News Roundup: 8 Stories You Don’t Want To Miss This Week [27 April – 2 May]

Earlier in the month when Snapdeal’s premises were raided by Food and Drug Administration for selling prescription drugs. On a series of serious event an FIR has been filed by Maharashtra Government against the founder and CEO Kunal Bahl and directors of the company. On receipt of notice the company delisted the products and provided information to the FDA team. The action against Snapdeal was taken  under the Drugs & Cosmetics Act, 1940 Sec. 18(C).

Lets have a look at the important developments of the week:

Quikr Introduces ‘Buy Through Quikr’ Button For Making Purchases

After news surfacing how a con man lured sellers into selling mobile phones and used to run away being caught. Quikr has launched a new option to buy via Quikr. The classified is now taking steps into ecommerce market. Here, selecting this option will lead to direct purchases of listed products where the buyer directly pays cash to a Quikr representative for executing the purchase. After the payment Quikr takes sole responsibility of delivering the item.

Government Reduces Hassles in Incorporation process, introduces A Single Form Registration

India stooped low at 134th rank out of 189 countries in ease of doing business index. Following which the government has launched a single form, introduction of which will reduce paperwork by a whooping 90% making compliance and reporting procedures easier.   The form is available at MCA’s website and will be called INC-29. The move has come after the Modi Government faced criticism by investors and companies as they were impatient over the crawling pace of initiating reforms towards creating business friendly environment.

Naspers Backed Ibibo enters Carpooling Sector via ‘Ryde’ for Intra and Inter City Rides

Success of carpooling apps like BlaBlaCar and Tripda has led new players enter in this sector. Ibibo has come up with an app ‘Ryde’ that lets users share rides and travel cost. The app has intra city rides as well along with inter city rides which is a shift from the set trend. The app lets users to check verified member profiles through their social media profiles. The company is currently doing a pilot in  Delhi. Rides from Delhi-Agra, Delhi-Jaipur are in the range of INR 90-99.

Nikesh Arora, SoftBank vice-chairman Resigns from The Boards Of Snapdeal, Ola and Housing

In a shocking series of events Nikesh Arora who joined board of Snapdeal, Ola and Housing when Softbank invested in them has now stepped down from the same. He will now be mentoring these companies. Nikesh sent his resignation 45 days back to Housing.He was replaced by Jonathan Bullock as a representative of Softbank. Softbank aims to increase its share in the said companies.

TRAI’s Another Blunder, After Leaking 1Mn Email Ids, Now Publishes A Love Letter

Ironically, TRAI which asked people for their opinion on Net-Neutrality breached every sender’s  privacy by publishing their Ids. In another bizarre incident it also leaked a love letter. TRAI faced ire of netizens after this move which led to intervention by Anonymous India who hacked TRAI’s website and TRAI became a mocking stock at social media. It was being laughed upon how they couldn’t even fight a DDos attack. Later, the website became operational but emails were not removed by authorities.

Ola Is All Set To Venture Into Grocery Delivery

Ola is no longer want to stick with the image of cab aggregator only. It is on the path of becoming a conglomerate. After its launch of Ola cafe which aims at delivering food, the company has now plans to venture into Grocery  Delivery as well. With other players entering into the grocery delivering market as this sector is experiencing exponential growth.

Amazon Will Now Deliver On Sundays as Well

In a bid to woo customers and overcome the drawback of delivery time taken by ecommerce companies. Amazon has now planned to make deliveries on Sundays as well. Earlier sunday s were not counted in business days which would delay the shipment process. On this, Samuel Thomas said,”With our Sunday delivery promise, customers now have the benefit of getting uninterrupted deliveries of their orders through the week.” It is an attempt to provide better service to customers.

Other developments of the week:

Reliance Communications may roll out 4G services in Gujarat: Reports

Reliance Communications (RCOM) plans to offer 4G services, starting in Gujarat, where its CDMA network operates on airwaves similar to those it has acquired to deploy the high-speed mobile telecom technology. The company  will be  spending about $40 Mn (Rs 255 crore) on the equipment and will also enable use of the CDMA spectrum for 4G in Gujarat before November. Company is creating a third vertical, after GSM and CDMA, to handle the 4G service and customers The equipment will be hosted on existing telecom towers as the CDMA network already covers the entire region without major gaps. RCom is still tying up funding for 4G services, although it shouldn’t be much of a challenge for the Gujarat circle as the initial amount is small.

