Forbes India 23 September 2022_Online.pdf

PROFITABLE UNICORNS
/ VOLUME 14 ISSUE 19 SEPTEMBER 23, 2022FORBESINDIA.COMRNI REG. NO. MAHENG/2009/28102
www.forbesindia.com
How the husband-wife duo of
Ruchi Kalra and Asish Mohapatra
guided two startups to
$1 billion-plus valuations and to
proﬁ ts. Can they stay on that path?
Ruchi Kalra,
co-founder and CEO,
Oxyzo; co-founder,
OfBusiness, and Asish
Mohapatra, co-founder
and CEO, OfBusiness;
co-founder, Oxyzo
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Letter From The Editor
India needs many more of its unicorns
to find the road to profits and viability
O
ne of the more popular adages that has
been part of investing folklore from
Wall Street to Dalal Street goes this way:
“Revenue is vanity, proﬁ t is sanity and
cash is king.” In tandem ran the truism that, along
with prospects, current earnings are an imperative to
determine a business’ intrinsic value. This contrasts
with market value, which is often sentiment-driven.
Then came venture capital (VC), and the need to value
businesses—essentially startups—diff erently. For the simple
reason that these business models are at an early stage,
without proﬁ t and often without even revenue. VCs, for
their part, have an exit in mind—in typically three to seven
years—and accordingly work backward to arrive at a post-
money valuation. What is more, VCs are aware that just one
or at best two investments will deliver outsized returns, and
another two or three will fail spectacularly.
So, in essence, the nature of venture capital is such
that bets are made largely based on future success and the
inevitability of duds resting in the portfolio. That explains
why the bulk of VC money can be tracked to startups
sailing in a sea of red. Consider the 100-plus member boat
of unicorns (ventures valued at $1 billion and over), where
four of ﬁ ve ventures are steeped in losses. This has resulted
in the old street wisdom being rewritten to: Valuation is
vanity, with sanity and the king going out of the window.
Not across the board, however. In this current issue,
Forbes India shines a light on the 20 percent unicorn club:
Those that seem to have it all going their way (at least
for now): Valuation, growth and a bottom line to boast.
A couple of caveats at this point would be prudent: One,
current proﬁ tability is no guarantee that these businesses
will continue to tread the black line. And the ﬂ ip side holds
true, as well; that many of those ventures that are in the red
today may well be willing to sacriﬁ ce the bottom line in the
short term at the altar of growth. Their path to proﬁ tability
may be well chalked out, with the goal expected in three to
ﬁ ve years—Amazon, famously, notched up its ﬁ rst annual
proﬁ t nine years after it was founded. Even after turning
proﬁ table in 2003, the etailer pumped much of the cash it
generated into new businesses like Prime and AWS.
Not all startups, however, will be as lucky to have that
opportunity. What’s clear, though, is that India needs many
more unicorns to ﬁ nd the road to proﬁ ts and viability.
As Ashish Sharma, managing director venture debt fund
InnoVen Capital, writes on page 56: “With 100+ unicorns
and a few public companies, where millions of retail
investors have reposed their faith, it’s important that we see
the emergence of more enduring and sustainable business
models coming out of India.”
A Forbes India team led by Rajiv Singh picked a handful
of unicorns basking in the proﬁ t zone and analysed their
capability to stay in it. Our cover story is on a unique
husband-wife who have nurtured two unicorns, both
proﬁ table. As Ruchi Kalra, co-founder of Oxyzo Financial
Services, a digital lending startup, tells Singh: “Proﬁ t has
to coexist with growth.” Husband Asish Mohapatra, who
guided OfBusiness into the unicorn club, would agree.
Cryptocurrency and online gaming are two white-
hot sectors that have attracted dollops of funding. Their
millions of users have also ensured proﬁ tability for the
unicorns. But will the going be as good as it has been so
far? Salil Panchal and Naini Thaker identify a few of the
potential roadblocks and how these businesses plan to
navigate them. You’ll ﬁ nd those stories on page 48 and
page 52.
From Vanity to Sanity
STORIES TO LOOK OUT FOR
(From left) Wife-husband Ruchi Kalra
and Asish Mohapatra helm Oxyzo Financial
Services and OfBusiness—both profitable
unicorns —respectively; gaming is one of the
few sectors in India with profitable unicorns
[email protected]
Brian Carvalho
Editor, Forbes India
Best,
SEPTEMBER 23, 2022 • FORBES INDIA
3

FORBES INDIA • SEPTEMBER 23, 2022
Contents
SEPTEMBER 23, 2022
☛ VOLUME 14 ISSUE 19
ON THE COVER
4
NEHA MITHBAWKAR FOR FORBES INDIA
16 • 3Ps & UNICORNS
When promise, performance
and profit converge, you get
valuable unicorns
26 • BATTLING THE
UNICORN GAZE
A crisis almost devoured the
horsepower of Infra.Market.
Now it is trying to get back to
the racing track
32 • THE FOCUS LENS
In a decade, Peyush Bansal has
built India’
s biggest eyewear
company, and a profitable
unicorn, in Lenskart
38 • PENNY WISE,
POUND FULLISH
Ghazal and Varun Alagh have
built their skincare and beauty
empire Mamaearth on the
foundation of frugality
42 • THE DARK HORSE
WHO GALLOPED AHEAD
EaseMyTrip has continued
its profitable run even as
many others in the space have
stumbled
48 • PIVOTING FOR
PROFITS
As India’s two crypto unicorns
look at other avenues, the
future of crypto intermediaries
depends on regulations
PG.
20
SINGING THE
PROFIT TUNE
Asish Mohapatra (right) and
Ruchi Kalra of OfBusiness are
wedded to the idea of building
profitable businesses
PROFITABLE
UNICORNS

CHAITANYA DINESH SURPUR
NISHANT RATNAKAR
NEHA MITHBAWKAR FOR FORBES INDIA AMIT VERMA
SEPTEMBER 23, 2022 • FORBES INDIA
5
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REGULARS ● 8/LEADERBOARD ● 98/FROM THE FIELD
52 • WHO’S GAME
FOR IT?
The gaming sector has
profitable unicorns. But
with regulatory and tax
uncertainties, what does the
future hold for its players?
56 • GALLOPING
INTO PROFITABILITY
The unicorn stable needs
more startups that can strike
a balance between growth and
profitability
62 • INVESTING IN
STARTUPS: WHAT HNIS
MUST KNOW
Cash flow or growth potential:
Which startup makes for a
better investment? Sanjiv
Bikhchandani and Nikhil
Kamath discuss the perks and
pitfalls
IN FOCUS
64 • TESTING TIMES
In its introductory year, CUET
aims to standardise college
admissions, but is plagued
with teething troubles
Aaditya Sharda, co-founder of Infra.Market, has survived an income
tax raid in March and is now looking to broaden his business play
Varun and Ghazal Alagh, co-founders of Mamaearth, have built a
unicorn on the philosophy of stringent frugality
Can wearables makers take over India's smartphone market?
(From left)
Saurabh Gupta,
Manav Gupta
and Anirban
Majumdar, the
co-founders of
UrbanPiper
PG.38PG.26
76 • COME, FLY WITH ME
Led by Vinod Kannan, Vistara
has emerged out of Covid to
become India’s second-largest
airline
82 • THE PIED PIPER OF
RESTAURANTS
UrbanPiper has played the right
tune with a dash of pivots. But
can it now scale up?
86 • CRACKING THE
VIRAL GROCERY LOOP
Smart marketing, low customer
acquisition costs and relevant
products have played an
important role in DealShare’s
success
90 • A ZERO-PROFIT
KHAN BLOCKUSTER
Hedge fund analyst Salman
Khan quit a lucrative job to
build Khan Academy into a
massive global edtech empire
94 • SHATTERING
STEREOTYPES
The story of Romita
Mazumdar’s transformation
from an i-banker and a venture
capitalist to a ‘proud woman
founder’ of skincare brand
Foxtale
PG.68
68 • CHINESE CHECKERS
As authorities crack down on Chinese handset makers for alleged tax evasion, Indian players are well-placed to muzzle the dragon’s play in smartphones
71 • THE BIG SMALL-
CAR COMPANY

As Maruti Suzuki turns 40, it is in
vesting heavily in
SUVs and EVs to maintain its dominance of Indian roads
PG.82

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6
FORBES INDIA • SEPTEMBER 23, 2022

8
Lower Rains,
Higher Food Inflation
MONSOON
A failure of the monsoon in the East is likely to impact India’s food basket adversely
LeaderBoard
FORBES INDIA • SEPTEMBER 23, 2022
IN APRIL, THERE WERE FEW
indications of a deﬁ cient
monsoon. Weather
forecaster Skymet predicted rains
within 98 percent of the average.
And the arrival of the ﬁ rst spell in
late May pointed to a timely start of
the monsoon.
But in the ﬁ rst full month—June—
it became clear that the start was not
as expected. The country ended the
month with an 8 percent shortfall in
rains. Soon, it became clear that La
Nina would have a role to play.
This weather phenomenon results
in a lower-than-normal surface
temperature of 3-5 degrees in the
eastern equatorial part of the central
Paciﬁ c Ocean aff ecting multiple
weather patterns across the globe.
In India, it can result in more rain in
the West and South and a deﬁ ciency
in the East. So far, the monsoon has
played out according to this script.
According to GP Sharma,
president, meteorology, at Skymet
Weather, July and August were
excellent months and saw a
surplus of 17 percent and 5 percent
respectively. “Normally we don’t see
such a surplus,” he says. In the West
and South, this has meant a shift to
cotton, an important cash crop for
farmers.
The problem in 2022 has been
the spatial spread with East Uttar
RIL Unveils Plans in 5G
Company preparing for roll-out of
Jio 5G in major cities by Diwali, rest
of India by end of 2023 P/12
Having The Edge
Krishna Rangasayee of SiMa.ai is on
the cusp of emerging as a specialist in
the area of edge computing P/14
Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and the Northeastern states recording a large deﬁ cit. In East
Uttar Pradesh, rains have been down 44 percent, in Bihar 39 percent and in West Bengal 28 percent. These areas have low irrigation coverage and as such cannot make up for the deﬁ cient monsoon. Already there are
signs of a lower-than-normal sowing of sugarcane, a water intensive crop that contributes to farmer earnings in Uttar Pradesh and northern Bihar.
While there is an impact on
sowing, Sharma says a greater risk is
that late rains in September or early October could damage the standing crop, resulting in lower yields. This could aff ect food inﬂ ation in the
months ahead.

