Latest news with #BigBasket
Time of India
6 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
IT sector adds fewer hands; BigBasket's muted financials
IT sector adds fewer hands; BigBasket's muted financials Want this newsletter delivered to your inbox? Also in the letter: Top six IT firms saw staff additions plunge 72% in Q1 Steep decline: Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Infosys led what little growth there was, adding of 5,060 and 210 employees, respectively The other four, HCLTech, Wipro, Tech Mahindra, and LTIMindtree, together cut 1,423 jobs. Big picture: Quote, unquote: Also Read: Foot in the door: Also Read: BigBasket loses steam as quick commerce intensifies Driving the news: Tata Sons' FY25 annual report reveals a 3% dip in turnover for BigBasket's business-to-consumer (B2C) unit, Innovative Retail Concepts, which clocked Rs 7,673 crore. Its business-to-business (B2B) arm, Supermarket Grocery Supplies, fared worse, falling 7% to Rs 2,227 crore. Losses for the B2C business widened sharply to Rs 1,851 crore, up from Rs 1,267 crore in FY24. Also Read: Tata 1mg back in investment mode after strong FY25 growth By the numbers: Consolidated revenue jumped 20% year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 2,392 crore. Tata 1mg Technologies, its main entity, posted Rs 375 crore in revenue and Rs 65 crore in PAT (tripling YoY). Subsidiary Tata 1mg Healthcare recorded revenue of Rs 2,016 crore but incurred a loss of Rs 342 crore. Coforge outperforms peers: Net profit is at Rs 317.4 crore. is at Rs 317.4 crore. Revenue surged over 54% to Rs 3,688.6 crore. surged over 54% to Rs 3,688.6 crore. Growth was led by the Americas business, which improved 72.4% from the same period last year. Contrary to top-tier hiring trends, Coforge's global workforce increased by 1,164. Persistent Systems posts profit growth: Net profit was at Rs 424.9 crore, helped mainly by foreign exchange gains. was at Rs 424.9 crore, helped mainly by foreign exchange gains. Revenue increased by 21.8% YoY to Rs 3,335.9 crore. increased by 21.8% YoY to Rs 3,335.9 crore. BFSI grew 30.7% YoY, and software, hi-tech and emerging industries verticals saw a 14.1% YoY surge. Sponsor ETtech Top 5 & Morning Dispatch! Why it matters: The opportunity: Reach a highly engaged audience of decision-makers. Boost your brand's visibility among the tech-savvy community. Custom sponsorship options to align with your brand's goals. What's next: Pine Lab's Setu boosts top deck with key senior hires Driving the news: Anand Raisinghani from SAP India has stepped in as the chief executive officer, taking over from cofounder Sahil Kini. Prashanth Nimmagada joined as chief technology officer in April. Santosh Subramanian assumed the role of finance head in March. Nikhil Ratanpal is the director of product development. Setting context: Also Read: SuperK raises Rs 100 crore from Binny Bansal, Mithun Sacheti; cricketer Shubman Gill joins cap table Deal details: The round was led by Flipkart cofounder Binny Bansal's 3State Ventures and CaratLane founder Mithun Sacheti. Existing investors Blume Ventures and Xeed Ventures also participated. Adding a touch of star power, Indian Test skipper Shubman Gill also joined the captable. By the numbers: Keeping Count Other Top Stories By Our Reporters PhysicsWallah's road to IPO: Karnataka tech ecosystem's fundraising plummets: Global Picks We Are Reading Happy Friday! Hiring in India's IT sector declined significantly in the April-June quarter. This and more in today's ETtech Morning Dispatch.■ Setu rejigs top shelf■ SuperK raises funds■ PhysicsWallah IPO gets Sebi nodIndia's $280 billion sector experienced a sharp slowdown in hiring during the April-June quarter, with the top six IT companies adding just 3,847 employees in Q1 represents a nearly 72% drop from the 13,935 additions in the previous are leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) and automation to maintain, or even grow, revenues without increasing say the focus is shifting towards efficiency, digital transformation, and targeted hiring. As business models evolve, companies are investing more in upskilling their workforce and adopting smarter recruitment strategies, they add.'While early indicators for FY26 suggest a cautious rebound—with top IT firms projecting higher fresher intake linked to an increase in the number of projects coming to