Indian startups are discovering that the country’s consumers are a fickle lot. Sales at Paytm Mall have reportedly slumped after the company has pulled back on the cashbacks it used to provide to its customers. “Sales have dropped by more than 90% in grocery, people are clearly not buying any more. The cashback offer was up to a maximum 35%, but Paytm Mall stopped giving cashback from December 2 as it wanted to be margin-neutral,” one…

India’s new e-commerce laws came into effect today, and they’ve already started having an impact on the catalogs that the country’s biggest e-tailers have in place. Amazon India has begun removing items from its site that didn’t comply with the Indian government’s new regulations, which bar e-commerce entities from selling products from sellers in which they hold equity. Both Flipkart and Amazon had protested against the new rules, but they came into force from midnight tonight….

One of India’s youngest startup unicorns is about to dive headfirst into the country’s already-crowded grocery delivery market. Swiggy is testing out Swiggy Dash, a separate app that will perform hyperlocal grocery deliveries, and squarely take on players like Big Basket and Grofers. The app is already being tested internally, and is expected to be launched over the next couple of weeks. Swiggy Dash will first be launched in Gurgaon, where Swiggy has already partnered…

When Reliance had launched its effectively-free JioPhone, there had been apprehensions if it would be able to support enough apps for the phones to actually be useful. It’s now turning out that Reliance is creating its own apps to make the phone useful for its users.   Jio has launched its own JioRail app, which will help users book railway tickets. The app will let users book and cancel train tickets, and accepts debit cards,…

After trying out everything from flight and bus tickets, and the sale of gold, India’s two premier e-commerce companies have their next battleground ready — mutual funds. Months after Paytm debuted its mutual funds buying platform Paytm Money, Flipart has said that it’s looking to enter the space as well. PhonePe, the financial arm of Flipkart, will soon start selling mutual funds through its app. PhonePe said that this new vertical would tap into the growing…

There appears to be no end in sight for what might be India’s first restaurant strike. Ahmedabad’s restaurants are still not accepting orders through Swiggy and Zomato, nearly 10 days after they’d announced that they’d be boycotting the food ordering platforms. Gujarat’s Hotel and Restaurant Association had called the strike to protest the high commissions charged by Swiggy and Zomato in the city, which it claimed was eating into their profits. Food ordering companies had…

Whatever field major Indian startups might be engaged in, they seem to inevitably end up becoming data plays. Ola has become the latest Indian startup to apply for an NBFC license. With the Non-Banking Financial Company license, Ola will be able to enter India’s burgeoning financial services sector, and be able to sell financial products such as loans, credit cards, and insurance.  This won’t be Ola’s first foray into the financial space. It already operates…

It had been rumoured for months now, but it’s finally been confirmed — Reliance is entering India’s e-commerce’s crowded field, and will take Amazon and Flipkart head on. “Reliance Jio and Reliance Retail will launch a unique new commerce platform to empower and enrich our 12 lakh small retailers and shopkeepers in Gujarat, which are part of the over 3 crore community in India,” Reliance CEO Mukesh Ambani announced at the Vibrant Gujarat event today. This…

Paytm has its finger in many pies — its app not only lets you make payments, but also lets you do everything from buying movie tickets, purchasing insurance, booking flights and buses, and even buying gold. But it’s now stepped into a vertical that already has several large players vying for supremacy — food delivery. Paytm has tied up with Zomato to offer food delivery services. Paytm users will now be able to order through…