were disillusioned about its money-making potential in a global tech rout, scrutinising Sea's growth prospects after shoppers emerging from pandemic lockdowns started cutting back on online purchases.The gaming and e-commerce giant had cut about 7,000 jobs to try assuage some of these concerns. It also shuttered its e-commerce operations in some European and Latin American markets and said it would reduce expenses to cope.
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Indian Express
9 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Trump's 50% tariff: Beginning to get foothold in US market, Agra's leather belt takes a hit
US Tariffs Impact on Indians: In a sprawling shoe manufacturing unit in Agra, men in sweat-soaked vests move along the assembly lines in a choreography honed over the years — working in perfect rhythm, their hands following the machine's pace. As each shoe travels down the conveyor belt, it pauses briefly at each station dedicated to a specific task, such as removing wrinkles, cotton brushing, seat lasting, sole heat activation — a display of how a hundred small acts turn the raw leather into products destined for sale in international markets, including the US. However, US President Donald Trump's decision to raise tariffs on Indian goods — hiking duties on leather footwear from 5-8% to 25%, with a further 25% increase threatened by August 27 — has cast a shadow over the unit. India's leather exports across the world rose from $3,681 million in 2020-21 to $4,828 million in 2024-25 — a 31% rise. In the same period, exports to the US rose from $645 million to $1,045 million — a 62% jump. For manufacturers who had only recently begun gaining a foothold in the US market, the move has come as a significant setback. 'There will definitely be an impact. We only have three US-based customers, as most of Agra's exports have traditionally gone to Europe. But the US was a major market we were trying to enter. It's a huge consumer base, and any success there would have changed the scale of our business. This is going to slow that push down,' said Sushant Dhapodkar of Tej International Pvt Ltd. Agra is one of India's largest footwear manufacturing hubs, alongside Kolkata, Kanpur and Chennai. The city has around 10,000 micro-units apart from 150 small-, 30 medium-, and around 15 large-scale industries. Many use leather imported from Turkey, which takes 45–50 days to arrive via road, along with Indian leather sourced mainly from Kanpur and Chennai, and some from Jalandhar. While Europe remains the mainstay for Agra's leather shoe exporters, the US market, the largest consumer base in the world — accounting for 24% of global consumption despite just 4% of the population — has been developing fast. In the last quarter alone, nearly half of Agra's export business, worth about $594 million, went to the US. The growth was so sharp that many manufacturers had invested heavily in expanding production capacity. 'Those who were earlier working on six assembly lines are now running 14,' said Puran Dawar, chairman of the Development Council for Footwear and Leather Industry and president of the Agra Footwear Manufacturers and Exporters Chamber. 'We ourselves had set up a unit bigger than our existing one to tap into the US market. That's definitely out of the question now.' The tariff announcement has also come at the peak of production for autumn and winter collections — the busiest for Agra's export factories. Orders for leather boots, closed-toe shoes, and high-end formal wear are typically placed months in advance by American buyers. These are now in the final stage of production or ready for shipment — but buyers have been calling to put the stock on hold. According to manufacturers, some buyers are ready to look towards China for an alternative. Dawar said: 'This is the peak season for autumn and winter orders, and buyers are already telling us to hold shipments, even for goods ready to go. They want us to share the tariff loss. But the US is a price-sensitive market — nobody can afford to share even 12.5% of the burden, let alone 50%. Some buyers have already cancelled and are looking to China because their tariff is 30%, and to Vietnam, where it's just 20%. We can't compete at those rates.' Nazir Ahmed, owner of Park Exports, said the problem goes far beyond price competition. 'Now with the initial 25%, it's going to be a disaster unless Trump goes back to the original tariff,' he said. 'This won't just be a problem for India, but for the US as well… the higher the duty, the more expensive their product will be. In countries where lower tariffs are imposed, they will have the advantage, and we wouldn't be able to compete with them,' said Ahmed. He also highlighted the potential impact back home. 