Day: December 29, 2022

BigBasket goes offline in Hyderabad

BigBasket is going to become a supermarket. After the acquisition by Tata in 2021, it has experimented in different ways. Earlier, it also tried self- services to fruit and vegetable outlet in Bangalore. But this time, it is going to do so in the form of a supermarket in Hyderabad. 

It is also planning to expand in this physical space. It is going to open 3 more supermarkets in Hyderabad, 5 in Kolkata and 15 more in Bangalore. After that, it also plans to open 400 more such stores across the top 10 cities of the country. It will cater to those users, who are more comfortable with physical stores. 

On the online front, BigBasket has a user base of 15 million. It is also making a profit of around $ 1 billion. Now, there is also one additional app that Tata has launched for use by the users of BigBasket. It is a total of all the apps that belongs to the companies owned by Tata Group.

Now, there are some drastic changes that Tata Group is going through. For the last few years, it has been on a purchasing spree. It now owns some companies from the tech world like 1mg and BigBasket. It also has an airline named Air India. So, Tata has lined up major expansion plans for the future. For the time being it needs to invest some more resources in these companies to make them capable competitors in the market. After that, companies like BigBasket will also make it to the IPO listing by 2025. 

From the business point of view, BigBasket did serve its customers well. The highest order on its online platform was from Karnataka. On the popularity front, the tomato was the top choice of the customers on the platform. In the entire year, BigBasket delivered around 400 kgs of coriander also, which was also one of the most popular items.

On the offers front, users also saved around 1500 crore rupees from various offers and coupons. The orders were mostly during the rush hours of 7 pm and 9 pm. The platform is also planning to expand to 20 more cities. This expansion will take the total count of cities from 55 to 75 for BigBasket service. 

Now, BigBasket also needs to take care of the fact that it needs to tackle the competition from platforms like Jio. The competition is also from some physical platforms that do support the flexibility of shopping by looking at the actual product. There are still several users who love the offers and the variety of products that stress like DMart offers. There are also some competitive moves from Flipkart and Amazon. These e-commerce giants are also putting in efforts to score big in one of the world’s fastest-growing online markets.

These changes will surely put smiles on the face of those who love to buy milk from the supermarket while coming back from morning exercise. The further increase in the valuation of BigBasket at $3.2 billion also makes it a top contender to become one of the best platforms for groceries and fresh veggies for a long time and with a bright future.

Health experts says the next 40 days will be crucial for India amid covid surge in China.

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There is still no clarity on what is happening in China, with experts raising alarm that the country is witnessing a steep increase in the number of COVID-19 cases due to coronavirus variant BF.7.

The Union Health Ministry has, however, said that the next 40 days will be crucial in India – with the country likely to witness a surge in January.

“In the past, whenever a NBCOVID-19 wave was reported in India, it used to hit us in 30-35 days, starting from East Asia, it used to hit Europe in 10 days, moving towards America and the Pacific region, and then finally hitting India which would normally take 30 days,” a senior health ministry official told media, requesting anonymity.

The official added that the number of deaths and hospitalisations is likely to be low this time, even if India is hit by a COVID wave by the end of January.

Meanwhile, the Ministry is likely to make mandatory, from next week, negative RT-PCR reports for passengers arriving from China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, South Korea and Thailand.

Filling up of ‘air-suvidha’ forms and 72-hour prior RT-PCR testing could be mandatory for arrivals from these countries.

The government has made random coronavirus testing mandatory for two per cent of passengers arriving in each international flight from December 24. Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya is likely to visit the Delhi airport to take stock of testing and screening facilities there.

Health experts says the next 40 days will be crucial for India amid covid surge in China.

.

There is still no clarity on what is happening in China, with experts raising alarm that the country is witnessing a steep increase in the number of COVID-19 cases due to coronavirus variant BF.7.

The Union Health Ministry has, however, said that the next 40 days will be crucial in India – with the country likely to witness a surge in January.

“In the past, whenever a NBCOVID-19 wave was reported in India, it used to hit us in 30-35 days, starting from East Asia, it used to hit Europe in 10 days, moving towards America and the Pacific region, and then finally hitting India which would normally take 30 days,” a senior health ministry official told media, requesting anonymity.

The official added that the number of deaths and hospitalisations is likely to be low this time, even if India is hit by a COVID wave by the end of January.

Meanwhile, the Ministry is likely to make mandatory, from next week, negative RT-PCR reports for passengers arriving from China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, South Korea and Thailand.

Filling up of ‘air-suvidha’ forms and 72-hour prior RT-PCR testing could be mandatory for arrivals from these countries.

The government has made random coronavirus testing mandatory for two per cent of passengers arriving in each international flight from December 24. Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya is likely to visit the Delhi airport to take stock of testing and screening facilities there.

RBI emerges as the top buyer of gold among its global counterparts.

With 132.34 metric tonnes (MT) of gold purchase, RBI emerged as the largest buyer of the yellow metal among central banks between April 2020 and September 2022. Also, RBI was the top gold buyer among its peers in 2020 while it stood third in 2021. In 2020, it bought 41.68 MT of gold while in 2021 and 2022 (till September end) it bought 77.5 MT and 31.25 MT respectively.

In 2021 the huge gold buying by RBI occurred in the backdrop of falling yellow metal price in the global bullion market but War in Europe proved beneficial for gold as the price crossed $2,000 per ounce in the first week of March 2022. But, the yellow metal lost its gains in the middle of March as consistent rate hikes by the Federal Reserve strengthened Dollar Index and bonds emerged as attractive investment options for Institutions and retail investors.

 Every major central bank keeps a portion of its reserves in gold as it plays a fine hedging instrument in the time of uncertainty and economic turmoil. During the balance of payment crisis in 1990-91, Indian government pledged 67 MT of gold to the Bank of England and Union Bank of Switzerland. During uncertain economic conditions, gold price takes upward trajectory and it was evident in 2020 when Covid induced economic turmoil made gold price touch an all time high of $2,067 per ounce. Since then GDP across the globe has picked up. Demand for yellow metal reduced with economic stability and prices declined consistently in 2021.

RBI emerges as the top buyer of gold among its global counterparts.

With 132.34 metric tonnes (MT) of gold purchase, RBI emerged as the largest buyer of the yellow metal among central banks between April 2020 and September 2022. Also, RBI was the top gold buyer among its peers in 2020 while it stood third in 2021. In 2020, it bought 41.68 MT of gold while in 2021 and 2022 (till September end) it bought 77.5 MT and 31.25 MT respectively.

In 2021 the huge gold buying by RBI occurred in the backdrop of falling yellow metal price in the global bullion market but War in Europe proved beneficial for gold as the price crossed $2,000 per ounce in the first week of March 2022. But, the yellow metal lost its gains in the middle of March as consistent rate hikes by the Federal Reserve strengthened Dollar Index and bonds emerged as attractive investment options for Institutions and retail investors.

 Every major central bank keeps a portion of its reserves in gold as it plays a fine hedging instrument in the time of uncertainty and economic turmoil. During the balance of payment crisis in 1990-91, Indian government pledged 67 MT of gold to the Bank of England and Union Bank of Switzerland. During uncertain economic conditions, gold price takes upward trajectory and it was evident in 2020 when Covid induced economic turmoil made gold price touch an all time high of $2,067 per ounce. Since then GDP across the globe has picked up. Demand for yellow metal reduced with economic stability and prices declined consistently in 2021.