1947 Tech 🇮🇳 : #49
Once a week newsletter: Insights on Tech, markets, startups, venture capital, and foreign investments in India
1. Worried About China? Multinationals Now Favor India
Global consumer brands have long been infatuated with Chinese consumers. Now it is India’s shoppers they are after.
It has been a blockbuster year for Indian deals: More foreign money is now pouring into the south Asian nation than into China. Overseas companies have spent $38 billion acquiring Indian assets so far this year, compared with $32 billion in China according to Dealogic data.
That overturns a long-term trend — the value of inbound mergers and acquisitions in China had outstripped that in India since at least 2000.
2. Big Funding Round: Naspers and CPPIB back Byju’s, valuation jumps to $3.6 billion
Education technology platform Byju’s is closing a $400 million round of funding as it looks to fuel its global expansion plan.
Byju’s is in the process of expanding to English-speaking markets including the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. The company has also hired teachers across geographies for this expansion.
The transaction is expected to value the company at around $3.6 billion, making it the fifth most valued private internet company in India after Flipkart ($22 billion), Paytm ($16 billion), Oyo ($5 billion) and Ola ($4 billion).
Byju’s-The Learning App, which is the edtech player’s flagship offering, caters to students from classes four to 12. Till June this year, it had around 20 million registered students and 1.26 million annual paid subscribers.
3. Mobile-first nation: A third of Indians make purchases on their smartphones:
Over a third Indian shoppers are buying from their smartphones, making India one of the largest market for mobile-based internet shopping in the Asia Pacific region, as per the latest study by market researcher GfK.
The study said the trend of using mobile phones for e-commerce purchases in the APAC region is particularly noted in China (45%), India (42%), Indonesia (39%) and Singapore (33%). The study, polled consumers in the region, also revealed that 63% of consumers agreed that their mobile device is becoming the most important shopping tool.
Making payments via mobile phones continues to be a popular option with APAC consumers when shopping online as well as at the physical store. Over half of the region’s consumers agreed that they prefer to use this mode of payment when transacting online and in the physical store. Mobile payment usage has grown by 30% over last year mainly driven by millennial shoppers.
4. Ease of doing business: India set to allow business visa extension for up to 15 years
Historically India has been ranked amongst the lowest in the world ranking when it comes to ease of doing business. However, in the last few years, India has realized the importance of the private sector and foreign investments in India.
To move up the rankings of ease of doing business, India is working hard at introducing new policies. India is introducing a new policy in which India will allow extension of business visa for up to 15 years and conversion of a regular visa into the medical category in case of an emergency for a foreigner.
A week in review