SOWING DEFICIT AND INFLATION WOES
Uneven distribution of rainfall has aff ected paddy cultivation in several
parts of the country. The sowing deﬁ cit declined to 6 percent for
the week ended August 26, from 8.25 percent in the previous week. But parched paddy ﬁ elds present a
worrisome situation for hapless rain-
A dried canal in Badokhar village on the outskirts of Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh. A heat wave in
May had caused drought-like conditions in vast swathes of India’s agricultural heartland
RITESH SHUKLA / GETTY IMAGES

dependent rice growers in states like
Bihar and Jharkhand.
As of August 26, government data
shows there is a year-on-year sowing
deﬁ cit in Jharkhand, West Bengal,
Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar
and Odisha due to deﬁ cient rains.
These states account for over 37
percent of India’s rice production. A
recent note by Nomura cautions the
price of rice will go up and add to
inﬂ ation woes. The foreign brokerage
ﬁ rm expects rice output to be lower
by 10 million tonnes—a decline of 7.5
percent year-on-year—due to lower
acreage and yields.
“As of July, retail rice price
inﬂ ation rose 9.3 percent year-over-
year and we see risks of a further
rise. Together with higher wheat
prices—due to the heatwave—higher
cereal price inﬂ ation could off set
the disinﬂ ationary forces from
lower global commodity prices,” it
adds. Nomura’s economists expect
headline inﬂ ation to remain sticky
above 6 percent until February 2023.
Madan Sabnavis, chief economist
at Bank of Baroda, is wary of
the developments. In order to
address the shortage of wheat the
government had earlier announced
a higher allocation of rice under the
free food grain scheme. This could
further aggravate the situation and
put pressure on rice price, he says.
“The concern is both for rice and
pulses,” Sabnavis says. “Harvest will
be lower though, as of now, we do
not know by how much,” he adds.
Until August 26, paddy was sown
in approximately 37 million hectares
versus 39 million hectares during
the corresponding period last year.
This suggests there is a
high degree of risk of a
decline in agricultural
produce of food items
like rice and pulses
(arhar dal) because
sowing timelines have
been pushed in several
states.
To be sure, a pick-
up in rainfall will
9
SEPTEMBER 23, 2022 • FORBES INDIA
the month of sawan [ended on August
12] is not considered favourable. Besides, farmers’ costs also rise as they need to use diesel pumps to irrigate ﬁ elds with groundwater.
Now, farmers are praying the
rain gods smile and make good the deﬁ cit in September to avoid the
possibility of drought in some areas. Meanwhile, many struggling farmers in parts of Bihar have urged the government to step in with relief measures.
State governments are watching
the situation closely to ﬁ rm up
strategies for crop procurement and price stability. In fact, a likely shortfall in crop output may lead to export restrictions on rice. The Public Distribution System (PDS) can cushion the supply shock to some extent though. There is also good news on the procurement front as the last two years have seen good harvests and at 130 MT stocks are buoyant, says Pushan Sharma, director, CRISIL Research.
“Rice has a high weight in the CPI
so that could impact food prices to that extent, but that said I think a part of the deﬁ cit could be covered
by the buff er stock,” says Madhavi
Arora, lead economist, Emkay Global.
Yet, structural cracks in the PDS
have meant it has failed to absorb supply shocks and stabilise market prices several times in the past. Importantly, pulses are not covered under the system, Sabnavis points out. He adds that farm income in aforementioned rice and pulse producing regions will be aff ected
and this could subdue the festive demand in rural areas.
While the monsoon may yet
recover in the eastern part, the lesser sowing would result in higher food prices and lower farmer income putting agricultural growth at stress. This coming off a high base of 3.9
percent in 2021-22 would result in a GDP hit for 41 percent of the population that derives its income from the farm.
● NEHA BOTHRA & SAMAR SRIVASTAVA
considerably soothe concerns, but farm income is under pressure, and the ﬁ nal situation will be clear
around the harvest season. As of now, rice and pulse prices have reportedly risen between 5 percent and 10 percent since mid-July fuelled by fears of a supply crunch.
Food inﬂ ation hurts low and
middle-income households most. “The government may need to step in once again, as it did when wheat prices were going up, if the price of rice keeps increasing too.
This will have ﬁ scal
implications,” says Axis Bank’s chief economist Saugata Bhattacharya.
Farmers in most
regions depend on monsoon to irrigate ﬁ elds for
crop cultivation. Traditionally, planting paddy seedlings after
INFOGRAPHIC: MUKESH SINGH
A BELOW PAR
MONSOON IN THE EAST
EAST UTTAR PRADESH BIHAR
WEST BENGAL
JHARKHAND
44% 39%
28%
26%
RAIN DEFICIT (As of August 30)
All India
8%
DEFICIT
JUNE
17%
JULY
5%
AUGUST
SURPLUS SURPLUS
SOURCE Skymet Weather
Farmers are
praying the
rain gods smile
and make good
the deficit in
September to
avoid drought
in some areas

O
rganizations require a hybrid
approach that converges
networking and security to be
able to reduce complexity, while securing
and connecting hybrid and remote users
to advanced security with superior
performance. We spoke with Satyavrat
Mishra, Vice President & Head of
Corporate IT at Godrej Industries on
why traditional network and security
architectures no longer work for today’s
digital business.
Why is Securing Networks becom-
ing critical and more important,
yet challenging?
We are witnessing an increasing
adoption and dependence on IT for
all aspects of business operations
including communication, production,
operations, supply chain and finance.
The proliferation of connected devices,
IoT, remote working and adoption of
cloud over last few years has further
accelerated digital transformation and
increased the dependence on connected
networks. While there is no organization
that is immune to cyberattacks, a secure
and protected network is essential to
protect critical assets and data.
Implementing a good security strategy
helps business reduce the risk of a
breach. Security incidents and data
breaches can have very disruptive and
devastating effects on an organization.
Recovering lost data is only part of
the equation. Extended downtime
can quickly compound costs on
an hour-by-hour basis. And more
difficult to quantify is regaining lost
consumer confidence and damage to
an organization's brand, which can take
months or years to repair.
Can you give some everyday
examples to help provide some
context?
Recently, cybercriminals known as
DarkSide gained access to the US Colonial
Pipeline network in a ransomware attack.
This shows the stakes continue to climb
and the criticalness of attacks is high.
In July 2021, a new global supply chain
ransomware attack targeted users of
the Kaseya VSA platform—software
that provides remote management of
IT operations spanning service desk
ticketing to performance monitoring
and reporting. As a central management
console, the Kaseya VSA platform is
used by numerous managed service
providers to remotely monitor and
deploy software, updates, etc. to multiple
machines simultaneously in a multi-
user environment. There are reports of
ransom demands of $50,000 for smaller
organizations and up to $5 million for
larger enterprises.
With an evolving threat landscape
with more sophisticated techniques,
how can organizations keep up?
Cyber Security is no longer an IT Issue
but has become a business one. Creating
a culture of security should be the goal
of every organization. Bearing in mind
that people are typically the weakest link
in any security link, training employees
to play an active role in the protection of
the organizations digital assets improves
an organizations security posture.
Preparing for the worst-case scenario helps organizations manage threats and minimise the damage caused by a breach. Cyber incident response planning consists of specific actions for specific attack scenarios, avoiding further damages, reducing recovery time and mitigating cybersecurity risk.
Business disruption that results from a
ransomware attack comes at a huge cost
including business downtime, mitigation
expenses, ransomware payments and
reputational costs. Even with the most
sophisticated controls, policies and
procedures in place, many organizations
still fall victim to cyberattacks. Having
adequate cyber insurance cover is an
important part of any cybersecurity
incident response and recovery plan.
What are some defensive strate-
gies that businesses should be
implementing?
The increase in the breadth and
frequency of cyberattacks translates
into more cyber risk for organizations,
which means security teams need to be
just as nimble and methodical as their
adversaries. Outdated point-product
approaches to security are insufficient,
making integrated security solutions
essential to combatting this proliferation
of advanced and sophisticated attacks.
Organizations need tools that can ingest
real-time threat intelligence, apply AI
to detect threat patterns and correlate
massive amounts of data to detect
anomalies, and automatically initiate a
coordinated response across networks.
This holistic approach to a cybersecurity
mesh architecture allows for much tighter
integration and increased automation,
making it easier for security teams
to coordinate quickly and respond
effectively to threats in real time.
As industrial systems become more
connected, they also become more
exposed to vulnerabilities. The high
cost of industrial equipment and the
negative impact to business that an
attack could generate are key factors for
organizations looking to protect their
industrial networks. By using solutions
that allow complete visibility of network
control traffic and establishing the right
security policies, one can put an effective
OT strategy in place that will protect
processes, people and significantly
reduce security vulnerabilities and
incidents.
Research suggests that human error is
involved in more than 90% of security
CYBERSECURITY IS NO LONGER AN IT
ISSUE BUT HAS BECOME A BUSINESS ONE
breaches and awareness training helps to
minimize human risk thus preventing the
loss of data. Effective awareness training
program addresses the cybersecurity
mistakes that employees may make when
using email, web, endpoint devices, social
media, physical access, and safe handling
of data.
How has Fortinet helped in reduc-
ing complexity and improving
security?
We are a large, distributed network with
users working from multiple locations.
SD-WAN makes it possible to use
available WAN services more effectively
and economically. It simplifies branch
networking, improves application
performance, and provides faster
access to cloud-based applications and
communications.
With Fortinet’s Secure SD-WAN platform
in place, we now benefit from a fully
consolidated and converged network
and security stack, with one appliance
supporting all the SD-WAN, advanced
routing, and NGFW needs all managed
through a single pane of glass.
The approach has greatly simplified both
network and security management for us
as we can scale and manage security for
all locations from one place. Additionally,
thanks to flexible scripting options, our IT
teams can quickly automate configurations
and security policies to meet the diverse
needs of various locations. Beyond
security, SD-WAN application steering,
and advanced WAN remediation provide
an improved user experience.
Through the Fortinet Secure SD-WAN,
we are also significantly reducing
costs. In part, cost benefits result from
the consolidation of our network and
security systems. Further the Fortinet
Secure SD-WAN runs on the broadband
as its primary connection, we have been
able to replace expensive MPLS lines
with internet.
Satyavrat Mishra, Vice President &
Head of Corporate IT at Godrej Industries
Organizations need tools that can ingest
real-time threat intelligence, apply AI to
detect threat patterns and correlate massive
amounts of data to detect anomalies,
and automatically initiate a coordinated
response across networks.
Cyber Security is no
longer an IT Issue
but has become a
business one. Creating
a culture of security
should be the goal of
every organization.
Bearing in mind that
people are typically
the weakest link in
any security link,
training employees to
play an active role in
the protection of the
organizations digital
assets improves an
organizations security
posture.