India, hiring will remain skill-driven and unlikely to return to earlier volumes,' said Neeti Sharma, CEO of Teamlease hiring, once the backbone of IT's pyramid-style staffing, has halved compared to pre-pandemic years, according to Teamlease total, the six forms collectively employ around 16.25 lakh people, which is still below the 16.58 lakh recorded at the end of June Digital-owned BigBasket is feeling the heat as quick commerce players, such as Blinkit, Zepto, and Swiggy Instamart, tighten their grip on urban grocery demand. The pressure is showing in the contrast, Tata Digital's epharmacy arm, 1mg, has bounced back with strong momentum Mid-tier IT company Coforge recorded a 138.4% YoY increase in net profit, with revenue also IT services company reported a 38.7% YoY increase in net profit for the April-June quarter. It was, however, marginally lower than the previous two Top 5 and Morning Dispatch are must-reads for India's tech and business leaders, including startup founders, investors, policy makers, industry insiders and Reach out to us at spotlightpartner@ to explore sponsorship infrastructure company Setu, owned by Pine Labs, has made significant leadership changes in recent a move to strengthen its executive team, the company appointed several key figures to vital Labs acquired the fintech venture in June 2022. Setu provides a technology stack that allows companies to offer financial services on top of their existing operations. Among its range of products, Setu offers APIs (application programming interfaces) for bill payments, customer onboarding and KYC, payments via UPI, and digital Thontepu (left) and Neeraj Menta, founders, SuperKSuperK, a value-first grocery retailer operating in small towns, has raised Rs 100 crore in fresh funding The retailer grew nearly 15% in FY25, up from Rs 85 crore the previous year. It now targets an annualised Rs 2,000–3,000 crore business in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana alone over the next five years. The latest round values the company at 2–2.5x its previous Rs 160 crore valuation.(L-R) Prateek Maheshwari and Alakh Pandey, founders, PhysicswallahEdtech startup PhysicsWallah has obtained approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for an initial public offering, according to a notification on the markets regulator's startups raised $1.7 billion in the first half of 2025 (H1 2025), according to a report by data intelligence platform Tracxn , with Bengaluru-based companies leading. The funding level has fallen 30% from the $2.4 billion raised in the second half of 2024 (H2 2024), and is 44% lower than the $3 billion raised during the same period last year (H1 2024).■ Microsoft put older versions of SharePoint on life support; hackers are taking advantage ( Wired ■ AI 'a great opportunity for artists' says head of Stable Diffusion owner ( FT ■ Unleashing the AI jobs revolution in Africa ( Rest of World
Time of India
7 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
BigBasket feels qcomm heat; PhysicsWallah clears Sebi test
Next BigBasket feels qcomm heat; PhysicsWallah clears Sebi test Want this newsletter delivered to your inbox? Also in the letter: BigBasket loses steam as quick commerce intensifies Driving the news: Tata Sons' FY25 annual report reveals a 3% dip in turnover for BigBasket's business-to-consumer (B2C) unit, Innovative Retail Concepts, which clocked Rs 7,673 crore. Its business-to-business (B2B) arm, Supermarket Grocery Supplies, fared worse, falling 7% to Rs 2,227 crore. Losses for the B2C business widened sharply to Rs 1,851 crore, up from Rs 1,267 crore in FY24. Between the lines: Tata 1mg back in investment mode after strong FY25 growth By the numbers: Consolidated revenue jumped 20% year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 2,392 crore. Tata 1mg Technologies, its main entity, posted Rs 375 crore in revenue and Rs 65 crore in PAT (tripling YoY). Subsidiary Tata 1mg Healthcare recorded revenue of Rs 2,016 crore but a Rs 342 crore loss. The big picture: Also Read: PhysicsWallah gets Sebi nod, set to raise Rs 4,000 crore in IPO Driving the news: Catch up quick: By the numbers: Zoom out: SuperK raises Rs 100 crore from Binny Bansal, Mithun Sacheti; cricketer Shubman Gill joins cap table Deal details: The round was led by Flipkart cofounder Binny Bansal's 3State Ventures and CaratLane founder Mithun Sacheti. Existing