'If orders aren't placed, factories will be without work. And if factories are without work, workers will be without work. This industry is labour-intensive, so unemployment could run into millions if this continues. And I'm not just talking about manufacturing — textiles, tools, every industry linked to this process will take a hit,' he said. Manufacturers said the setback is particularly bitter because of the efforts they made to break into the US market. 'It's a setback to our plans to double or triple exports to the US,' Ahmed said. 'The government increases targets every year, and the American market has the potential to match our exports to Europe. Now all that planning is on hold.' Others, like Dawar, believe the hike is a 'pressure tactic' and will eventually be rolled back. 'The government is in touch with us to see how they can help. We were called to meet Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal last week to discuss relief. One idea discussed was that the government could bear a part of the hike, and the remaining could be between the manufacturer and the US importer.' The current uncertainty, meanwhile, is already triggering ripple effects beyond Agra. Naseem Khan, a Kanpur tannery owner whose leather is supplied to manufacturers linked to US exports, said clients have begun cancelling or freezing orders. 'Whatever the stage of production, they're saying stop immediately. Even though we don't directly export to the US, we are deeply connected; the leather we produce is approved by those who manufacture finished goods for the US,' Khan said. Meanwhile, exporters are brainstorming alternatives. Russia, once a major market for Agra, is being considered for revival. Others are looking inward to India's growing middle class — a customer base whose purchasing power has risen in recent years. Until now, much of the footwear sold domestically was made locally from scraps and leftovers of the export process. But with international orders in limbo, manufacturers are weighing whether to redirect their best designs and full-scale production to the home turf. Chairman, Council for Leather Export, Rajendra Kumar Jalan said, 'Currently, the dispatches have come to a standstill. All US buyers and Indian manufacturers exporting finished goods to the US have put their orders on pause because of the 50% tax. When the tax was raised to 25%, there was still some hope — we were still on par with competing nations like Bangladesh, Indonesia, Vietnam, and, to some extent, China. But now, we are completely out of the picture. China, in fact, is gaining an advantage because the additional Russian oil tariffs do not apply to them, and they also enjoy a 90-day moratorium.' 'That being said, the US purchases from us are in large volumes, and for these bulk buyers, getting an alternative source of production for these huge orders, and that too in a short period, will be extremely difficult,' said Jalan 'At present, the reaction is one of panic. But we remain hopeful of finding alternative markets. There will be competition from other leather manufacturing nations, but our focus will be on countries where India has signed or is about to sign an FTA — countries such as Chile, Peru, and some European nations,' he said. — With inputs from Nirbhay Thakur
India Today
23 minutes ago
- India Today
Artificial rain in Jaipur through pilot drone project to revive Ramgarh Lake
A pilot project to create artificial rain using drones was launched on Tuesday in Jaipur with the aim of reviving Ramgarh Lake and improving water availability in drought-hit areas of initiative, led by Agriculture Minister Dr Kirori Lal Meena, is the first in India to combine drone-based cloud seeding with artificial intelligence (AI).The technology, developed by US and Bengaluru-based firm Gen X AI, uses an AI-powered platform called "Hydro Trace" to identify suitable clouds for seeding using real-time data, satellite images and Once the right conditions are detected, drones release small amounts of seeding agents such as sodium chloride to help form 60-day mission will involve around 60 test flights, with drones expected to fly four to five times a month, depending on weather from the India Meteorological Department (IMD) will be processed to time the seeding project has approvals from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, Agriculture Department, Meteorological Department and local the first day, the trial did not go as planned. The GPS signal was disrupted due to heavy mobile usage by the large crowd present, preventing the drone from reaching its target one attempt, it failed to lift off properly, and in another, it became stuck in bushes near the situation briefly caused tension between onlookers and police, but was brought under control. The technical team said future trials will have restricted public access and measures to avoid signal to Gen X AI founder