O
rganizations require a hybrid
approach that converges
networking and security to be
able to reduce complexity, while securing
and connecting hybrid and remote users
to advanced security with superior
performance. We spoke with Satyavrat
Mishra, Vice President & Head of
Corporate IT at Godrej Industries on
why traditional network and security
architectures no longer work for today’s
digital business.
Why is Securing Networks becom-
ing critical and more important,
yet challenging?
We are witnessing an increasing
adoption and dependence on IT for
all aspects of business operations
including communication, production,
operations, supply chain and finance.
The proliferation of connected devices,
IoT, remote working and adoption of
cloud over last few years has further
accelerated digital transformation and
increased the dependence on connected
networks. While there is no organization
that is immune to cyberattacks, a secure
and protected network is essential to
protect critical assets and data.
Implementing a good security strategy
helps business reduce the risk of a
breach. Security incidents and data
breaches can have very disruptive and
devastating effects on an organization.
Recovering lost data is only part of
the equation. Extended downtime
can quickly compound costs on
an hour-by-hour basis. And more
difficult to quantify is regaining lost
consumer confidence and damage to
an organization's brand, which can take
months or years to repair.
Can you give some everyday
examples to help provide some
context?
Recently, cybercriminals known as
DarkSide gained access to the US Colonial
Pipeline network in a ransomware attack.
This shows the stakes continue to climb
and the criticalness of attacks is high.
In July 2021, a new global supply chain
ransomware attack targeted users of
the Kaseya VSA platform—software
that provides remote management of
IT operations spanning service desk
ticketing to performance monitoring
and reporting. As a central management
console, the Kaseya VSA platform is
used by numerous managed service
providers to remotely monitor and
deploy software, updates, etc. to multiple
machines simultaneously in a multi-
user environment. There are reports of
ransom demands of $50,000 for smaller
organizations and up to $5 million for
larger enterprises.
With an evolving threat landscape
with more sophisticated techniques,
how can organizations keep up?
Cyber Security is no longer an IT Issue
but has become a business one. Creating
a culture of security should be the goal
of every organization. Bearing in mind
that people are typically the weakest link
in any security link, training employees
to play an active role in the protection of
the organizations digital assets improves
an organizations security posture.
Preparing for the worst-case scenario
helps organizations manage threats
and minimise the damage caused by
a breach. Cyber incident response
planning consists of specific actions for
specific attack scenarios, avoiding further
damages, reducing recovery time and
mitigating cybersecurity risk.
Business disruption that results from a
ransomware attack comes at a huge cost
including business downtime, mitigation
expenses, ransomware payments and
reputational costs. Even with the most
sophisticated controls, policies and
procedures in place, many organizations
still fall victim to cyberattacks. Having
adequate cyber insurance cover is an
important part of any cybersecurity
incident response and recovery plan.
What are some defensive strate-
gies that businesses should be
implementing?
The increase in the breadth and
frequency of cyberattacks translates
into more cyber risk for organizations,
which means security teams need to be
just as nimble and methodical as their
adversaries. Outdated point-product
approaches to security are insufficient,
making integrated security solutions
essential to combatting this proliferation
of advanced and sophisticated attacks.
Organizations need tools that can ingest
real-time threat intelligence, apply AI
to detect threat patterns and correlate
massive amounts of data to detect
anomalies, and automatically initiate a
coordinated response across networks.
This holistic approach to a cybersecurity
mesh architecture allows for much tighter
integration and increased automation,
making it easier for security teams
to coordinate quickly and respond
effectively to threats in real time.
As industrial systems become more
connected, they also become more
exposed to vulnerabilities. The high
cost of industrial equipment and the
negative impact to business that an
attack could generate are key factors for
organizations looking to protect their
industrial networks. By using solutions
that allow complete visibility of network
control traffic and establishing the right
security policies, one can put an effective
OT strategy in place that will protect
processes, people and significantly
reduce security vulnerabilities and
incidents.
Research suggests that human error is
involved in more than 90% of security
CYBERSECURITY IS NO LONGER AN IT
ISSUE BUT HAS BECOME A BUSINESS ONE
breaches and awareness training helps to minimize human risk thus preventing the loss of data. Effective awareness training program addresses the cybersecurity mistakes that employees may make when using email, web, endpoint devices, social media, physical access, and safe handling of data.
How has Fortinet helped in reduc-
ing complexity and improving
security?
We are a large, distributed network with users working from multiple locations. SD-WAN makes it possible to use available WAN services more effectively and economically. It simplifies branch networking, improves application performance, and provides faster access to cloud-based applications and communications.
With Fortinet’s Secure SD-WAN platform
in place, we now benefit from a fully
consolidated and converged network
and security stack, with one appliance
supporting all the SD-WAN, advanced
routing, and NGFW needs all managed
through a single pane of glass.
The approach has greatly simplified both
network and security management for us
as we can scale and manage security for
all locations from one place. Additionally,
thanks to flexible scripting options, our IT
teams can quickly automate configurations
and security policies to meet the diverse
needs of various locations. Beyond
security, SD-WAN application steering,
and advanced WAN remediation provide
an improved user experience.
Through the Fortinet Secure SD-WAN,
we are also significantly reducing
costs. In part, cost benefits result from
the consolidation of our network and
security systems. Further the Fortinet
Secure SD-WAN runs on the broadband
as its primary connection, we have been
able to replace expensive MPLS lines
with internet.
Satyavrat Mishra, Vice President &
Head of Corporate IT at Godrej Industries
Organizations need tools that can ingest
real-time threat intelligence, apply AI to
detect threat patterns and correlate massive
amounts of data to detect anomalies,
and automatically initiate a coordinated
response across networks.
Cyber Security is no
longer an IT Issue
but has become a
business one. Creating
a culture of security
should be the goal of
every organization.
Bearing in mind that
people are typically
the weakest link in
any security link,
training employees to
play an active role in
the protection of the
organizations digital
assets improves an
organizations security
posture.

12
FORBES INDIA • SEPTEMBER 23, 2022
LeaderBoard
Investment commitment
made by RIL towards the
new energy business
`75,000 cr
develop an entry-level aff ordable
smartphone—the JioPhone Next
Android smartphone—which it
debuted in October 2021.
RIL also unveiled AirFiber, a
wireless plug-and-play 5G hotspot
that doesn’t require ﬁ bre cables and
off ers a personal Wi-Fi hotspot at
home as well as offi ces, and launched
JioCloud PC, a virtual personal
computer that will be hosted on
the cloud using Jio’s 5G network.
RIL’s other partnerships include one
with Meta, also an investor in Jio
Platforms, for immersive technology;
Microsoft to expand the Azure
ecosystem in India; and Intel for
cloud-scale data centres, Ambani said.
Ambani said the company plans to
accelerate its commitment to invest
`75,000 crore towards the new energy
business. It will establish 20 GW of
solar energy generation capacity by
2025, and 100 GW by 2030; the new
energy business will emerge as RIL’s
newest growth engine.
In another big announcement, Isha
Ambani, director, Reliance Retail
Ventures, said that the company is
set to foray into FMCG. The move
will pit Reliance Retail—it opened
2,500 stores last year to take its store
count to 15,000—against FMCG
biggies such as Hindustan Unilever,
Nestle and Britannia. Older son Akash
and daughter Isha have assumed
leadership roles in Jio and Retail,
respectively, and are “conﬁ dently
taking over the reins,”
said Ambani. Younger
son Anant has joined
RIL’s new energy
business. That said,
Ambani isn’t retiring
yet and will “continue
to provide hands-on
leadership as before.”
Finally, Ambani
promised to share an
update on the planned
IPOs of Reliance Retail and Reliance
Jio in the company’s annual general
meeting next year.
● VARSHA MEGHANI
RIL Unveils Plans in
5G, FMCG, New Energy
Company preparing for ambitious roll-out of Jio 5G in
major cities by Diwali, rest of India by end of 2023
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
RELIANCE INDUSTRIES LIMITED
(RIL), the oil-to-telecom conglomerate and India’s
largest company by market capitalisation, has earmarked
`2 lakh
crore to build a pan-India 5G network, said Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani in his keynote address at the company’s 45th annual general meeting, held virtually on August 29.
Jio 5G will be launched across
major cities, such as Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai, by this Diwali. And by the end of 2023, “we will deliver Jio 5G to every town, every taluka, and every tehsil of our country,” said Ambani, vowing that it would be “the world’s largest and most advanced 5G network” because Jio’s 5G service won’t rely on a 4G network, like other telecom players.
Most operators, he said, are
deploying non-standalone 5G, which is essentially a 5G radio signal delivered over existing 4G infrastructure. “This non-standalone
Ambani has
promised
to share an
update on the
planned IPOs
of Reliance
Retail and
Reliance Jio
approach is a hasty way to nominally claim a 5G launch, but it won’t deliver the breakthrough improvements in performance and capability possible with 5G,” said Ambani. In contrast, he added, Jio will deploy standalone 5G with super-fast, low- latency connectivity to allow for services such as machine-to-machine communication, Edge computing, network slicing and metaverse related activities. The company has partnered with Qualcomm, an investor in Jio Platforms, to develop “cloud-native, scalable, and ﬂ exible 5G
infrastructure, in both mmWave and sub-6GHz, to develop an ecosystem that can extend beyond India”. Furthermore, RIL has deepened its partnership with Google to develop “ultra-aff ordable” 5G smartphones
for India. RIL had partnered with the search giant in July 2021 to jointly
RIL Chairman
Mukesh Ambani has
earmarked ` 2 lakh
crore for a pan-India
5G network

