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Economic Times
4 days ago
- Business
- Economic Times
Rohit Kapoor on Swiggy's food delivery slowdown; Group life insurance gains traction
Happy Tuesday! As the food delivery market cools, aggregators are scrambling to find growth avenues. This and more in today's ETtech Morning Dispatch. Also in the letter: ■ Krutrim AI's uptake struggles ■ ETtech Done Deals■ Tata Electronics' Malaysia foray Pushing value meals and 10-min food delivery to revive growth: Swiggy's Rohit Kapoor Rohit Kapoor, CEO (food marketplace), Swiggy As the food delivery market cools, Swiggy is turning to quick meals, affordable combos, and deeper city penetration to stoke demand. What's happening: In an exclusive interview with ET, Swiggy's food marketplace CEO Rohit Kapoor said growth will now come from low-frequency users and category innovation, not merely from city expansion. He also called for a more open dialogue between platforms and restaurants on commissions. Swiggy is focusing on three key growth drivers in food delivery: Expanding delivery-friendly categories Drawing low-frequency users into the fold with value bundles Scaling 10-minute deliveries via its Bolt platform By the numbers: Swiggy's food delivery GOV grew 17.6% YoY in Q4 Bolt now accounts for 12% of Swiggy's delivery volumes Food delivery covers around 700 cities; density, not geography, is now the focus Also Read: How Swiggy and Zomato are dealing with the slowdown in food delivery Why it matters: With quick commerce eating into food delivery profits, Swiggy and Zomato are under pressure to revive their core businesses. Kapoor says there's latent demand to tap — but unlocking it depends on restaurant supply, better aggregator-partner dynamics, and faster fulfilment. On restaurant partners: Aggregators' ties with restaurant partners have been strained in recent years over the commissions rates. Kapoor acknowledged the need for more conversation, but argued the current narrative often overlooks the larger economic shift aggregators have enabled. Also Read: Swiggy Food CEO Rohit Kapoor sees Bolt as core future offering New-age life insurance firms tap group products to boost business Acko, Go Digit and CreditAccess, three new-age life insurance players licensed in 2023, have completed their first full financial year in FY25. Industry data shows that in their initial phase, all three have leaned heavily on group insurance policies to drive early growth. Driving the news: Data sourced from the Life Insurance Council reveals sharp contrasts in their premium collections. Acko has written life insurance premiums worth Rs 63 crore. Go Digit has crossed Rs 1,000 crore. CreditAccess has processed close to Rs 200 crore in life insurance premiums. Different paths: Go Digit continues to scale rapidly in general insurance, while Acko is betting on a digital-first, direct-to-consumer model to disrupt traditional distribution. Beyond the numbers: Early trends suggest that the trio have focused on employer-employee group life products and credit-linked insurance policies. Why this strategy? It allows for quick ramp-up in premium volumes It helps test systems and processes for corporate sales, ahead of a retail push. It ensures a smoother claims settlement experience for customers. Challenges remain: While these players made waves in general insurance, industry insiders say life insurance will be a tougher battleground. Why is that? Trust takes longer to build in life insurance Higher ticket size products need more persuasion and often, physical intermediation. Claims settlement is complex and often requires last-mile human support Also Read: Go Digit General Insurance doubles net profit in Q4 FY25; posts third straight profitable year Sponsor ETtech Top 5 & Morning Dispatch! Why it matters: ETtech Top 5 and Morning Dispatch are must-reads for India's tech and business leaders, including startup founders, investors, policy makers, industry insiders and employees. 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: Interested? Reach out to us at spotlightpartner@ to explore sponsorship opportunities. Krutrim finds few takers for its LLMs and cloud products Bhavish Aggarwal, founder, Krutrim In a setback to Bhavish Aggarwal and the broader Indian AI ambitions, several founders and investors told ET that Krutrim large language models (LLMs) and cloud offerings have received a lukewarm response from the market. Driving the news: Krutrim, the AI venture backed by the Ola group, became India's first AI unicorn in 2024, after raising $50 million at a $1 billion valuation. But the company has since faced product roadblocks and leadership churn. Founders cited poor documentation as a key issue with Krutrim's products. They also flagged a lack of technical maturity. Many startups continue to prefer established