ETtech Top 5: Jio juggernaut, bigger grocery baskets, MSMEs shutting shop & more

Happy Tuesday!
After scooping up Rs 78,562 crore in a span of just one month, Jio Platforms, which owns digital and telecom assets of Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd., is in talks with cash-rich sovereign wealth funds from the Gulf.

Abu Dhabi Investment Authority has joined active discussions for a minority stake in Jio Platforms, ET reported on Tuesday. This follows Mubadala, the sister firm of the UAE’s largest state-owned wealth fund, which has already been in negotiations with Reliance Industries (RIL), the parent of Jio Platforms.

AP

Jio’s fundraising drive

The holding company of India’s largest telecom operator—Reliance Jio Infocomm—is on a deal-making spree. After a flurry of deals in April and May, this is probably the last tranche of stake sales in Jio Platforms.


In numbers

• The two UAE-based funds are open to pumping $1-1.25 billion into Jio Platforms.

• Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund Public Investment Fund (PIF) may invest close to $2 billion.

• RIL has targeted raising Rs 85,000-Rs 90,000 crore from stake sales in Jio Platforms. Read more.

ETtech

Bigger baskets

Consumers in smaller cities and towns are increasingly using online grocery delivery services and are shopping for higher-value basket sizes compared to the top seven cities. A fear of the Covid-19 pandemic as well as closure of many physical stores, coupled with non-availability of items in corner stores, is leading to the shift in consumer buying patterns.

By the numbers

• Order volumes in Tier-II cities jumped 56% in April compared to March while metros clocked 35% growth, said BigBasket co-founder Hari Menon.

• Rival Grofers said it was able to retain 62% of users who came on board in March after the nationwide lockdown, adding it expects to retain around 50% of new users long term.

• Swiggy said it has noticed a higher average order value of 7-10% from smaller cities. Read more.

Getty Images

MSMEs shutting shop

Over one-third of micro, small and medium enterprises and self-employed individuals have started shutting their businesses, saying they saw no chance of a recovery in the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak, a survey by the All India Manufacturers’ Organisation showed.

Why it matters

The findings of the survey—based on over 46,000 responses from various associations and industry groupings in the country—are the first of three parts that will be released by AIMO this week. Of the MSMEs that took part in the survey, 32% said they would take about six months to recover and 12% estimated three months. Read more.

ETtech

Rural India gets online

The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated Internet penetration in rural areas. Data consumption in Panchayats connected to the BharatNet fibre backbone has increased to 150 Terabytes (TB) per month in May from about 55 TB per month during January, according to data from CSC e-Governance Services, which has been providing last-mile connectivity through the BharatNet network to the gram panchayats since July 2019.


As far as consumption trends were concerned, Google's YouTube was used the most, followed by Facebook and Netflix. Over 300,000 subscribers registered for a fiber-to-home connection from BharatNet in March, while 1.2 million have subscribed to its Wi-Fi service till date. Read more.

ETtech

Acko funding

Insurtech startup Acko Technology is in final stages of raising $60-70 million from Munich Re Ventures, the strategic corporate venture capital arm of Munich Reinsurance. Other existing investors, such as e-commerce major Amazon, former SoftBank executive Kabir Misra's RPS Ventures and Intact Ventures, are likely to participate in the ongoing fundraising.

• The funding is expected to value Acko at around $400-$500 million.

• Internet-based products contribute about 40% to its revenue.

• Auto and bikes make up for around 60%.

• Health insurance, which was launched two month ago, is still at a nascent stage. Read more.

(Illustrations and graphics by Rahul Awasthi)