S
andeep Singh quite well known as, the
man who is building the future & the man
who offers quality work with competence. He
founded ‘Quampetence’ in early 2019 to provide
‘Customer Experience Management Solutions’.
In a super-saturated market like BPM industry,
Sandeep realized that the opportunities are to
provide real omni-channel solutions, hyper-
personalized experience in each service encounter
& operational excellence to reduce total cost of
ownership, to make his organization standing out
from competitors.
Sandeep’s vast experience of managing
different leadership roles over a period of 18+
years in BPM industry helped him internalise that
as industries evolved through each of the ‘industrial
revolutions’, the way customers interact with brands
& organizations also evolved. Today, not only the
customers interact with the brands & organizations
through multiple channels, they also expect to
switch between the channels seamlessly & get
similar experience. In today’s super-competitive
market, customers expect hyper-personalized
services in each service encounter.
This shift in customer expectation in a super-
competitive market environment demands
progressive change in the way brands &
organizations think about their respective service
organizations. What used to be a non-core activity
fulfilled through shared services (in-house or
outsourced) has evolved to be a ‘key differentiator’
amongst competitions. However, the focus
on reducing the cost of serving the customers
continues to be a reality, especially during post
pandemic economic recovery.
Sandeep also founded ‘EduworQ’ an academy
in partnership with Telecom Sector Skill Council
(TSSC), an apex body & extended affiliation with
Government of India Ministry of Skill Development
& Entrepreneurship, Skill India & University of
Cambridge to work closely in training and developing skilled work force.
EduworQ is offering CRM (Customer Relationship Management) & GDS (Global
Distribution System’ courses for professional upskilling in the field of aviation,
travel, tourism, hospitality & IT enabled services with absorbing the candidates
within Quampetence providing 100% job assurances to learners.
Sandeep was one of the thought leaders who realised that industry is
going through the ‘fifth industrial revolution’. The developments have made
technology & human workforce as enablers to each other. Technology would
help his organization to gain ‘cost leadership’ while ‘human touch’ would ensure
super empathetic & hyper personalized services & experience. He was quick to
note the paradigm shift brought by the neo-normal:
Earlier the approach for Customer Experience was reactive with customer
choosing from pre-set offers. Today, organizations have to be proactive with
ultra-personalized offerings & delivery. Service delivery was integrated, product
driven with static workflows. Today, the service delivery has to be individualized
with dynamic service assembly & delivery.
Digital Technology was monolithic & highly complex IT infrastructure. Today
it has to be flexible with digital & data platforms on top of legacy track.
Organizations were pyramid shaped, large, with human factories. Today, it
has to be rocket shaped set-up with a digital corporate centre & a bionic front
end. Earlier, the digital ecosystem had limited collaboration with few strategic
partners. Today, it demands decomposition of value chain & broad inclusion
of partners.
To evolve & be ‘Today-Ready’, he has made Quampetence to adopt ‘Business
Transformation’ as the driving force as he is making bold, seismic shifts to
accelerate change and growth beyond typical incremental advancements.
Sandeep made ‘Transformation’ as the fundamental of Quampetence DNA
which evolves around:
1. Business Process Transformation: Doing things better, faster & affordable
by removing frictions in processes through redesign
2. Organizational Transformation: Becoming agile & efficient by changing
the mode of operation, structure & practices
3. Digital Transformation: Rapidly adopting & usage of technological
advancement to unlock additional value
4. Cultural Transformation: Adapting to the disruptive environment by
changing the way of thinking, organizing & behaving
Sandeep’s able leadership has made Quampetence a partner of choice to
many leading multi-billion -dollar brands. Today, Quampetence serves reputed
brands across different industries e.g., E-commerce, Gaming, Aviation, Travel,
Healthcare, Fashion & Apparels, Food Tech, Automotive, Industrial OEM etc
across geographies like Australia, New Zealand, UK, India, US, Brazil, France etc.
Quampetence plans to expand the horizon by adding 6 new delivery
locations globally & create additional jobs for 5000+ employees in next 3 years.
As a visionary, Sandeep has made us to believe “‘Future’ is no longer
tomorrow. It’s ‘Today’ & Quampetence is investing heavily in newer technologies
like ‘Metaverse’, ‘Blockchain & Crypto’, ‘Augmented Reality & Virtual Reality’,
‘Internet of Things’ developing capabilities to serve their customers anywhere
& everywhere, physically & digitally.
Quampetence is indeed characterised by experience, steered by technology
& electrified by people. It is changing how millions of people around the world
engage with brands.
Quampetence mission is to be an illustrious customer engagement service
company at every touch point with their passion of CX & the pledge to provide
a respectful & dignified workplace that offers opportunities to everyone.
‘FUTURE’ IS NO LONGER
TOMORROW, IT’S ‘TODAY’
Sandeep Singh,
Founder & CEO, Quampetence & Eduworq

approach needed to solve
it. “This is an exposure that
I see… that entrepreneurs
in India don’t have
the commensurate
background, consistently.”
The ability to execute
to solve a well-identiﬁ ed
problem is strong in
India, he says. But “the
ability to take an abstract
business problem, excite
an ecosystem to invest,
convert the business
problem into a technology
execution roadmap, build
a team and see it through
is not something that I’ve
consistently seen in India.”
Another facet of what’s
missing in the hi-tech
ecosystem in India, still,
is the absence of patient
money, because it takes
several years for a product
to come to market and
bring in returns.
On his own experience,
“For anybody starting
a company, it’s a hard
journey. It’s always going
to be harder than you
think, but I also submit
to you that the last three-
and-a-half years I’ve
spent building SiMa
have been the most
gratifying,” he says.
● HARICHANDAN ARAKALI
THERE WAS A TIME,
earlier on in his career, when
Krishna Rangasayee had built a solution that was rated as a highly technically superior piece of innovation, but he never could sell his vision to his bosses, he recalls. The feedback on his presentation was that it was a dud, even though the solution itself was rated highly.
It was a lesson he took
to heart. Many years later, after a stellar career in the semiconductor industry, rising to be executive vice president and general manager of all of Xilinx’s business lines, Rangasayee decided to take the plunge and be an entrepreneur himself.
The company he started,
SiMa.ai, is on the cusp of emerging as a specialist in the area of edge computing, focusing on a system-on- a-chip that brings together artiﬁ cial intelligence,
machine learning and computer vision.
“People have been
talking about autonomous systems, robots, and so on, but in the last 10 years, there’s not really been a meaningful deployment at scale, and that’s at the core of the problem we want to address,” Rangasayee tells Forbes India. SiMa’s ﬁ rst
Having the Edge
Krishna Rangasayee of SiMa.ai is on the cusp of emerging as a specialist
in the area of edge computing. He says the Indian hi-tech ecosystem
needs patient money
SCALING UP
14
FORBES INDIA • SEPTEMBER 23, 2022
SCAN THE QR CODE TO
WATCH THE VIDEO
LeaderBoard
product is expected to be out later this year.
One feature that stands
out about the product is that it uses software to make using the system-on- chip easy for customers, without the need for a lot of in-house machine learning expertise, Rangasayee says. That was one important insight he drew from his career as to how computing worked at the edge, versus in the cloud, he says.
Companies such as
SiMa are contributing to sharpening the deﬁ nition of ‘edge’ as
‘embedded edge’—meaning semiconductors capable of delivering sophisticated tasks using embedded software. Along the way, Rangasayee has put
together a strong team of engineers and business leaders in India and the US.
Rangasayee is a 30-
year veteran of the semiconductor industry, with more than 25 patents to his name. Today he is among those shaping the semiconductor ecosystem in India, through his fabless startup’s operations in Bengaluru.
However, the Indian
ecosystem is still nascent, he says. “There is an opportunity, and, in my mind, there is a dire need for India to start building product companies that are focussed on the solutions that India needs them to,” he says. There is also the experience missing, in tying a business problem and the right tech
What the global semiconductor
industry is expected to reach,
according to a Deloitte report
$600 bln
SHUTTERSTOCK