investors Blume Ventures and Xeed Ventures also participated. Adding a touch of star power, Indian Test skipper Shubman Gill also joined the captable. By the numbers: What's next: Catch up quick: CBDT sharpens AI tools for tax crackdown ahead of new law Driving the news: A recent crackdown prompted taxpayers to withdraw Rs 963 crore in deduction claims and pay an additional Rs 409 crore in tax. Zoom out: The taxpayer base has tripled from 30 million in FY14 to 90 million in FY25, thanks to digitisation and pre-filled ITRs – 99% of which are being accepted without edits. Alphabet Q2 profit jumps 19% as AI demand powers cloud, YouTube By the numbers: AI Overviews now serve over 2 billion monthly users globally, and AI Mode – introduced in India and the US – has already hit 100 million monthly users. What's new: Zoom in: Tesla braces for rough quarters as EV subsidies fade, autonomy bets rise What's the matter: Between the lines: Also Read: A decline in BigBasket's turnover indicates increasing competition from quick commerce players. This and more in today's ETtech Top 5.■ Shubman Gill puts on investor cap■ Taxman's AI■ Alphabet & Tesla: Two tales of Q2Tata Digital-owned BigBasket is feeling the heat as quick commerce players like Blinkit, Zepto, and Swiggy Instamart tighten their grip on urban grocery demand. The pressure is showing in the Tata Group has voiced internal concerns about BigBasket's sluggish execution, as we reported earlier this year. As a sign of its intent, the conglomerate began scouting for $1.3 billion in new capital in April, of which $1 billion is earmarked for BigBasket contrast, Tata Digital's epharmacy arm, 1mg, has bounced back with strong momentum After raising only $40 million since 2021 (when Tata acquired a majority stake), 1mg is now pursuing a $300 million external fundraise to expand offline operations and develop logistics, marking a shift from Tata's earlier debt-led digital founder Alakh PandeyPhysicsWallah has secured Securities and Exchange Board of India's (Sebi) approval to go public , becoming the first venture-backed Indian edtech startup to clear the regulatory hurdle for an Noida-based firm confidentially filed IPO papers in March under the pre-filing route and now plans to raise Rs 4,000 crore at a valuation of Rs 35,000–40,000 crore. Sebi's approval came through on July 18, according to by WestBridge Capital, Lightspeed, GSV Ventures, and Hornbill Capital, PhysicsWallah last raised $210 million in September 2023, pegging its valuation at $2.8 revenue crossed Rs 4,000 crore, as we reported earlier, more than doubling from Rs 1,940 crore in FY24. However, net losses widened to Rs 1,131 crore, mainly due to surging employee now joins a growing IPO queue of new-age startups, including Meesho Pine Labs , and Urban Company . Together, this cohort could unlock over Rs 18,000 crore in fresh capital this Thontepu (left) and Neeraj MentaSuperK, a value-first grocery retailer operating in small towns, has raised Rs 100 crore in fresh funding The retailer grew nearly 15% in FY25, up from Rs 85 crore the previous year. It now targets an annualised Rs 2,000–3,000 crore business in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana alone over the next five years. The latest round values the company at 2–2.5x its previous Rs 160 crore plans to expand to 300 towns and venture into smartphones and appliances. It is also strengthening its Costco-style membership scheme, which has helped double monthly in 2020 by Neeraj Menta (ex-Flipkart) and Anil Thontepu (ex-PhonePe), SuperK currently operates 130 stores across more than 80 towns in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, employing a franchise-led Income Tax Department is stepping up its use of artificial intelligence and big data to crack down on evasion ahead of a new income tax law in 2026, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) chairman Ravi Agrawal told with over 6.5 billion digital transactions and data-sharing agreements with foreign tax bodies, the department is pushing analytics-led audits and behavioural nudges to drive voluntary April 2022, over 11 million updated returns have been filed, generating Rs 11,000 crore in additional tax reported a robust second quarter, with net profit increasing 19% year-over-year to $28.2 billion, supported by ongoing momentum in cloud computing and a deeper integration