hyperscalers like Google Cloud and Amazon Web Services. More than 20 employees have exited the company since 2024. Tell me more: Krutrim offers a chatbot and cloud services, but usability issues persist. Two founders reported difficulties simply logging into the chatbot. Similar issues surfaced with Krutrim AI model also suffers from high latency, which refers to response time, deterring potential users. In tests reviewed by ET, Krutrim's AI chatbot took 41 seconds to generate a response to a single prompt. In contrast, ChatGPT-4o and DeepSeek responded in under 10 seconds. Also Read: Social media abuzz about toxic work culture at Ola Krutrim after employee's 'suicide' ETtech Done Deals Vaibhav Gupta, CEO, Udaan Udaan closes latest funding round at $114 million: B2B ecommerce platform Udaan has raised $114 million in a fresh funding round led by existing investors, M&G Prudential (UK) and Lightspeed Venture Partners. Round details: The round closed at a flat valuation of $1.8 billion and includes the previously disclosed $75 million investment from the same two investors, which founder and CEO Vaibhav Gupta announced at a town hall earlier this year. Furniture retailer Pepperfry raises Rs 43 crore: Omnichannel furniture and home goods company Pepperfry has raised Rs 43.3 crore from existing investors Norwest Venture Partners, Goldman Sachs, General Electric Pension Trust, Growth Equity Opportunity Fund, and Panthera Growth Partners, among others. Wealthtech startup Stable Money raises $20 million: Wealthtech startup Stable Money, which provides digital fixed-return investment products, has raised $20 million (Rs 173 crore) in a funding round led by Infosys cofounder Nandan Nilekani's Fundamentum Partnership. Other Top Stories By Our Reporters Tata Electronics eyes Malaysia foray via chip fab acquisition: Tata Electronics is in talks with several global semiconductor companies including X-Fab, DNeX and Globetronics to acquire a fabrication or outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) plant in Malaysia. Infosys paid CEO Salil Parekh Rs 80.62 crore as salary in FY25: Indian IT major Infosys chief executive officer (CEO) Salil Parekh received a 22% rise in his annual compensation to Rs 80.6 crore for the fiscal year 2024-25 ending March, the company's annual report showed. Nykaa shares drop over 5% despite strong Q4 performance: Shares of Nykaa parent FSN E-commerce declined as much as 5.11% to 192.85 a piece during Monday's trade. The scrip closed 4.33% lower at Rs 194.45 per share, compared to a 0.09% decline in the benchmark Sensex. The counter opened 1.1% lower at Rs 201, against the previous closing of Rs 203.25 on the BSE. Tesla unlikely to make in India: All you need to know | Electric vehicle maker Tesla, helmed by Elon Musk, is not keen on manufacturing in India despite the government wooing it aggressively through policy incentives. Global Picks We Are Reading ■ A Neuralink rival just tested a brain implant in a person (Wired) ■ 'Humanity deserves better': Jony Ive and Laurene Powell Jobs on tech's next chapter (FT) ■ This giant microwave may change the future of war (MIT Technology Review) Updated On Jun 03, 2025, 07:21 AM IST
Time of India
4 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
Rohit Kapoor on Swiggy's food delivery slowdown; Group life insurance gains traction
Rohit Kapoor on Swiggy's food delivery slowdown; Group life insurance gains traction Want this newsletter delivered to your inbox? Also in the letter: Pushing value meals and 10-min food delivery to revive growth: Swiggy's Rohit Kapoor What's happening: Expanding delivery-friendly categories Drawing low-frequency users into the fold with value bundles Scaling 10-minute deliveries via its Bolt platform By the numbers: Swiggy's food delivery GOV grew 17.6% YoY in Q4 Bolt now accounts for 12% of Swiggy's delivery volumes Food delivery covers around 700 cities; density, not geography, is now the focus Also Read: Why it matters: On restaurant partners: Also Read: New-age life insurance firms tap group products to boost business Driving the news: Acko has written life insurance premiums worth Rs 63 crore. Go Digit has crossed Rs 1,000 crore. CreditAccess has processed close to Rs 200 crore in life insurance premiums. Different paths: Beyond the numbers: It allows for quick ramp-up in premium volumes It helps test systems and processes for corporate sales, ahead of a retail push. It ensures a smoother claims settlement experience for customers. Challenges remain: Trust takes longer to build in life insurance Higher ticket size products need more persuasion and often, physical intermediation. Claims settlement is complex and often requires last-mile human support Also Read: 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: Krutrim finds few takers for its LLMs and cloud products