N
itin Wadhwani started Card Clash in 2020. Card Clash is a popular
online game played by thousands of people available on both Android
and iOS. You can enjoy playing Rummy, Poker and many more games on
this app and you can also earn a lot from it because it's a real cash game.
An entrepreneur by passion and choice, Nitin does not sit still unless he has
achieved big things. So, giving more power to his dream he also started TMT
(rebars) manufacturing unit with the brand name Banjara TMT in 2021.
A serial entrepreneur in 2019, he also started MS Pipes & MS Strips
manufacturing unit with the brand name Banjara Pipe. Back in 2017, he
had an MS Ingots (Semi-Finished Steel product) manufacturing Unit - Shri
Bajrangbali Ingot & Steel Pvt Ltd. He is passionate and his years in business
actually hint at the passion with which he stirs the ship to sail it to newer
shores each time.
Making it big
Nitin’s passion for business led him to join the family business in 2014.
He stepped into the business arena by making his mark in the food
industry, where he began taking care of the ice cream, juices, and sweets
manufacturing under the hood of Motil Devi Organic Food Industries Pvt
Ltd. A go-getter by spirit, Nitin is always planning the path to success and
happy life, his hard work and indomitable spirit are infectious and he is
always looking for ways to rule and spread the same temperament among
people who he is working with.
Nitin’s dream project, Card Clash was established in November 2020.
Since the start, he has been actively engaged in the working of this company.
Today, they are a reputed name and are the leading developers of mobile apps.
They have diversified and gained immense growth over the years and
have roped in the right team to spread all across India with a focus to help
the customers by saving time and money through their stellar services. They
do not just offer products, but they go deep into finding what makes the
customers click and therefore offer the right products, without a hitch.
The company is extremely competitive and they offer its services and
products at unmatchable prices. Nitin believes in training his team with the
right spirit and thus, each one can witness the growth and gain immense
hand’s on experience by working with him.
NITIN WADHWANI:
DREAMING TO WIN IT
WITH A LOT OF PASSION
& BUSINESS ACUMEN
CEO and Founder of Card Clash, Nitin Wadhwani is a self-driven
individual who does not dream, but dream to achieve it. A young
entrepreneur not even in his 30s yet, Nitin has stepped into the space
of blockchain and NFTs with his Card Clash launch. He wants to offer
only futuristic offering to his customers through his platform and is
ready to post newer growth stories with this platform, which has got
huge hits and a pool of joinees soon after its launch.
Future gazing
When Nitin launched Card Clash then it was not an easy
ride and it required him to cut the blocks on his path given
he was not experienced in the gaming and applications
industry. But he upped his learning curve and gave fuel
to his dreams with fervor. Today as a young entrepreneur,
he dreams of just going on without a stop and mentions
that it is just the start. He wants to offer only a class-apart
experience to his customers through the tech backbone of
his offering. Further, he is building a community for his
customers, which is a first in the industry where they can
buy and sell NFTs.
Keeping the growth and the stride alive, Nitin is also
pushing ahead with newer launches in the next year and
is planning to set up an environmental gaming platform
too. This will help him take a step toward blockchain and
he eventually wants to step into the metaverse too with
newer launches.
Empowering women and
homemakers is my dream and
I have embarked on this duty with
Card Cash. Today I want to assist
and help the women of India gain
immense knowledge regarding
NFT’s and blockchain and earn cash
by playing bunch of games. Anyone
can learn and develop a deeper
understanding and on my platform,
I will help empower women with the
right training and support.
Nitin Wadhwani
CEO and Founder, Card Clash

16
3 Ps & UNICORNS
PROFITABLE
UNICORNS
E
FORBES INDIA • SEPTEMBER 23, 2022
very entrepreneurial journey
starts with hope, and a promise.
The founders put everything
at stake. They know that the
odds are heavily loaded against
them—over 90 percent of startups
fail—and yet take a leap of faith
into uncertainty. The hope is to
strike success in the long run.
And the promise made to oneself
is to build a valuable business.
To build and grow business,
you need capital. Not all need
the money, though. Many remain
SHUTTERSTOCK

bootstrapped, but a chunk of the
ﬁ rst-time founders do need
the fuel, and reach out to VCs
(venture capitalists). Now
the investor, too, is living
on hope. A VC puts the
risk money in the ﬂ edgling
ventures with a hope
that the rookies would
ﬁ nd the product-
market ﬁ t, perform
to the best of their
abilities and grow
the business. So the
backer stays generous
in doling out dollars,
gives enough room to the
hustlers to ‘fail fast, scale
fast’, and course correct.
Tanked up, the venture
starts rolling. At times,
there are business
pivots—while most are
methodical, there are
some where there is
more ‘madness’ and
less ‘method’. The
journey continues,
and on the way, the founders
start making frequent mistakes
(well, that’s how an entrepreneur
learns and grows), ‘growth at
all cost’ takes the front seat and
CAC (customer acquisition cost)
balloons. Loaded with venture
dollars, ‘spraying and praying’
VCs don’t mind the cash burn.
Riding pillion, all that matters
to ﬁ nancers is an elusive pot of
gold which they hope to get one
day either through M&A, an exit
or IPO. To be fair to them, this is
17
When promise, performance and profit converge,
you get valuable unicorns
SEPTEMBER 23, 2022 • FORBES INDIA
OVERVIEW
Loaded with
venture dollars,
‘spraying and
praying’ venture
capitalists
don’t mind the
cash burn
By RAJIV SINGH

why they invest: To make money.
Meanwhile, the founder starts
performing, and the early years are
all about growth. Revenue starts
gushing, losses rack up, and the
venture turns into a cash-guzzling
machine. To be fair to a founder,
there are segments where one
must bleed to survive and grow.
Take, for instance, ecommerce.
When the name of the game is
discount, there would be high
CAC. And when there are deep-
pocketed players, the intensity of
ﬁ ght and loss increases every day.
Then there are sectors that need
a change in consumer behaviour.
The ﬁ rst-movers and leaders
in such segments—Flipkart in
ecommerce, MakeMyTrip in online
travel, Paytm in online payments
and Ola in cab bookings—will need
much more capital to grow and
stay put for largely two reasons.
First, to create and expand the
market and the ecosystem. Second,
to induce consumers and build
new habits. VCs are aware of
the rules of the game. They keep
pumping money in ventures
that have a promising future,
high user transactions and huge
TAM (total addressable market).
This leads to high valuation, at
times insanely exaggerated, and
startups enter the billion-dollar
club. In May, India got its 100th
unicorn when neo-banking
startup Open raised $50 million.
Industry analysts were quick to
point out that one out of every 10
unicorns was being born in India.
So the unicorn stable starts
swelling. Along with valuation,
what also gets alarmingly inﬂ ated
is loss. Have a look at the FY21
numbers of these unicorns. Cred,
a credit card payment platform
which is valued at $6.4 billion,
posted a loss of
`524 crore. The
operating revenue was just
`88.6
crore. ShareChat, a social media
unicorn with a valuation of $5
billion, reported a loss of
`1,461
crore on an operating revenue
of
`80.3 crore. Online edtech
unicorn Unacademy had a loss
of
`1,537 crore (revenue was less
than one-third the loss); Cureﬁ t’s
bottom line too is not eye-pleasing:
`671.2 crore loss on a revenue
of
`161.4 crore, according to
numbers shared by Entrackr.
VCs talk about the ﬂ ip side
of growth without proﬁ t. “The
product-market ﬁ t you are getting
in high-burn businesses is not the
right business,” reckons Niren
18
PROFITABLE
UNICORNS
FORBES INDIA • SEPTEMBER 23, 2022
WHEN BOTTOMLINE IS MORE THAN TOPLINE
(Financials are for FY21)LOSS (` crore) OPERATING REVENUE (` crore)
Ola
VALUATION
$7.5 billion
Ebitda margin
-25.75%
Cred
VALUATION
$6.4 billion
Ebitda margin
-538.3%
PhonePe
VALUATION
$5.5 billion
Ebitda margin
-219.89%
ShareChat
VALUATION
$5 billion
Ebitda margin
-1,500.5%
Dailyhunt
VALUATION
$5 billion
Ebitda margin
-99.67%
524 1,728 1,461 8081,116.6983 88.6 690 80.3 666.2
TOP 10 PROFITABLE
UNICORNS
Numbers for FY21 (
` crore)
Zoho
Info Edge
Zerodha
Five Star
Dream11
FirstCry
Games24X7
Nykaa
OfBusiness
1,917
1,418
1,122
359
327
216
110
61.9
55.7
SOURCE Entrackr
SOURCE Entrackr
TOP 10 BLEEDING
UNICORNS
Loss numbers for FY21 (
` crore)
Oyo
Udaan
Flipkart
Eruditus
PhonePe
Paytm
Swiggy
Unacademy
Freshworks
ShareChat
3,944
2,482
2,446
1,934
1,728
1,710
1,617
1,537
1,499
1,461