of AI across its platforms. New launches, including key rollouts in India, added to the climbed 14% YoY to $96.4 billion. Google Cloud led the charge with a 32% jump, touching $13.62 Sundar Pichai underlined the growing traction of AI Mode in answering complex queries. Next in line are Deep Search and advanced personalisation features. Meanwhile, Alphabet plans to increase its capital expenditure for 2025 to $85 billion, up from earlier estimates, citing a surge in demand for AI generated $9.8 billion in global advertising revenue. Its 'Other Bets' portfolio, which includes Waymo, contributed $373 million to the overall is gearing up for a challenging period as the US government scales back electric vehicle subsidies. CEO Elon Musk warned of a ' few rough quarters ahead ,' even as the company doubles down on self-driving tech and its upcoming robotaxi service. Second-quarter revenue fell 12% year-on-year to $22.5 billion — Tesla's steepest decline in over a decade. Global deliveries dropped 13.5% and adjusted profit per share missed estimates at 40 cents. Revenue from regulatory credits plunged 51%.Musk's narrative now hinges on autonomy, both in consumer EVs and the Cybercab platform, slated for a late-2025 launch. A new affordable EV model was quietly produced in June, though details remain scarce. Tesla also flagged delays in scaling production.
Time of India
7 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
BigBasket turnover declines in FY25 amid rising quick commerce competition
Academy Empower your mind, elevate your skills Tata Digital-backed e-grocery platform BigBasket saw its annual turnover decline in the year that ended March 2025, as competition from quick commerce rivals Blinkit, Zepto and Instamart to Tata Sons' annual report for FY25, BigBasket's B2C unit Innovative Retail Concepts' FY25 turnover fell 3% to Rs 7,673 crore, while its B2B unit Supermarket Grocery Supplies's turnover fell 7% to Rs 2,227 crore during the losses for Innovative Retail Concepts, meanwhile, increased to Rs 1,851 crore during FY25, from Rs 1,267 crore the year which initially operated as a slotted grocery delivery player, transitioned to quick commerce through its 10-minute delivery service BB Now The Tata Group bought a majority stake in BigBasket in 2021, buying out the entire stake of its then largest shareholder, Alibaba, in a deal valuing the company between $1.5 billion and $2 April, ET had reported that the salt-to-software conglomerate had roped in global investment banks to raise $1.3 billion in external capital for its digital businesses BigBasket and epharmacy platform 1mg, of which $1 billion was being earmarked for the grocery a business review of Tata Digital's businesses back in February, the group holding company had made clear its displeasure over BigBasket lagging in a space that has seen its competitors capturing market share, ET had as per various industry estimates, around 80-85% of India's quick commerce market share is held by the top three players — Eternal-owned Blinkit, Zepto and Swiggy's Instamart — with the rest split between BigBasket, Flipkart Minutes, JioMart and Amazon owns over 65% of BigBasket while Mirae Asset VC and the UK's CDC Group are among other investors. The Bengaluru-based company was last valued at $3.2 billion in December 2022, when it raised $200 million from Tata June, BigBasket had also started piloting its 10-minute food delivery service , offering items from Starbucks India, a joint venture between Tata Consumer Products and US-based coffee chain Starbucks, and Qmin, a food delivery platform owned by Tata Group's Indian Hotels Company Limited
Time of India
17-07-2025
- Business
- Time of India
'Don't expect quick commerce to slow down': BigBasket's Vipul Parekh says dark stores are already profitable