Shopclues.com organises a Sellers’s Summit in Mumbai

While ecommerce companies are organising events for their consumers, Shopclues.com organised the first Sellers’ Summit in Mumbai for the benefit of all the merchants.Close to 250 top retailers across categories of ShopClues attended the event from all over Maharashtra and Gujarat.The objective is to convey the appreciation for the significant contributions the merchants are making towards the company’s (Shopclues) inventory and customer service excellence. Also, some Hand Picked retailers were given the Merchant Awards for their outstanding work in various spheres.

Snapdeal hires Srinivas Murthy as their new marketing head

Online marketplace Snapdeal.com has hired former Coca-Cola India and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) executive Idimadakala Srinivas Murthy as its senior vice-president (marketing). Murthy will replace Sandeep Komaravelly, who will now be heading another Snapdeal’s strategic initiative. Murthy plans to spend most of his time focusing on getting more first-time users to Snapdeal’s platform by building more awareness around the brand. He believes that e-commerce needs strong visibility to attract customers, thus the brand will continue advertising across all outdoor, radio, television, print and digital platforms.

Google Now Integrated With Spotify, Jawbone and other Players

Google is gradually moving towards making its assistant app Google Now smart enough to compete with Apple’s Siri. The company haamas now gotten a big jump in terms of its capability as the company has tied up 70 new partners to enhance consumer experience. Notable tie ups include Spotify which will recommend playlists, Runkeeper, Jawbone and Adidas to provide user with relevant information. Google has other features in its bag which will be unveiled later.

InMobi and Sky Media Tie Up To Lure Premium Mobile Audience To UK Brands

Inmobi, a mobile advertising platform has roped in Sky Media to introduce  premium mobile audiences to brands in UK. Sky Media is the advertising branch of Sky. This partnership aims to monetise premium audience across mobile apps and sites. On this, Hitesh Bhatt, Revenue Controller at Sky Media commented,”We selected InMobi as a sales partner after a rigorous evaluation process. Their targeting technology and heritage in mobile will help Sky to build out its mobile offering alongside opportunities sold by our direct sales team. We are looking forward to a long and fruitful partnership with the said company.” Inmobi has a humungous audience with more than 6 Bn ad requests each day.

Pune Based Faaso Ventures Into Aggregator Business, Joins Hands With Chefs In Mumbai and Pune

Couple of months after being funded with $20 Mn Pune-based food tech company is now exploring the aggregator business. The company has tied up with local chefs in Mumbai and its origin-city Pune in lieu of catering customers with exquisite cuisines. The application adds new items on its menu every day leaving customers curious and wanting for more. Apart from this company is planning offline and digital marketing campaigns across the cities where it is present. Revan Bhate, co-founder of Faaso’s said Now that we are at a critical stage where we have covered eight cities fully it gives us the ability to build brand awareness so people can experience in the comfort of their homes of offices.” It also plans to enter Gurgaon, Indore, Chandigarh, Hyderabad and Delhi by June this year.

TinyOwl  Expands To Delhi, Bangalore, Gurgaon, Pune & Hyderabad

TinyOwl raised INR 100 Cr. in February this year and made it clear that it will be expanding pan India. Following which, TinyOwl has now started serving in major cities namely, Bangalore, Delhi, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, and Pune. The food ordering app was only Mumbai exclusive till now. It is gaining popularity after sponsoring Mumbai Indians in IPL tournament.

Paytm Expands Further: Introduces Paytm Wallet on iOS

Paytm has had its share of success after being backed by Alibaba and collaborating with brand like Uber which has made its wallet quite popular. Apple users who were devoid of this can now rejoice as the company has launched the new wallet application for iOS devices. The app is now available to download for iOS users. Paytm wallet can be used to transfer money, request money and also works as a digital wallet.

Coupondunia has plans offer Deals in FMCG and Clothing Retail

Coupon aggregator coupondunia which satiates the need of people to cash on every discount and every offer. Coupondunia will be expanding its sectors by introducing coupons in FMCG and Clothing sector. With a great deal ever increasing buzz in ecommerce sector, online deals coupons have also been at receiving end of it. Sameer Parwani, CEO of Coupondunia said” In the case of ecommerce and clothing retail stores the discounts are powered by retailers, whereas for FMCGs, the discounts will be powered by manufacturers.”

Uber adds An SOS Button to Connect Passengers with Authorities Instantaneously

Uber came with norms to increase security of its passengers which included addition of an SOS button which has now come into action. The said feature has been completely integrated with local police control room. After tying up with First Advantage for background checking  of drivers this feature further makes commute secure. On this development Police Commissioner BK Gupta said” Uber’s efforts to this end are highly commendable; their technology solutions which bring unprecedented transparency and traceability are making moving around cities safer.”

Checkout this week’s funding galore.