Ratan Tata's many e-commerce investments

When he retired in 2012, Ratan Tata had let it be known that he wanted to reach out to people and have them draw from the trusts' expertise to give a strong push to new businesses.

• Tata Sons Chairman Emeritus Ratan Tata File Photo dna Research & Archives

When Ratan Tata retired as the chairman of Tata Sons after being at the helm for 21 years, everyone expected him to hang his boots. That assumption couldn't have been further away from the truth. Tata, moving away from tradition, first held onto his chairmanship of Tata Trusts, a responsibility he had been assigned when he was anointed chairman in 1991. And second, in an acceptance speech at the Rockefeller Foundation when the was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award, he said that his life's work wasn't done yet. 

When he retired in 2012, Ratan Tata had let it be known that he wanted to reach out to people and have them draw from the trusts' expertise to give a strong push to new businesses. Since then, Tata has been actively working on those words. 

Soon after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the Digital India program this week, Tata lauded the PM's vision of a digitized India and his move to make digital India a priority, and announced a tie-up with Google and Intel to help bring the Internet to more and more women in India. 

Tata has been investing in various e-commerce portals since his retirement. The extention of his help, however, doesn't end there. He has vowed to mentor these businesses, drawing from his years' of invaluable experience, to help them set sail.  

The first company that Tata invested in after his retirement was Altaeros Energies, a US-based wind power developer. He later ventured into the e-commerce space by investing in India's e-commerce website, Snapdeal. Ratan Tata or his office haven't yet revealed the financial details of any investments that he has made. An email sent to his office was unanswered at the time of writing.

Since then, he has been redefining the meaning of “angel investors” for the e-commerce space.  

Here's a list of all the e-commerce companies that Ratan Tata has invested in: 

August 27, 2014 Snapdeal 

Ratan Tata's invested an undisclosed amount into India's e-commerce website Snapdeal.com that is backed by Kalaari Capital. The portal also has Wipro's Azim Premji as an investor. 

September 11, 2014 – Bluestone

An online jewellery portal, Bluestone was founded by Gaurav Singh Kushwaha, an IIT graduate. He is also the CEO of the company. Bluestone is also backed by Kalaari Capital. 

November 15, 2014 – Urban Ladder 

Leading furniture and home decor e-portal was started by IIM-Bangalore graduates Ashish Goel and Rajiv Srivatsa in July 2012. It soon sprang to popularity and is now one of the most wel-known online portals for furniture. 

February 8, 2014 – cardekho.com

Started by two IIT-Delhi graduates, Anuraj and Amit Jain, and cardekho let's users buy, sell and compare prices of various cars in the market. It also reviews cars. The same duo also run bikedekho.com.

March 13, 2015 – One97 Communications 

One97 Communications is the company that operates Paytm, an online payment solution company. Headquartered in Noida, the company also offers the option of an online wallet to its users now. The company's website said that they now have over 80 million registered users, and handles over 60 million orders per month. 

April 26, 2015 – Xiaomi

China's largest smartphone maker, Xiaomi got its first Indian investor in the form of Ratan Tata. The company's CEO Lei Jun plans to make India an important market for the phone too, after China. 

Infibeam To Raise $71 Million In India’s First E-Commerce IPO Filing

Infibeam, the Ahmedabad-based eCommerce portal recently filed for an IPO earlier this week to raise about $71 million. Th filing revealed several other factors too, including Infibeam’s  incurred losses to the tune of Rs 25.95 crore for the financial year ended March 31, 2014, up from Rs 24.9 crore in the fiscal 2013 and Rs 10.8 crore in the fiscal 2012.

The company is looking to raise about $70 Million (₹450 crore) through IPO. It had filed draft papers with the Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and Draft Red Herring Prospectus which offers shares of Rs 10 each for cash. It has proposed to list its shares on the NSE and BSE. With this, Infibeam has become the first Indian e-commerce company to launch an IPO, a recognisable feat in itself.

Under this public offering, at least 75 per cent of shares would be allotted on a proportionate basis to Qualified Institutional Investors, while up to 60 per cent of this portion can be given to Anchor Investors on a discretionary basis.

It reported loss of around Rs. 25.95 crore in the financial year that ended in March 2014. In the fiscal year 2013, it reported loss of around 24.9 crore while in fiscal year 2012, it reported loss of 9.65 crore. Note that the loss reported is including its eCommerce portal, DIY eCommerce platform BuildABazaar and its other services.