Shah, managing director and head
of Norwest India. This probably
explains, he underlines, why
even large listed companies are
facing the issue of proﬁ tability.
“Product-market ﬁ t and unit
economics are mutually exclusive,”
he says. Many get the ﬁ rst without
getting unit economics. But the
real problem starts when you try
to ﬁ x the latter. “And then you
realise that your product-market
ﬁ t is gone,” he adds. “It’s easier
to make revenue without proﬁ t.”
Conceding that one can’t post
proﬁ ts overnight, Shah reckons
that one should at least try to hit
the road to proﬁ tability early in
the innings. “There has to be an
intent, a serious intent,” he says.
Losses notwithstanding, there
is also a case for giving more
time to loss-making unicorns.
“If the businesses got highly
valued, then deﬁ nitely there
must be something more
than vanity metrics,” says
Vikram Gupta, founder
and managing partner
of IvyCap Ventures.
There are businesses,
he underlines, which
can turn positive
the moment they
stop investing. “But
the question is would
you do that at the cost
of scale?” he asks. If a business
is posting losses, but has high
customer stickiness, accelerating
revenue and a wide addressable
market, then it’s okay to have a
bleeding report card, provided
you are not excessively bleeding.
The hope of future growth also
gives rise to another hope: Future
proﬁ t. While B2B businesses don’t
need much time to post proﬁ t, B2C
is a diff erent game. Then there
are the nuances of scale, segment
and competition. Gupta gives the
example of Lenskart. “There is
no dogﬁ ght. It’s not a Swiggy-
Zomato or Amazon-Flipkart
kind of bleeding ﬁ ght,”
he says. In spite of that,
Lenskart took a decade to
post proﬁ t. “Let’s be more
patient. They will grow
sustainably,” he adds.
Sustainable, indeed, is
the key word. Shah tells
us what went wrong with
the ecosystem so far. “The
founders hit the gym and
only built the upper
part of the body. They
became muscular,”
he says, alluding
to the growth and
scale achieved by
the startups. Now
Shah tells us what
needs to be done. “VCs
must also tell them to build leg
muscles as well. Unless you have
solid legs, your muscular torso
won’t add value,” he underlines.
When promise, performance
and proﬁ t (3 Ps) come together,
you get a valuable company.
In this special issue on proﬁ table
unicorns, Forbes India decided
to not take a deep dive into the
storied tales of Zoho, Zerodha and
their likes. The idea was simple:
To talk about the other shades
of unicorns that are not widely
known or seen. Take, for instance,
OfBusiness and Oxyzo. It’s rare
to have two proﬁ table unicorns
co-founded by a husband-wife
team, along with a few others.
Then there is Lenskart, which
stayed in loss for over a decade and
now has posted three consecutive
years of proﬁ t. Another interesting
story is Mamaearth. It’s not easy
for consumer brands to post
proﬁ ts. This D2C beauty brand
has had two back-to-back years
of proﬁ t, plus a blistering pace
of growth: From
`22.19 lakh to
over
`900 crore in operating
revenue in just six years! And
not to forget the bootstrapped
outsider—EaseMyTrip—which
got the unicorn tag handed by
the public market valuation.
Turn the pages for a deep-
dive into these companies.
19
OVERVIEW
SEPTEMBER 23, 2022 • FORBES INDIA
Unacademy
VALUATION
$3.4 billion
Ebitda margin
-320.32%
Groww
VALUATION
$3 billion
Ebitda margin
-165.7%
Urban
Company

VALUATION
$2.8 billion
Ebitda margin
-73.82%
MPL
VALUATION
$2.3 billion
Ebitda margin
-105.06%
Spinny
VALUATION
$1.8 billion
Ebitda margin
-233.34%
Curefit
VALUATION
$1.5 billion
Ebitda margin
-244.02%
1,537 107 249 398.5 110 671.2398 52.7 247.7 373.3 25.3 161.4
SOURCE Entrackr
One can’t post
profits overnight,
but startups
should at least
try to hit the road
to profitability
early in the
innings

his was the ﬁ rst masterclass of
the year. On a drenched Tuesday
afternoon in August, 50-odd people
cram into a dull conference room.
There is no visual relief, white
walls stare into your face, and over
two dozen black chairs are placed
around a long horseshoe-shaped
table. The unostentatious corporate
offi ce of OFB Tech is hosting two
bright speakers for their half-
yearly motivational session for
budding entrepreneurs and the ones
slogging in the corporate world.
The ﬁ rst presenter completed his
mechanical engineering from IIT-
Kharagpur, ﬁ nished his MBA from
the Indian School of Business (ISB),
and then spent a little over four
years with venture capital (VC) fund
Matrix Partners. In August 2015, he
left the VC world and took a leap of
faith by starting a venture that got
funded by SoftBank. The pedigree of
the 41-year-old and his inspirational
journey make him a great catch to
stimulate the young audience.
The second speaker has an
equally impressive track record. She
completed her BTech from IIT-
Delhi, went to ISB for her MBA and
worked with McKinsey in Mumbai
for close to nine years. In 2015, she
started her own venture, which grew
at a blistering pace and managed to
get the backing of marquee investors
such as Alpha Wave Global, Tiger
Global, Norwest Venture Partners
and Creation Investments. The
accomplishment of the 39-year-old
founder and chief executive offi cer
has fast become the talk of the town.
As the participants settle down,
Asish Mohapatra starts the session
on ‘Finding Happiness’. “Let me
start with a quick disclaimer,” the
guru underlines. “I am not going
to talk about the ‘Open Happiness’
20
SINGING THE
PROFIT TUNE
Asish Mohapatra and Ruchi Kalra were wedded to
the idea of building profitable businesses. No wonder
the husband and wife keep talking about the gains
made by OfBusiness and Oxyzo
PROFITABLE
UNICORNS
FORBES INDIA • SEPTEMBER 23, 2022
NEHA MITHBAWKER FOR FORBES INDIA; LOCATION COURTESY: MAGIC CAROUSEL, IMAGICAA THEME PARK
T
Sector 26, MG Road, Gurugram
By RAJIV SINGH

21
“The question is not
growth versus profit. The
question is profit with
growth or growth at the
cost of profit.”
RUCHI KALRA, co-founder and CEO,
Oxyzo; co-founder, OfBusiness
“In general, anybody who doesn't make
money should shut down very soon.
I strongly believe in this philosophy.”
ASISH MOHAPATRA, co-founder and CEO, OfBusiness;
co-founder, Oxyzo
SEPTEMBER 23, 2022 • FORBES INDIA
OFBUSINESS

campaign of Coca-Cola,” he says.
The crowd erupts into laughter.
“Today I will talk about four forms
of happiness that entrepreneurs
must strive for,” he underlines.
“Happiness starts when your
venture posts its maiden proﬁ t.
That’s the beginning of happiness,”
he says. The second stage comes
when it keeps growing the proﬁ t.
“This is real happiness,” he
stresses. The onlookers are amused
with the nuanced deﬁ nition.
Mohapatra now tries to make
the lecture engaging. “What comes
after happiness?” he throws the
question at the audience. “Is it
more happiness?” shouts a viewer
standing near the the door. “No,
my dear friend,” says Mohapatra.
What comes after happiness, he
explains, is delight. “And delight
is when people look at your P&L
and exclaim ‘Arey wah, mazaa aa
gaya (Wow! It’s great),” he says
with a smile. What every founder
must strive for is the last stage.
“It’s ‘aha’. And it comes when your
business ticks three boxes,” he says.
The ﬁ rst is that the venture needs
to grow continuously. Second is
proﬁ t must become meaty. And
last is nobody else can copy what
you are building. This is ‘aha’. “In
general, anybody who doesn’t make
money should shut down very
soon,” he maintains. The crowd
bursts into rapturous laughter.
Now it’s the turn of Ruchi
22
“The co-founders understand
that sustainability and
scalability come from being
profitable.”
NIREN SHAH, MANAGING DIRECTOR,
NORWEST INDIA
STARTED IN: 2015
TOTAL FUNDING: `5,369.83 cr
LAST FUNDING ROUND: `1,378.84 cr
(Series G) in January
VALUATION:
$5 billion
BACKERS: Matrix Partners, Zodius
Technology, Creation Investments,
Falcon Edge, Norwest Venture
Partners, Softbank, Tiger Global
and Marshall Wace
Operating
Revenue
(` crore)
FY18 FY19 FY20 FY21 FY22
6,363.8
1,349.2
669.8
582.9
389.6
Profit
(` crore)
EBITDA Margin (%)
Cash Outflow from Operations
(` crore)
FY18
FY18
FY21
FY21
FY20
FY20
FY19
FY19
FY22
FY22
2.98
3.31
4.56
2.91
1.69
FY18
(loss)
1.14
FY19
13.1
FY20
13.9
FY21
19.8
FY22
125.6
798.9
27.3
153.9
25.8
47.3
NAME, GAME & FAME
OfBusiness
PROFITABLE
UNICORNS
FORBES INDIA • SEPTEMBER 23, 2022
Kalra to start her tutorial. “What’s
the diff erence between a good
VC/PE and a not-so-good one?”
she asks. The former will start
the conversation with return
on investment, and the latter
will be upfront about growth
orientation. The billion-dollar
trap that founders need to stay
away from, she lets on, is not to
get into a proﬁ t versus growth
debate or a trade-off . “Proﬁ t has
to coexist with growth,” she says.
The former McKinsey
honcho points out three business
components that work in tandem.
First comes growth. It is followed
by proﬁ tability. And the third
crucial part is health. The health
of a business, she points out,
means that the venture meets all
compliance norms, and follows
the rules and laws of the land.
India is not an easy place to do
business. “So always keep a sharp
eye on costs,” she advises.
The students grasp lessons
in business fundamentals, the
session ends, and the speakers
now talk about their ventures,
mutual chemistry and unicorns.
“She gets restless if there is a loss,”
laughs Mohapatra, co-founder
and chief executive offi cer of
OfBusiness, a B2B ecommerce
platform which provides
full-stack solutions spanning
SOURCE Filings and company; FY22 numbers
are unaudited