Rakesh Agarwal, earlier cloud seeding efforts in India used aircraft over large areas, but drones allow precision targeting of small could make artificial rain possible in specific locations, such as farms affected by dry spells despite monsoon clouds. The team has been monitoring weather patterns in Jaipur for the past 20 Climate Engineer Dr N Sai Bhaskar Reddy of Excel-1, a partner in the project, said that Tuesday's plan was to fly the drone up to 400 feet, but current cloud formations are higher than that. The trial, originally scheduled for July 31, was postponed due to heavy rain Meena assured that the chemicals used are safe for people, animals and crops, and meet international standards. If successful, the project could help raise lake and groundwater levels, improve farm irrigation, and increase crop experiment is being funded by Gen X AI, which will share its findings with the Rajasthan government after two the trial works, similar operations could be launched in other drought-prone areas of the state and across scientist Kalyan Chakraborty said such drone-based precision cloud seeding has been used in the US before, but this is the first attempt in India.- Ends IN THIS STORY#Jaipur
Time of India
39 minutes ago
- Time of India
Union Cabinet approves 2 semiconductor projects worth Rs 4,009cr for Odisha
Bhubaneswar: Union Cabinet on Tuesday approved two major semiconductor manufacturing units worth Rs 4,009 crore for Odisha. The two projects, to be set up in Bhubaneswar's Info Valley, will generate thousands of high-skilled jobs, catalyse electronics manufacturing and help place Odisha on the global semiconductor map, sources said. The two manufacturing units will be built by SiCSem and 3D Glass. Given the growing demand for semiconductors in telecom, automotive, data centres, consumer electronics and industrial electronics, the newly approved projects will significantly contribute to creating an ' Atmanirbhar Bharat ', official sources said. Thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the Cabinet's approval, chief minister Mohan Majhi said in an X post, "The recent amendment of the Odisha Semiconductor Manufacturing and Fabless Policy, aimed at enhancing investment viability, competitiveness, and sustainability, together with this significant Cabinet approval, marks a major milestone in the state's industrial and technological advancement. I look forward to continued partnership between the state and central govts to further this strategic initiative for the comprehensive development of Odisha and the nation." SiCSem Pvt Ltd, in collaboration with UK-based Clas-SiC Wafer Fab Ltd, will set up India's first commercial compound semiconductor fabrication facility here. The plant will manufacture silicon carbide (SiC) devices, known for their efficiency in high-power applications, with an annual capacity of 60,000 wafers and 96 million packaged units. The SiC devices will have applications across critical sectors, including missiles, defence equipment, electric vehicles (EVs), railway, fast chargers, data centre racks, consumer appliances and solar power inverters. The facility is expected to give India a strategic edge in producing next-generation power electronics domestically. The second project, by US-headquartered 3D Glass Solutions Inc (3DGS), will introduce the world's most advanced semiconductor packaging technology. The unit will manufacture glass interposers, silicon bridges and 3D heterogeneous integration (3DHI) modules. The component are crucial for miniaturisation, high performance and energy efficiency in electronics. With a planned capacity of about 69,600 glass panel substrates, 50 million assembled units, and 13,200 3DHI modules annually, the facility will cater to applications in defence, high-performance computing, artificial intelligence, RF and automotive electronics, photonics and co-packaged optics. Officials said the two projects will not only bring cutting-edge technology to Odisha but also create a ripple effect in the state's electronics ecosystem, encouraging ancillary industries and boosting technical skill development. Apart from two Odisha projects, the Cabinet also approved one project each for Punjab and Andhra Pradesh under the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM). Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan hailed the Cabinet's decision to set up the two units in Odisha. He said the decision is a pivotal moment for the state, emphasising its potential to create jobs and generate substantial revenue. Pradhan expressed his gratitude to the PM and highlighted that this move marks a new chapter in the 'Purvodaya' mission. Stay updated with the latest local news from your city on Times of India (TOI). Check upcoming bank holidays , public holidays , and current gold rates and silver prices in your area.