With the amount raised by IPO, the company is planning to set up its cloud data centers. It is also planning to set up its own logistics service in order to get control over logistics and customer satisfaction. Currently, it has about 36 logistics centers in 12 cities, including 12 cities in India including Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi, Gurgaon, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Guwahati, Jaipur, Pune, Lucknow, Ahmedabad and Chennai.

It will spend Rs. 235.2 crore on setting up its own cloud infrastructure while to set up logistics centers across 75 locations, it will spend about Rs. 37.5 crores. It is also planning to introduce custom branded prepaid cards and .000 co-branded credit cards for online royalty points redemption.

The company has 63 million authorized shares of which 42.6 million shares have been issued. Its promoters owns 32.24% of the issued, subscribed and paid-up equity share capital prior to the issue. Founder of the company Vishal Mehta is the largest shared holder owning 14.09% shares of the pre-issue capital.

Here is the list, explaining shareholding of promoters and promoter groups.

Founded in 2007 by Vishal Mehta, Infibeam started as an online automobile retailer but then ventured out into selling products across categories such as mobiles, accessories, books, camera, watches, etc. It has more than 1300 employees in its offices around Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore.

It had launched its own eBook reader named Infibeam Pi and its second-gen eBook reader Pi 2, much on the lines of U.S.-based Amazon. It also launched its SaaS DIY eCommerce portal, probably one of the first in the country. In 2012, it launched Infibeam Digital Entertainment (INDENT) and in 2013, it launched Infibeam Concert Entertainment Park Travel (INCEPT).

The company also owns the license of the generic top level domain (GTLD) ‘.ooo’ granted by Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). In 2014, it launched its .000 domain for trademark owners.

IPO markets have heated up as over 30 companies have planned to raise funds. The total reaches over Rs. 20,000 crore through public offers. The companies who have lined up for IPO includes big names like IndiGo, Cafe Coffee Day, GVK Airport, etc. In 2015, 8 companies have launched their IPOs so far and have collectively raised around Rs. 4,000 crore.

Online shopping on a rise in India: Survey

Online shopping trends in India are expected to continue to grow, made easier and convenient by deep penetration of mobile devices. Consumers indicate that they are likely to shop online more frequently in forthcoming years, said a CBRE India Consumer Survey 2015. 

"A large majority of Indian shoppers anticipate spending more through both online as well as physical retail platforms in coming years. However, a much larger percentage (nearly 80%) of shoppers feel that they are likely to spend more via online shopping routes, in comparison to those who expect to spend more at physical stores," said the survey. 

Out of those who expect to spend more online, nearly 85% are in the age group of 18-24 years. Of those who anticipate spending more in coming years regardless of the retail platform, it is noted that most of their purchases are also expected to be online. 

The consumer survey recently conducted by CBRE in India said almost 70% of the Indian shoppers interviewed feel that they are likely to shop more often from a desktop / laptop; while nearly 60% expect to use tablets / smartphones more often to shop online. 

"With a large majority of the survey respondents preferring to use online platforms more often in coming years, it becomes imperative for retailers in the country to focus more on developing their online presence for a faster penetration into the Indian market," said Vivek Kaul, Head, Retail Services India.

Flipkart adds 'Image Search' feature to its app

Flipkart adds 'Image Search' feature to its app * E-commerce major Flipkart on Wednesday announced the launch of 'Image search' feature on its mobile app, designed for its fashion category.

The added feature will allow the use of any image to find visually similar products on Flipkart, a company statement said.

With Image Search, users can now click a picture or use a photo on their phones to find fashion products of same colour, pattern or style on Flipkart, it added.

"Discovering a fashion product online varies from user to user and is more complex as compared to other categories. A lot of fashion purchase decisions are influenced by similar products seen by users. The image search feature provides a way to find similar products on Flipkart as well as reduces the search/ browsing time, making the overall product discovery and shopping experience simple.” said Flipkart’s Chief Product Officer Punit Soni.

Punit further added, "This is in line with our ambition to create a very intuitive thoughtful mobile experience that is universally accessible to everybody, regardless of whether they use text or visuals to communicate with us."

Image search feature, currently at the beta stage of development, will be available to customers through an app upgrade. With more than 75% users accessing Flipkart through their smartphones, mobile app dominates the total visits on the platform. And there will be more such innovative features and developments in the coming months.