raw material procurement,
working capital ﬁ nancing and
revenue growth opportunities
in a bunch of sectors, including
manufacturing and infrastructure.
Co-founded in 2015 by the
husband-wife duo of Mohapatra
and Kalra, along with Bhuvan
Gupta, Nitin Jain and Vasant
Sridhar, OfBusiness is valued at
$5 billion and closed FY22 with
an operating revenue of
`6,363.83
crore—an around ﬁ ve-fold jump
from
`1,349 crore posted in FY21.
The venture has posted four
consecutive years of proﬁ t. In
fact, the numbers leapfrogged
from
`19.76 crore in FY21 to
`125.63 crore in FY22. “She can’t
sleep even if a single transaction
makes a loss,” adds Mohapatra.
Kalra now talks about how
the couple has managed to ﬁ nd
common ground. “I’m very
health-oriented. He is very
growth-oriented. But both are
very proﬁ t-oriented,” smiles the
co-founder and chief executive
offi cer of Oxyzo, a ﬁ nancial
services and lending arm
of OfBusiness. Started
in 2016, Oxyzo raised its
maiden external funding
round of
`1,527.19 crore
in March at a valuation
of $1 billion. While the
company had a sedate
start—an operating
revenue of
`3.7 crore
in FY18—it quickly
jumped to
`311 crore
in FY22. Interestingly,
Oxyzo—the word is
a combination of oxygen
and ozone—has always been
proﬁ table: Five consecutive years
of proﬁ tability. The startup claims
to serve over 3,000 SMEs across
India, and has
`3,000 crore as
AUM (assets under management).
Mohapatra, who was once
a funder before donning the
founder’s hat, explains how the
mind of a VC works. He starts with
23
OFBUSINESS
From left: Bhuvan Gupta, Nitin Jain, Ruchi Kalra, Asish Mohapatra and Vasant Sridhar started
OfBusiness in 2015
SEPTEMBER 23, 2022 • FORBES INDIA
a brutally candid statement. “A
VC does not come for proﬁ t. They
prefer if a venture is loss-making,”
he reckons, explaining the method
behind the apparent madness. The
promise of future proﬁ t is the key.
If the business is negative and can
turn positive in the future,
then the delta is very high.
“Hence VCs play on this
high delta,” he says, adding
that he doesn’t rate himself
as a great investor. The
reason is simple. Mohapatra
always wanted to run the
company he invested in,
which obviously doesn’t
work. “You have to bet on
the person who’s the
smartest in the room.
And it’s not you,” he
says with a laugh.
Back in 2015, when
OfBusiness started its
journey, Mohapatra
encountered too many
smart people with loads
of money and gyan. Once,
during a funding pitch, he declared
his noble intention of making a
proﬁ t on every transaction to a
‘hallowed VC’. The reaction was
unexpected. “Chhoti baatein mat
karo (Don’t talk small),” came the
sharp and unequivocal feedback.
‘Think big, raise more, burn and
grow’ was the suggestion. When,
in FY18, OfBusiness posted a loss
of
`1.14 crore, Mohapatra got
loads of consolation. “Don’t worry.
Your business has potential,”
he was told. The entrepreneur
was not bemused. “If you make
proﬁ t, then only you have
potential,” he told his team.
Call it ‘middle-class’
conditioning or the values which
inadvertently get ingrained by
observing one’s parents, Mohapatra
was always inﬂ uenced by his
mother. A physics professor in
Odisha, she religiously used to
save some money towards the end
of every month. “That was proﬁ t
for her. That’s how we learnt,” he
says. Kalra points towards another
learning during the formative
years of OfBusiness. “In 2016,
our funding pitch got rejected 73
times,” she says with a smile. The
co-founders didn’t lose heart. “We
just wanted one guy who would
understand our vision,” she says.
Eventually, there was one
guy who understood the vision.
But he declined to fund in 2018.
“Back then, OfBusiness was not
proﬁ table,” recalls Niren Shah,
AMIT VERMA
4
OfBusiness
has been
profitable for
consecutive
years
Mohapatra, who was a funder before he turned founder, doesn’t
rate himself as a great investor. The reason: He always wanted to
run the company he invested in, which obviously doesn’t work

managing director at Norwest
India. The VC presented his case.
“If you are not proﬁ table,” he told
Mohapatra, “you don’t get a better
credit rating.” What this means
is that your cost of debt does not
come down, which again means
you can’t actually grow. The
entrepreneur understood what
the VC was trying to impress upon
him. “I am very proﬁ t-focussed and
working on it,” was the assurance.
After four months, Mohapatra
went back to Shah. “Now my
venture is proﬁ table. Let’s do a
round,” he said. “That’s Asish for
you,” smiles Shah. In 2019, Norwest
led a
`250 crore Series D round
of funding in OfBusiness. “He has
a very strong understanding of
whatever he does, and a very tall
vision about what he’s going after,”
says Shah. “Asish understands that
sustainability and scalability comes
from being proﬁ table,” he says.
Commenting on the dynamics of
Mohapatra and Kalra, he reckons
that it’s rare to have a husband-
wife combo which is so tuned
to proﬁ table growth. “If Asish is
going for the reward, Ruchi will
look at the risk,” he says, adding
that the growth of Oxyzo under
her leadership has been amazing.
Meanwhile, in Gurugram,
what the power couple ﬁ nd
24
PROFITABLE
UNICORNS
OfBusiness helps companies like Solarium Green Energry reduce working capital cycles and
streamline cash flows with their tech-enabled solutions
FORBES INDIA • SEPTEMBER 23, 2022
amazing is growth without
proﬁ t. “Nobody eventually makes
money. The work has to start
immediately,” says Mohapatra.
What the entrepreneur ﬁ nds
equally astounding is a long list
of vanity metrics used to justify
walking on the road to proﬁ tability.
“There is no such road. Business
is done on ‘what is’ and not ‘what
if’,” he says. All the jargon—gross
margin proﬁ tability, contribution
margin proﬁ tability et al—just hides
the reality that the business is not
serious enough to post proﬁ t.
But is he happy with his size
of proﬁ t? After all, a company
with a revenue of over
`6,000
crore should have more to show
than
`125 crore as proﬁ t. Right?
Mohapatra explains the low
margin. “Our business is about thin
margins with high cycles,” he says,
adding that the company rotates
capital 14 times a year. “So you
make 14 times your PAT as return
on capital. This can be seen in the
money raised (40 percent of which
is in the bank) to make a business of
this scale,” he adds. As OfBusiness
ventures into more segments,
he contends, the numbers are
expected to signiﬁ cantly improve.
“We are just experiencing real
happiness. Delight and aha are
yet to come,” he signs off .
STARTED IN: 2016
TOTAL FUNDING: `1,856 cr
LAST FUNDING ROUND:
`1,527.19 cr in Series A
closed in March
VALUATION:
$1 billion
BACKERS: Alpha Wave Ventures,
Tiger Global, Norwest Venture
Partners, Matrix Partners
India, Creation Investments
India and OFB Tech
Operating
Revenue
(` crore)
FY18 FY19 FY20 FY21 FY22
311.8
196.7
134.9
42.4
3.7
Profit
(` crore)
FY18
0.17
FY19
4.1
FY20
21.1
FY21
39.9
FY22
69.3
NAME, GAME & FAME
Oxyzo Financial Services
NIM (net interest
margin)
(%)
FY18 FY19FY20FY21 FY22
7.92
9.01
11.2210.82
12.02
SOURCE Filings and company; FY22 numbers
are unaudited
OFBUSINESS

1. How building business processes and performance
op�mi�a�on can propel growth?
Businesses can see a signiﬁcant up�ck in growth when they
streamline their working processes. This is because performance
op�miza�on allows businesses to func�on more eﬃciently and
eﬀec�vely and help them be�er u�lize their resources and �me,
which leads to increased produc�vity and proﬁt. At virajpa�l.net
we acheive this through various methods such as process
redesign, process improvement teams, and process mapping.
Viraj Pa�l,
Performance Improvement Specialist, Virajpa�l.net
2. What are the latest industry trends that entrepreneurs
should pay a?en�on to?
There are a few key industry trends that entrepreneurs should
pay a�en�on to.
3. What are the key common ﬁnancial inves�ng mistakes that
youngsters make?
The biggest ﬁnancial investment mistake is star�ng to invest
without proper ﬁnancial educa�on. It's impera�ve to understand
the space to make educated ﬁnancial investment decisions.
According to me the most important investment is an investment
in upgrading ﬁnancial skillsets. Other things that go wrong are not
having clear ﬁnancial goals and investment plans, chasing short-
term gains, not diversifying one's por�olio, and making
emo�onal investments.
One of the reasons why it is important to have diversiﬁed ﬁnancial
products for investments is because it allows you to spread the risk
around. Having all your eggs in one basket leaves you vulnerable to a
single point of failure. If that one investment fails, then you have lost
everything. By having mul�ple investments, you can minimize the
impact of any one failure. The loss from one investment can be oﬀset by
the gains from another.
5. Can you share some valuable �ps on ﬁnancial literacy?
Being ﬁnancially educated is of the utmost importance, Un�l one
doesn't know and understand this ecosystem it's impossible for
them to make choices and informed decisions. To learn and stay
abreast with ﬁnancial trends I highly recommend -
● Enroll in a good ﬁnancial course where you learn trading,
risk management, compound interest to understand
your por�olio be�er.
● Subscribe to ﬁnancial newsle�ers, podcasts, and
reading books.
● Talk to a ﬁnancial professional.
6. According to you, which futuris�c ﬁnancial product(s) will
reap frui�ul results in the long term?
Metaverse and Web3 space is exploding. It's already here hence
Investments in and related to these technologies are going to be
the future. I am watching and par�cipa�ng in this space closely.
Leading companies who are the ﬁrst movers in metaverse should
be considered to be added in your por�olio of stocks. Companies
like Zoom, Microso� , shopify, Alibaba, Nike, Roblex, Amazon
stocks. The metaverse market size is projected to reach USD
824.53 Billion by 2030; as per a veriﬁed report.
7. Can you share some Dos and Don'ts of 'wealth crea�on?
One of the best ways to create wealth is to become ﬁnancially
literate.
DO make sure you have a solid understanding of basic ﬁnancial
concepts.
Second, don't be afraid to ask for help. If you're not sure where to start,
there are plenty of resources available to help you learn more about
personal ﬁnance.
Social commerce, which refers to the buying and selling of goods
and services through social media pla�orms.
Lastly, with web3 and metaverse coming into the picture, online
tokens are ge�ng popular and hence crypto and bitcoin
acceptance is something that businesses should be aware of, as
more people are using these tokens for transac�ons.
One is ﬁntech or ﬁnancial technology. This industry is growing
rapidly as more and more people conduct ﬁnancial transac�ons
online. Others are -
Rise of the gig economy and becoming subscrip�on-based, where
customers pay a monthly fee for access to products or services.
8. How would you deﬁne your journey as an entrepreneur and
mentor?
I would say the journey is s�ll on, and it has been very fulﬁlling �ll now. I
come from a lower-middle-class family. Money wasn't in abundance
while growing up but my parents did not compromise on my educa�on.
I always had an entrepreneurial bent of mind. A�er ﬁnishing
engineering and working for about 3 years with RIL was when I got to
learn about ﬁnancial markets and products and the power of this
sector. I was lucky to have a mentor at that �me who helped me
understand this sector be�er and emphasized ﬁnancial educa�on and I
can't be thankful enough for that advice.
Today I am mentoring individuals and organiza�ons with a focus to put
the right prac�ces in place right t the incep�on level. My core strength
lies in individual and organiza�onal performance measurement and
improvement and I work very closely with the teams to understand
their processes and plans to create a robust roadmap that we can follow
together for the given tenure.
Investment in Real Estate for future gains should not be missed
out from both rental as well as re-sale perspec�ve
I am more than happy to be able to share my experience and wisdom as
a mentor which is more like giving it back because I understand the
importance of having the right guidance at the right �me.
BRAND CONNECT