Driving the news: Founders cited poor documentation as a key issue with Krutrim's products. They also flagged a lack of technical maturity. Many startups continue to prefer established hyperscalers like Google Cloud and Amazon Web Services. More than 20 employees have exited the company since 2024. Tell me more: Also Read: ETtech Done Deals Udaan closes latest funding round at $114 million: Round details: Furniture retailer Pepperfry raises Rs 43 crore: Wealthtech startup Stable Money raises $20 million: Other Top Stories By Our Reporters Tata Electronics eyes Malaysia foray via chip fab acquisition: Infosys paid CEO Salil Parekh Rs 80.62 crore as salary in FY25: Nykaa shares drop over 5% despite strong Q4 performance: Tesla unlikely to make in India: All you need to know | Global Picks We Are Reading Happy Tuesday! As the food delivery market cools, aggregators are scrambling to find growth avenues. This and more in today's ETtech Morning Dispatch.■ Krutrim AI's uptake struggles■ ETtech Done Deals■ Tata Electronics' Malaysia forayRohit Kapoor, CEO (food marketplace), SwiggyAs the food delivery market cools, Swiggy is turning to quick meals , affordable combos, and deeper city penetration to stoke an exclusive interview with ET, Swiggy's food marketplace CEO Rohit Kapoor said growth will now come from low-frequency users and category innovation, not merely from city expansion. He also called for a more open dialogue between platforms and restaurants on is focusing on three key growth drivers in food delivery:With quick commerce eating into food delivery profits, Swiggy and Zomato are under pressure to revive their core businesses. Kapoor says there's latent demand to tap — but unlocking it depends on restaurant supply, better aggregator-partner dynamics, and faster ties with restaurant partners have been strained in recent years over the commissions rates. Kapoor acknowledged the need for more conversation, but argued the current narrative often overlooks the larger economic shift aggregators have Go Digit and CreditAccess, three new age life insurance players licensed in 2023, have completed their first full financial year in FY25. Industry data shows that in their initial phase, all three have leaned heavily on group insurance policies to drive early sourced from the Life Insurance Council reveals sharp contrasts in their premium Digit continues to scale rapidly in general insurance, while Acko is betting on a digital-first, direct-to-consumer model to disrupt traditional trends suggest that the trio have focused on employer-employee group life products and credit-linked insurance policies. Why this strategy?While these players made waves in general insurance, industry insiders say life insurance will be a tougher battleground. Why is that?ETtech 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 Aggarwal, founder, KrutrimIn a setback to Bhavish Aggarwal and the broader Indian AI ambitions, several founders and investors told ET that Krutrim large language models (LLMs) and cloud offerings have received a lukewarm response from the the AI venture backed by the Ola group, became India's first AI unicon in 2024, after raising $50 million at a $1 billion valuation . But the company has since faced product roadblocks and leadership offers a chatbot and cloud services, but usability issues persist. Two founders reported difficulties simply logging into the chatbot. Similar issues surfaced with Krutrim AI model also suffers from high latency, which refers to response time, deterring potential users. In tests reviewed by ET, Krutrim's AI chatbot took 41 seconds to generate a response to a single prompt. In contrast, ChatGPT-4o and DeepSeek responded in under 10 Gupta, CEO, UdaanB2B ecommerce platform Udaan has raised $114 million in a fresh funding round led by existing investors, M&G Prudential (UK) and Lightspeed Venture round closed at a flat valuation of $1.8 billion and includes the previously disclosed $75 million investment from the same two investors, which founder and CEO Vaibhav Gupta announced at a town hall earlier this furniture and home goods company Pepperfry has raised Rs 43.3 crore from existing investors Norwest Venture Partners, Goldman Sachs, General Electric Pension Trust, Growth Equity Opportunity Fund, and Panthera Growth Partners, among startup Stable Money, which provides digital fixed-return investment products, has raised $20 million (Rs 173 crore) in a funding round led by Infosys cofounder Nandan Nilekani's Fundamentum Electronics is in talks with several global semiconductor companies including X-Fab, DNeX and Globetronics to acquire a fabrication or outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) plant in IT major Infosys chief executive officer (CEO) Salil Parekh received a 22% rise in his annual compensation to Rs 80.6 crore for the fiscal year 2024-25 ending March, the company's annual report of Nykaa parent FSN E-commerce declined as much as 5.11% to 192.85 a piece during Monday's trade. The scrip closed 4.33% lower at Rs 194.45 per share, compared to a 0.09% decline in the benchmark Sensex. The counter opened 1.1% lower at Rs 201, against the previous closing of Rs 203.25 on the vehicle maker Tesla, helmed by Elon Musk, is not keen on manufacturing in India despite the government wooing it aggressively through policy incentives.