Bengaluru: 'Don't expect quick commerce platforms to slow down… they're going to focus on how large they can be,' said Vipul Parekh , Co-founder of BigBasket , dismantling the perception that quick commerce is structurally unprofitable. Speaking at the 5th edition of E-commerce & Digital Natives Summit 2025, Parekh noted that many of the dark stores run by top players, including BigBasket's BB Now , Blinkit, and Instamart , are already generating profits. 'If you take the top 25% - 50% of stores, they're all profitable today, even though the company overall may not be profitable,' he said. "The most conservative estimates of quick commerce today are that this will be a 2,50,000 crore or 3,00,000 crore market by 2030, and these are conservative estimates. So, this is a huge retail market opening up. And these kinds of opportunities come once in a lifetime. Therefore, expect significant investment, competition, a multiplayer market, a lot of noise and a lot of narratives. But at the core, if you see a dark store and you see a good performing dark store, they all make money." Explaining the overall losses, Parekh said, 'Quick commerce platforms are expanding very rapidly… setting up new dark stores, spending significantly on customer acquisition… in the hope that scale will eventually solve for profitability." Tier 1 drives the quick commerce engine While many players talk about expanding into smaller cities, Parekh offered a grounded view on market potential. 'Quick commerce is still a tier one model… in tier two, tier three markets… that network is not dense enough.' He estimates that by 2030, tier 2–4 cities will make up about 20 per cent of the quick commerce market, equivalent in size to 'one Bangalore.' 00:08 Commenting on the future of India's millions of kiranas, Parekh rejected the notion that quick commerce will render them obsolete. Instead, he sees them adapting and even thriving. 'There are multiple things that will happen… the more interesting evolution that I am finding is kiranas are digitising and becoming dark stores,' he said, adding that, in many cases, it may be a better economic opportunity.
Time of India
15-07-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Murukku, Misal, Sev, Soda — 10-minute carts fuel regional snack boom
Indian regional food and beverage brands are turning to quick commerce platforms to grow their reach beyond traditional markets. By using faster delivery cycles, pin code-level curation and rising demand for ethnic snacks such as murukku, khapli atta, bakarwadi and jeera sodas, these companies are gaining visibility in cities that were once difficult to access through conventional retail channels, ToI reported. Several of these brands had first found traction beyond their home states via direct-to-consumer (D2C) models. But now, quick commerce is emerging as the next stage of distribution, enabling sales through bundled packs, smaller units and regular listings on platforms such as Zepto, Blinkit, Instamart and BigBasket . At Sweet Karam Coffee , quick commerce now makes up 40% of the company's business. 'We've scaled 4.5 times in revenue through quick commerce in a year and a half. About 50% of our sales now come from outside South India, up from 10-20% earlier,' said CEO Nalini Parthiban. Two Brothers Organic Farms has seen quick commerce rise from just 5% to 30% of its domestic sales in the past year. Chitale Bandhu Mithaiwale is using the format as an entry route into new cities and now sees nearly 30% of revenue coming from outside Maharashtra. 'Quick commerce is not about storytelling. It's about access, trial and repeatability,' said managing partner Indraneel Chitale. In Ahmedabad, its quick commerce volumes now match general trade sales after one and a half years of offline expansion. The brand focuses on bundled stock keeping units (SKUs) priced around Rs 50, such as banana wafers, bakarwadi and namkeen mixtures. Live Events Platforms themselves are also pushing the regional snack category. BigBasket said regional SKUs like Nylon Sev, Misal, and Ujjain Sev have grown over 50% in the last three to six months. 'Murukku now contributes 5% to our namkeen category. About 80% of such purchases happen through 10-minute delivery and are impulse-led,' said Seshu Kumar Tirumala, chief buying and merchandising officer. Newer players such as House of Bindu are using quick commerce primarily as a reach tool. 'This marks a shift from D2C-led discovery to quick-commerce-led access,' said Ravi Kapoor, partner at PwC India. 'Food is hard to scale nationally due to hyperlocal tastes, but pin-code level curation is helping regional brands reach farther, faster.' Despite challenges such as warehouse limitations and shelf-life concerns, quick commerce is increasingly becoming a key strategy for high-repeat products, festive season demand and entry into new markets. The trend is shifting from being about product discovery to building steady, wide-scale access. (with ToI inputs)
