Second draft of e-commerce policy manages to please almost everyone

In contrast to the leaked first draft that had drawn much flak, the latest e-commerce draft policy released on Saturday has found many takers. From firms like Snapdeal to even trader bodies including Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), all have given their stamp of approval.
Gurugram-based Snapdeal said the draft policy’s categorical rejection of inventory based e-commerce model must be followed by effective implementation of FDI norms to ensure marketplaces do not own or control inventory, directly or indirectly.
“The recognition of data as a strategic national asset is well-timed and will lead to the development of required regulation in this regard,” said the company’s spokesperson.
Last year, the unreleased draft was heavily criticised for being one-sided and slanted towards e-commerce players such as Paytm, Ola and Snapdeal. Many stakeholders, including international investors such as SoftBank, had raised concerns. Finally, the draft was junked and never released for public consultation. Even organisations such as CAIT had raised concerns on the issue claiming it would have adverse effects on offline businesses.
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Walmart-owned Flipkart plans to give its comments as the government at the moment is seeking consultation on the draft policy.
“We are going through the draft, which has been just released for comments and will be sharing our inputs in due course. We look forward to working with the government and other stakeholders in developing this nascent sector, making India a competitive economy and driving greater benefits to consumers, farmers, small suppliers, infrastructure development and innovation,” said Rajneesh Kumar, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer of the Flipkart Group.
Amazon India said it is studying the draft policy and will provide inputs during the public review period.

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“We look forward to an enabling policy to serve over 450,000 sellers and a policy that will allow us to scale up our logistics network, create new jobs and infrastructure, digitise payments and delight our customers,” the company said in a statement.
Even trader organisations that have for long demanded a level-playing field for offline businesses, said the draft e-commerce policy “looks to be innovative and good”. However, they do believe that several things have been left out that need to be addressed.
“Some red herrings need to be changed. First thing’s first, this policy is putting everything on the Standing Group of Secretaries and DPIIT. Instead, this should be through a committee headed by representatives of various stakeholders, so that the workings are answerable to the people and Parliament. The e-commerce policy should provide substantial platform for business. The policy seems to be silent on domestic e-commerce players that is undesirable. They should also be brought under the policy,” said Praveen Khandelwal, secretary general of CAIT.

Infibeam, Snapdeal terminate Unicommerce deal worth Rs 1.2 billion

Infibeam Avenues has said its up to Rs 1.2 billion-deal to acquire Unicommerce, a subsidiary of e-commerce platform Snapdeal, has been terminated.
"...we wish to inform you that the SPA has been terminated as the conditions precedent were not fulfilled within the stipulated time period," Infibeam said in a regulatory filing.

In May, Infibeam Avenues had announced signing a definitive share purchase agreement (SPA) with Unicommerce eSolutions and Jasper lnfotech (which runs Snapdeal) to acquire 100 per cent stake in Unicommerce.
It had said the acquisition would boost its e-commerce enablement capabilities and expand the product offerings for existing clients. The transaction was scheduled to close in three-five months.
According to the May filing, Infibeam was to issue optionally convertible debentures on preferential basis to Jasper Infotech valued up to Rs 1.2 billion, subject to shareholders' approval.
The filing had further stated that Unicommerce eSolutions had a net worth of Rs 246.3 million and turnover of Rs 202.7 million as on March 31, 2018.
In a separate statement, a Unicommerce spokesperson said "both parties have mutually decided not to give effect to the said agreement".
"Accordingly, there will be no change in the shareholding structure of Unicommerce, which will continue to operate as a profitable and independently managed company," the spokesperson added.
Founded in 2012, Unicommerce offers e-commerce enablement software for warehouse management and omni-channel services and has over 10,000 sellers, brands and online retailers as its clients.
Noting that Unicommerce caters to more than 15 per cent of India's e-commerce transactions and has a growing presence in the Middle East and South Asia, the spokesperson said the company will continue to deepen and expand its presence in India and key overseas markets.
Last year, Snapdeal dumped a $950-million takeover offer from Flipkart, with Snapdeal founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal saying the company will pursue a fresh strategy in the Indian market.
As a part of this 'Snapdeal 2.0' plan, it has sold its payment services unit Freecharge to Axis Bank for Rs 3.85 billion, while its logistics arm Vulcan Express was acquired by Kishore Biyani's Future Supply Chain Solutions in an all-cash deal valued at Rs 350 million.