■ A Neuralink rival just tested a brain implant in a person ( Wired ■ 'Humanity deserves better': Jony Ive and Laurene Powell Jobs on tech's next chapter ( FT ■ This giant microwave may change the future of war ( MIT Technology Review
Time of India
4 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
New-age life insurance firms tap group products to boost business
New-age life insurers Acko, Go Digit and CreditAccess, all of whom received life insurance licences in 2023, are betting on group products to drive premium collection and the business. According to data from industry body Life Insurance Council, Acko Life Insurance 's premium collection almost doubled to Rs 63 crore in fiscal 2025, compared with Rs 36 crore in FY24. Go Digit Life recorded Rs 1,068 crore in FY2025 compared with Rs 426 crore a year back. Credit Access Life Insurance recorded Rs 193 crore in insurance premium compared with Rs 97 crore the previous year. This was the first full year of operations for these new-generation life insurance companies. Both Acko and Go Digit had the general insurance licence prior to that. While Go Digit is a publicly listed company now, Acko is privately held and was last valued at $1.4 billion in a funding round in 2023 . by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Giao dịch vàng CFDs với sàn môi giới tin cậy IC Markets Tìm hiểu thêm Undo 'Most of these new-generation companies have sold group life covers in their first financial year, which has helped them to bulk up premium collection quickly. It also helps set the internal and sales processes quickly,' a senior executive at an insurtech startup said on the condition of anonymity. Under group products, life insurance companies typically sell employer-employee life covers and also club insurance covers to credit customers. Live Events 'Our initial focus was on group products, leveraging the quicker setup of servicing and sales infrastructure. Today, we have a balanced mix of both group and retail products, with plans to expand both segments equally,' Go Digit Life Insurance chief executive officer Sabyasachi Sarkar said. Discover the stories of your interest Blockchain 5 Stories Cyber-safety 7 Stories Fintech 9 Stories E-comm 9 Stories ML 8 Stories Edtech 6 Stories Go Digit Life has four retail products and three group products and is hoping to scale up both businesses in the coming quarters, Sarkar added. The new-generation insurance companies had adopted a retail-first approach for their general insurance business. Both Go Digit and Acko had focused on retail automobile insurance as the key product to scale up their business, but for life business they have gone the group business route. The industry executive cited earlier in the story pointed out that for the life insurance play, it is always easier to disrupt the group market because most of the business there is pricing driven and also is up for renewal every year. 'For products like life, customer trust is the key, building that takes time, hence one way of getting into the market is through employer-employee products where consumers will get to know the brand, experience the claims settlement process and eventually start trusting the brand,' the executive said. In general insurance, these startups had disrupted the business with strong use of technology and also by adding direct sales as a large part of their business, without depending fully on agents and broker networks. 'Employer-employee products are a focus area for us. Digit Life in its first full year of operations (FY25) has clocked over Rs 1,300 crore gross written premium,' Sarkar of Go Digit told ET. But these brands are likely to face much bigger challenges in the life business, according to industry insiders. 'I think new-age life insurance companies will need to invest heavily in customer experience, ensure smooth claim settlement processes to give confidence to customers and also work very closely with the regulator,' said Vivek Ramji Iyer, partner in charge of financial services at Grant Thornton Bharat. To quickly build trust during the purchase process, startups can invest in creating a claims settlement simulation process, Iyer said. 'They should also target rural areas to increase penetration of insurance cover, for that they can look to partner with common service centres in rural India.'
