T. Surendar, The Morning Context 25 March 2020 Standing on the porch of the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Mumbai suburbs, Diwakar Vaish, co-founder of Noida-based AgVa Healthcare, was trying to catch the attention of software industry executives. This is at the annual conference hosted by IT trade body Nasscom. Vaish's stall was a side-show for startups to exhibit digital technologies in the healthcare sector. On a cool, breezy February day, the atmosphere was nothing as grim you would expect in a hospital emergency ward. Vaish's rig, comprising an iPad-like device on a short steel column mounted on wheels with dangling…
Written By Saritha Rai India’s largest online retailers including Amazon.com Inc., Walmart Inc.-owned Flipkart and Alibaba-backed fresh grocery delivery service BigBasket are facing severe disruptions and shutdowns, after authorities announced some of the strictest coronavirus-related restrictions in the world. The country’s 1.3 billion people are in a three-week lockdown, sending many to scour the web for food and daily essentials. But unlike in China, where online fresh grocery services offered a lifeline during its Covid-19 outbreak, Indian authorities are stopping food trucks on highways, and shutting down warehouses and rice mills. They’re also preventing delivery and supply-chain workers from doing…
These value fashion retailer, however, must tackle pricing as well as infrastructure hurdles Written By Devika Singh The value retail market in India is estimated to be worth Rs 400 crore, according to industry experts Having established a strong foothold in the tier II and III markets — which contribute over 75% to their revenues — value retailers such as V-Mart, V-Bazaar, 1-India Family Mart and Citykart are testing the waters in tier IV markets. According to industry experts, the value retail market in India is estimated to be worth Rs 400 crore, with organised players commanding merely 12.5% share.…
Chaayos and Chai Monk are selling more than 3.5 lakh cups every day between them. Still, it isn’t an easy market to crack. Written By Nishant Sharma The moment a customer places an order at a Chaayos outlet, an IoT-enabled brewer starts preparing chai that can be made to order in 80,000 different ways.Called Chai Monk, the robot has reduced the time taken to make a cup by nearly a third to 2.25 minutes, Nitin Saluja, co-founder of the tea café chain, told BloombergQuint. “This not only helps maintain a consistent taste of the tea consistent, but also reduces waste…
Written By Alnoor Peermohamed & Rasul Bailay, ETtech ETtech Illustration: Rahul Awasthi Sales of smartphones, electronics, apparel, home appliances and furnishing have taken a beating due to the Covid-19 virus outbreak, as Indian consumers stay at home and cut back on discretionary spending in an already sluggish market.? Several consumer brands, retailers and sector analysts told ET that demand has dropped palpably, except food and grocery sales, which are on the up due to uncertainties around stockouts and store closures as infections spread across the country. Calling it an “unprecedented” situation, several executives and analysts said that a prolonged shutdown…
Geopolitical friction has again sparked renewed concerns over inflation and rising input costs for FMCG companies as @itmeansjustice @whysnavi write. @devangshu commented.