Future Supply Chain Solutions buys Snapdeal's logistics arm for Rs 350 mn

Once the biggest competitor to Bengaluru-based online marketplace giant Flipkart, Gurugram-based beleaguered firm Jasper Infotech, the holding company of the erstwhile e-commerce major Snapdeal, on Friday sold its logistics arm Vulcan Express Private Limited in an all-cash deal to Kishore Biyani's Future Supply Chain Solutions for Rs 350 million.
Jasper Infotech has entered into an agreement with Future Supply Chain Solutions, retail giant Future Group’s organised third-party and logistics service provider, to sell 100 per cent stake in Vulcan Express Private Limited.
This is the second garage sale that the Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal-led e-commerce firm has done after it sold its mobile wallet FreeCharge to Axis Bank for Rs 3.8 billion last year.
Sources at Snapdeal said the Future Group would be onboarding the technology and also absorb the team of 75-100 odd employees into the company.
While the Future Group is keeping its plans under wraps, industry insiders are of the opinion that Future Supply Chain Solutions will not only continue working with Vulcan’s present set of clients, but also bring in new ones, in addition to handling the logistics for its parent company.
Vulcan Express is one of the few logistics firms in India that provides end-to-end solutions, including pick-up, consolidation, warehousing, intercity movement, last-mile delivery, payments collection, and reverse logistics.
Operating pan-India, across 100 cities and 2,000 PIN-codes, its network is designed to provide GST-friendly supply-chain solutions, with capabilities sharply focused on the leading consumption centres in the country. The logistics company will also keep servicing Snapdeal’s orders.
“Through Vulcan, we plan to boost our last-mile capabilities and also offer state-of-the-art solutions to our e-commerce and retail clients. This will also help us realise our disruptive vision of Retail 3.0,” Kishore Biyani, founder and chairman of the Future Group, said.
Snapdeal had been making several attempts to sell Vulcan for the past two years. Earlier, the company was in talks with TVS Logistics, and Gati, among others, in this regard. Last year, Jasper Infotech had put in around Rs 270 million more into the arm.
According to last year’s Registrar of Companies (RoC) filings, Vulcan Express had posted losses to the tune of Rs 200 million on revenues of around Rs 1.8 billion.
Snapdeal, which has been trying to salvage the last bits of its company, has been cutting it down to size for the past two years.
Sources in the company claimed that Snapdeal hoped to cut down its losses to zero by the end of this year.
“The company is not making money, but it is not losing it either, as losses are down to minimal. Business has steadied and by end of the year it hopes that the burn would be zero,” a source said.
According to the most recent RoC filing, Snapdeal’s revenue dropped to Rs 9.03 billion for the year ended 2017 against Rs 14.57 billion a year before that.
“Basically, while the revenue is down from the previous year, it is more of a conscious choice, as the company is moving away from marketplace commission.
Over the last many quarters, Snapdeal has re-jigged its category mix, selling less of loss-making products. The company is trying to have a more judicious category mix. That is one of the reasons for the losses,” the source added.
Jasper Infotech has been trying to sell most of its subsidiaries from the time the company started to go down two years ago, after its main backer SoftBank Group stopped pumping fresh funding into the firm.
Once its ‘crown jewel’ FreeCharge, which was at one point the second-largest mobile wallet player in India, was sold to Axis Bank at almost one-tenth of the price.
The company is now left with Unicommerce, an e-commerce management firm that it believes is a profit-making firm and would be keeping it in the group at least for the near future. Last year in May, it received Rs 1.13 billion in funding from founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal and existing investor Nexus Venture Partners.
Unboxing the future of logistics
400 million customers
22 million square feet of retail space, in more than 255 cities pan-India.
Future Supply Chain — 44 warehouses, 14 logistics hubs, 106 branches, 4.2m square feet of warehousing space
Vulcan Express services — Clients include Snapdeal, Airtel, and UPS
Integrated delivery services with doorstep eKYC verification