Time of India
4 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
New-age life insurers tap group business opportunity in their first year of ops
New-age life insurers Acko, Go Digit and CreditAccess, all of whom received life insurance licences in 2023, are betting on group products to drive premium collection and the business. According to data from industry body Life Insurance Council, Acko Life Insurance 's premium collection almost doubled to Rs 63 crore in fiscal 2025, compared with Rs 36 crore in FY24. Go Digit Life recorded Rs 1,068 crore in FY2025 compared with Rs 426 crore a year back. Credit Access Life Insurance recorded Rs 193 crore in insurance premium compared with Rs 97 crore the previous year. This was the first full year of operations for these new-generation life insurance companies. Both Acko and Go Digit had the general insurance licence prior to that. While Go Digit is a publicly listed company now, Acko is privately held and was last valued at $1.4 billion in a funding round in 2023. 'Most of these new-generation companies have sold group life covers in their first financial year, which has helped them to bulk up premium collection quickly. It also helps set the internal and sales processes quickly,' a senior executive at an insurtech startup said on the condition of anonymity. Under group products, life insurance companies typically sell employer-employee life covers and also club insurance covers to credit customers. Live Events 'Our initial focus was on group products, leveraging the quicker setup of servicing and sales infrastructure. Today, we have a balanced mix of both group and retail products, with plans to expand both segments equally,' Go Digit Life Insurance chief executive officer Sabyasachi Sarkar said. Discover the stories of your interest Blockchain 5 Stories Cyber-safety 7 Stories Fintech 9 Stories E-comm 9 Stories ML 8 Stories Edtech 6 Stories Go Digit Life has four retail products and three group products and is hoping to scale up both businesses in the coming quarters, Sarkar added. The new-generation insurance companies had adopted a retail-first approach for their general insurance business. Both Go Digit and Acko had focused on retail automobile insurance as the key product to scale up their business, but for life business they have gone the group business route. The industry executive cited earlier in the story pointed out that for the life insurance play, it is always easier to disrupt the group market because most of the business there is pricing driven and also is up for renewal every year. 'For products like life, customer trust is the key, building that takes time, hence one way of getting into the market is through employer-employee products where consumers will get to know the brand, experience the claims settlement process and eventually start trusting the brand,' the executive said. In general insurance, these startups had disrupted the business with strong use of technology and also by adding direct sales as a large part of their business, without depending fully on agents and broker networks. 'Employer-employee products are a focus area for us. Digit Life in its first full year of operations (FY25) has clocked over Rs 1,300 crore gross written premium,' Sarkar of Go Digit told ET. But these brands are likely to face much bigger challenges in the life business, according to industry insiders. 'I think new-age life insurance companies will need to invest heavily in customer experience, ensure smooth claim settlement processes to give confidence to customers and also work very closely with the regulator,' said Vivek Ramji Iyer, partner in charge of financial services at Grant Thornton Bharat. To quickly build trust during the purchase process, startups can invest in creating a claims settlement simulation process, Iyer said. 'They should also target rural areas to increase penetration of insurance cover, for that they can look to partner with common service centres in rural India.'
