Also in this letter:
■ Govt stands firm on grievance committee for social media complaints
■ Mahindra Logistics buys Rivigo’s B2B express arm for Rs 225 crore
■ Customers cry foul as Flipkart cancels iPhone 13 orders
BigBasket looks to raise $200 million at up to $3.5 billion valuation
Online grocery BigBasket has kicked off the process for a new funding round that’s likely to value the Tata Digital-owned firm at $3-3.5 billion, three people briefed on the matter told us.
Details: BigBasket’s latest financing is likely to come from Tata Digital and existing shareholders. While the size of the round hasn’t been finalised, it’s likely to be around $200 million or more, the people said.
Driving the news: BigBasket’s holding company Supermarket Grocery, of which Tata owns 62%, filed documents with the Registrar of Companies (RoC) recently about plans to increase the authorised share capital of the firm – typically an indication that a fresh cash infusion is on the cards.
Bump: We reported in March that BigBasket was valued at $2.7 billion in a secondary transaction in which Brand Capital — the strategic investment arm of the Times Group, which also publishes ETtech — offloaded part of its stake in the firm.
BigBasket’s last primary-transaction valuation was $2 billion in May 2021, soon after Tata Digital’s majority acquisition of the company.
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Expansion: BigBasket has been expanding its core offerings steadily while venturing into quick commerce, where it competes with Swiggy’s Instamart, Reliance Retail-backed Dunzo, Zepto and others.
“The company continues to grow 40% annually as projected earlier internally. This financial year ending March 2023, the company is expected to generate sales of $1.5 billion (net of discounts),” one of our sources said.
Govt stands firm on grievance committee for social media complaints
The union government will proceed with its contentious proposal to appoint a grievance appellate committee to decide on user complaints against social media platforms, sources told us.
The ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY) will also insist that these platforms address serious complaints – such as those related to child sexual abuse material – within the stipulated shorter timelines of 24 hours and 36 hours, they said.
No backing down: MeitY decided not to change its stance despite a concerted pushback from industry leaders. Meta and Twitter have pushed for a self-regulated industry body to act as a grievance redressal forum instead of a government-backed entity.
These companies jointly submitted a draft proposal for such a self-regulated entity to MeitY in August.
What’s next? The draft of proposed changes to the Information Technology Rules of 2021 – first released in June this year – has been sent to the law ministry for a thorough vetting, IT ministry officials said. Sources in the law ministry indicated that they would take a week to 10 days to provide their comments.
However, the language of the IT Rules of 2021 will be simplified based on industry feedback to avoid confusion, the official added.
Pushback: The government introduced the draft changes to the IT Rules after noting that many social media platforms were not responding quickly to users’ complaints.
But several industry lobbies including the US-India Business Council (USIBC) and the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) questioned the independence of a forum constituted by the government.
Mahindra Logistics buys Rivigo’s B2B express arm for Rs 225 crore
Mahindra Logistics (MLL) has acquired the B2B express business of logistics startup Rivigo for Rs 225 crore, the two entities said on Monday.
Details: Mahindra Logistics will acquire the business through a business transfer agreement (BTA), including its customers, team, assets, technology platform, and brand.
Rivigo will continue to own its truck fleet and the rights to the full truckload (FTL) operations.
The acquisition is expected to augment Mahindra Logistics’ existing B2B express business through the use of Rivigo’s network, technology and process capabilities.
Unicorn in trouble: We reported in August that Rivigo – which became a unicorn in 2019 – had held talks with ecommerce marketplace Flipkart and omnichannel baby products retailer FirstCry for a potential sale. The logistics tech unicorn was struggling to raise fresh funds as investors turned skittish amid the ongoing economic slowdown.
Customers cry foul as Flipkart cancels iPhone 13 orders during festive sale
Customers eager to buy Apple’s iPhone 13 – which is being sold at significant discounts online after the launch of the iPhone 14 – have taken to social media to express their dissatisfaction with Flipkart after multiple orders were cancelled during its ongoing annual festive season sales event, Big Billion Days.
The premium versions of the iPhone13 models are still available but the least expensive ones are shown as being sold out on the platform.
Sellers dealing in smartphones told us this typically happens during major sale events, when demand for a product exceeds forecasts, affecting supply.
Response: Flipkart said less than 3% of the orders have been cancelled by sellers due to what it called “anomalies.” It did not specify or provide further details.
“We understand that close to 70% of all iPhone orders placed across cities including Guntur, Gorakhpur, and Siliguri have been successfully delivered by the sellers. Further, a minor fraction of orders (
ET Ecommerce Index
We’ve launched three indices – ET Ecommerce, ET Ecommerce Profitable, and ET Ecommerce Non-Profitable – to track the performance of recently listed tech firms. Here’s how they’ve fared so far.
Govt’s blocking orders violate free speech, Twitter tells K’taka High Court
Twitter India told the Karnataka High Court on Monday that the union government’s order to block accounts on the platform would amount to a violation of free speech guaranteed to Indian citizens under Article 19A.
The high court was hearing a petition moved by Twitter challenging the take-down orders issued by the central government between February 2021 and June 2022.
Twitter moved the Karnataka High Court in July, challenging the blocking orders. It said 39 such orders issued by the centre did not pass the proportionality test.
Arguments: Twitter said it was asked to block accounts which were tweeting news regarding the farmer-led protests in and around New Delhi and the National Capital Region in January 2021, while television and print media were allowed to cover them.
Twitter’s counsel also told the Karnataka High Court that Section 69 of the Information Technology Act did not allow the wholesale blocking of accounts and that such an order could only be applied to tweets.
The high court will hear the case next on October 17.
TWEET OF THE DAY
Other Top Stories By Our Reporters
HCL Technologies rebrands itself to HCLTech: India’s third largest IT services company by revenue HCL Technologies said on Monday that it has rebranded itself as HCLTech with a new brand identity and logo. The rebranding is part of initiatives to drive better distinction between the parent group HCL Enterprise and the technology arm, said a HCL senior executive.
Apple starts making the iPhone 14 in India: Apple has started manufacturing the iPhone 14 in India at Foxconn’s facility in Sriperumbudur on the outskirts of Chennai. Customers will be able to buy the made-in-India iPhone 14 – launched earlier this month – in the next few days as the company plans to ramp up production gradually, sources told us.
Samsung launches co-branded credit card: Samsung is looking to push smartphone upgrades among consumers and drive overall electronics sales during the festive season with the launch of a co-branded credit card in partnership with Axis Bank and Visa. With the new credit card, its existing Samsung Finance Plus programme and other offers, the company expects over 30% growth in sales this festive season from last year.
Global Picks We Are Reading
■ This vote could change the course of internet history (Wired)
■ Is public WiFi safe? We ‘compromised’ a network to test it. (The Washington Post)
■ Twitter, Elon Musk spar over legal preparations as trial date looms (WSJ)
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