How the pandemic shaped a digital India

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2020 has been a lot of things, but uncertainty reigned supreme, with seemingly no end in sight to the pandemic at some points. While the earliest Covid-19 vaccination programs are being rolled out, one country has proven its resilience in new ways. India’s rising sectors, from the fiercely competitive ecommerce space to the burgeoning edtech industry, have fueled intense interest from investors. And that’s just the start.

Today we look at,

• How India’s resilient startups thrived this year
• Other newsy highlights such as Grab’s demands for its potential merger with Gojek and how India’s Paytm is on the path to profitability

PREMIUM SUMMARY

India is flourishing despite the pandemic

It took the Covid-19 pandemic to bring the concept of a digital India to fruition. The country’s ecommerce, edtech, foodtech, and ride-hailing sectors have taken dramatic – and sometimes unexpected – turns, proving the phrase “survival of the fittest” to be true. Here’s a look at some key developments in the Indian startup space in 2020.

• Reliance Retail’s many wins: Following its US$3.4 billion acquisition of Future Group’s retail unit, Reliance Retail’s latest win is an investment from the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia – the country’s sovereign wealth fund – to the tune of US$1.3 billion. At present, the Reliance Industries-owned retail giant serves over 3.5 million customers weekly through nearly 12,000 physical stores in over 6,500 cities and towns across the country.
• The good fight: Reliance Retail’s Future Group deal has sent Amazon into a tizzy, but the incumbent leader in the ecommerce space isn’t backing down. The American giant is tapping into India’s lucrative pharmaceuticals market, eyeing a potential investment of US$100 million in India’s largest branded pharmacy chain, Apollo Pharmacy, which has over 3,700 outlets across the country.
• Edtech’s rise: In 2020, investors poured US$2.2 billion into India’s edtech startup space – a stark increase from US$553 million in 2019. And edtech decacorn Byju’s is leading the way with its US$10.8 billion valuation, backed by a 64 million-strong user base. In a nod to the potential of the rising sector, the Indian government allocated a US$13.2 billion budget for the education industry for 2020 to 2021, up from US$11.3 billion in 2018 to 2019.

Read more: Recap 2020: Massive investments in India despite the pandemic

QUICK BYTES

1️⃣ Grab lays out demands for potential merger

Singapore-based unicorn Grab has requested that its founder Anthony Tan remain the de facto CEO and be given sizable voting power in the company should the Grab-Gojek merger happen. While this has raised concerns among some investors, Grab maintains that the merged entity would run in a way that complies with IPO regulations.