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Business Standard
21-05-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
Sensex rises 410 pts, Nifty tops 24,800; analysts foresee 'sell on rallies'
Stock Market Closing Bell, Wednesday, May 21, 2025: Snapping a three-session losing streak, Indian benchmark equity indices settled higher after a roller-coaster session, driven by gains in pharma, realty, auto and IT stocks. The Sensex settled at 81,596.63, up 410.19 points or 0.51 per cent, while the Nifty50 closed at 24,813.45, gaining 129.55 points or 0.52 per cent. The broader markets also followed the leading indices. The BSE Midcap index settled 0.90 per cent per cent, led by gains in Go Digit (7.55 per cent), GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceutical (6.77 per cent), Solar Industries (5.12 per cent), Gland Pharma (4.36 per cent), PB Fintech (4.16 per cent), and Endurance Technologies up by 4.16 per cent. Vinod Nair, head of research at Geojit Investments, said that markets exhibited a broadly positive undertone today; however, overall sentiment remained confined within a narrow range, indicating the risk of a 'sell on rallies' strategy in the near future amid escalating uncertainty around India-US trade negotiations. BSE Smallcap rose 0.51 per cent, led by gains in Tata Teleservices (20 per cent), Trident (13.6 per cent), ECOS (India) Mobility & Hospitality (13.5 per cent), Ram Ratna Wires (11.6 per cent), Banco Products (10.9 per cent) and JK Tyres up by 10.36 per cent. Barring Nifty Consumer Durables, all other sectoral indices ended in green, with Nifty Pharma and Nifty Realty emerging as the top gainers. Nifty Realty was the top sectoral gainer, rising 1.7 per cent, after stocks such as Phoenix, DLF, Macrotech Developers, Oberoi Realty, Raymond, Prestige, and Anant Raj gained over 1 per cent each. From the Sensex constituents, 24 out of 30 stocks settled higher, gaining up to 2 per cent. The top gainers included Bajaj Finserv (2.02 per cent), Tata Steel (1.86 per cent), Sun Pharmaceuticals (1.57 per cent), Tech Mahindra (1.39 per cent), Bajaj Finance (1.36 per cent) and NTPC up 1.20 per cent. Among the laggards were IndusInd Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Power Grid, ITC, UltraTech Cement and Maruti Suzuki. "There is a growing perception that India may not derive the anticipated benefits initially projected during the peak of the tariff war, which has since de-escalated. FIIs turned net sellers due to the concerns over the recent US credit rating downgrade, tax cut plans in the US that could significantly widen the fiscal deficit, and its effect on the upcoming Fed policy next month. This change in stance hints at an increased probability of emerging risk-averse sentiment in the near term," Nair said. According to Ajit Mishra, senior vice president for research at Religare Broking, the recent price action in the Nifty indicates that the bulls are making a strong effort to sustain the prevailing uptrend. Mishra advised market participants to align their positions accordingly, focusing more on stock selection based on relative strength. "Dips should be seen as an opportunity to gradually accumulate quality stocks. Among key sectors, pharma, realty, metals, and banking are preferred, while a selective approach is recommended for the rest," he added. Market technical view According to analysts at Bajaj Broking, Nifty formed a small bull candle with an upper shadow which remained enclosed inside previous session trading range signaling consolidation around the 24,800 levels. In the near term, the index is expected to enter a consolidation phase within the 24,400-25,200 range to work off the overbought conditions developed in the daily stochastic oscillator after the recent sharp up move. Within the broader consolidation a move above yesterday high (24,946) will open upside towards 25100-25,200 levels in the coming sessions. "While a breach below last 2 sessions almost identical low (24,669) will open extended decline towards 24,500-24,400 levels. Key short-term support lies at 24,350-24,400, a confluence zone marked by the prior week's low, the 20-day EMA, and the 61.8% Fibonacci retracement of the recent upswing (23,935-25,116)," Bajaj Broking said in a note.