26
BATTLING
THE UNICORN
GAZE
A sudden crisis in March almost devoured the
horsepower of Infra.Market. Now it is trying to
get back to the racing track
PROFITABLE
UNICORNS
Mumbai, March 20, 2022
I
t was Sunday, a day after Holi. Hue
dregs of all kinds—orange, red,
yellow, green—were still splashed
on the ﬂ oor. Aaditya Sharda,
though, could spot only one colour:
Black. The co-founder of Infra.
Market, a B2B online (business-to-
business) infra procurement
unicorn valued at $2.5 billion, was
jolted out of his sleep when the
Central Board of Direct Taxes
(CBDT) issued a media release
around noon. A large number of
incriminating evidences were
seized during a search operation
conducted by the Income Tax
(IT) department, underlined
the press document.
“Evidences revealed that
the group has booked bogus
purchases, made huge
unaccounted cash
expenditure and
obtained
accommodation
entries, aggregating to
the tune of over
`400
crore,” it alleged.
For six-year-old
Infra.Market, this was
the most stressful moment
in its short-yet-spirited race
to glory. Started in July 2016, the
bootstrapped venture picked up
its ﬁ rst funding of $3.5 million at
a valuation of $15 million in June
2019. Six months later, a round
of $20 million resulted in an
over ﬁ ve-fold jump in valuation.
Sharda’s venture, co-founded
with Souvik Sengupta, started
By RAJIV SINGH
FORBES INDIA • SEPTEMBER 23, 2022
6
Infra.Market
has been
profitable for
consecutive
years
NEHA MITHBAWKER FOR FORBES INDIA

27
“You do business to make
money, and not to lose money.”
AADITYA SHARDA, co-founder, Infra.Market
SEPTEMBER 23, 2022 • FORBES INDIA
INFRA.MARKET

getting loaded with more VC
(venture capital) dollars over the
next 12 months—$20 million,
$100 million and $125 million in
December 2020, February 2021
and August 2021, respectively.
The valuation matched the pace
and soared during the same period:
$180 million, $1 billion and $2.5
billion. The co-founders managed
the stress of lofty valuation and the
load of investors’ expectations by
churning out brisk-yet-proﬁ table
growth. While revenue from
operations leapfrogged from
`12.54 crore in FY17 to `1,242.93
crore, proﬁ t surged from
`28 lakh
to
`35.95 crore during the same
period. Sharda kept on taking bold
bets and the dice kept rolling in
his favour. “Risk toh Superman
bhi leta hai. Main toh sirf salesman
hoon (Even Superman takes risks.
I just happen to be a salesman),”
he told Forbes India last year.
In March this year, the Superman
felt like a layman. “We came under
intense gaze and scrutiny,” says
Sharda, adding that Infra.Market
was not the ﬁ rst startup or company
in India to face income tax or GST
queries. What made the situation
precarious was the unicorn tag. Call
it the ﬂ ip side of being a unicorn,
if good news gets exaggerated,
funding reports get disproportionate
footage, then the bad ones are
equally blown out of proportion, he
quips. “Unicorns have to live with
extremes,” he says with a sigh.
“Since March, we have been
cooperating with the income
tax authorities,” says Sengupta,
co-founder of Infra.Market. The
company, he adds, has provided all
the necessary documents to solve
their questions and observations,
and to ensure the successful
closure of the search proceedings.
For Infra.Market, it was a near-
death experience. Suddenly, it
became a pariah. The allegations
of ‘shell companies’ and getting
foreign funding via Mauritius route
were devastating. For a company
that posted a ﬁ ve-fold jump in
revenue and over three times leap
in proﬁ t in FY22—
`6,231.14 crore
and
`341.21 crore, respectively—
suddenly the road seemed to have
hit a dead end. “Bankers panicked,
partners developed cold feet and
the backers frantically looked for
answers,” says one of the VCs
requesting anonymity. All the
stakeholders were at a loss. The
only bright light was the way the
co-founders handled the stress and
continued with the work, he adds.
Sharda, for his part, concedes
that the pressure was immense.
“But this is what entrepreneurs
28
PROFITABLE
UNICORNS
VALUATION:
$2.5 billion
BACKERS: TigerGlobal, Accel,
Nexus, Evolvence, Sistema Asia
and Foundamental
Operating
Revenue
(` crore)
FY18FY17 FY19 FY20 FY21 FY22
12.5
28.5
63.2
350.8
1,242.9
6,231.1
FY18FY17 FY19 FY20 FY21 FY22
EBITDA
(` crore)
0.40.92.8
13.6
68.9
341.2
STARTED IN: July 2016
TOTAL FUNDING: `1,981.54 cr
LAST FUNDING ROUND:
`935.82 cr
Infra.Market
NAME, GAME & FAME
FY18FY17 FY19 FY20 FY21 FY22
EBITDA MARGIN (%)
3.19
3.26
4.43
3.89
5.545.48
Infra.Market has its own branded walling solutions, bath fittings and sanitary tiles
FORBES INDIA • SEPTEMBER 23, 2022

have instilled conﬁ dence in the
operations of the co-founders.
“You need the right kind of
entrepreneurs and people on board
to navigate tough times,” reckons
Prashant Prakash, founding
partner of Accel. The company
has continued to grow. In January,
it picked up a 24 percent stake
in Shalimar Paints, underlining
its intention to broaden its play
in the infrastructure market. Till
last ﬁ scal, private labels made
up around 60 percent of the
revenue of Infra.Market, which
has its own branded concrete,
aggregates, walling solutions,
construction chemicals, bath
ﬁ ttings and sanitary tiles.
Prakash reckons what has
worked for the startup is its
unrelenting focus on buyer
stickiness. Infra.Market has two
parts to its business: B2B, which
has big infrastructure and real
estate players as consumers, and
a business to retail (B2R), which
has SMEs, small contractors and
vendors. Customer stickiness,
he lets on, comes with a trust
in the brand and a presence
in several categories. “In
some sense, they are an infra
conglomerate, having multiple
private label brands,” he says.
Commenting on an unending
streak of posting proﬁ t by Infra.
Market, the VC points out the
inherent value of B2B enterprises.
In general, B2B companies
don’t require a lot of customer
acquisition cost. If they are full
stack, have their own branded
products, and are not in the trading
business, they are quite capable
of generating proﬁ ts even during
the start of their journey. And
also have to do. We need to
learn to handle pressure,” he
underlines, adding two sets of
issues he faced after the tax raids.
It wasn’t a challenge to cooperate
with the tax authorities and share
all the required information, he
underlines. “The big task was how
to handle the perception which
suddenly changed,” he confesses.
From employees to investors to
ﬁ nancers, the news was out in the
open and everybody was free to
interpret it the way they wanted.
The backers, meanwhile,
29
PROFIT
(` crore)
0.28
0.59
1.74
8.66
35.95
FY18FY17 FY19 FY20 FY21 FY22
FY18FY17 FY19 FY20 FY21 FY22
11.4*
9.9
140.1
373.9
1,609Cash Outflow
from Operations
(` crore)
SOURCE Filings and company; FY22
numbers are unaudited; *FY18 is cash inflow
142.18
SEPTEMBER 23, 2022 • FORBES INDIA
INFRA.MARKET
unlike consumer companies, which
can take seven to eight years to get
proﬁ table, B2B counterparts can
post proﬁ ts very quickly. “That’s
what we have seen in companies
like Infra.Market,” he says. The
company has built its own product
stack, has gone deep in terms of
the back-end integration, has taken
control of the supply chain, and
has been generating nice margins.
But is net proﬁ tability the only
yardstick to value a company?
Prakash diff ers. Companies with
good contribution margin and
showing control over customer
acquisition costs are equally good
business models, he contends. “I
don’t think these are unsustainable
models,” he underlines, adding
that during the formative years, a
company’s focus is understandably
largely on growth. “There is a
diff erence between positive unit
economics and net proﬁ tability,”
he says. If the company has
positive unit economics, and is not
losing money, as they scale more
customers, it is still considered an
acceptable growth strategy. “If you
add more customers, you won’t
be losing more money,” he adds.
Sharda, for his part, underlines
that he can’t think of any business
losing money. “You do business
to make money, and not to lose,”
he says, adding that Infra.Market
has never posted losses. In June,
the company raised $50 million
in growth capital from Liquidity
Group’s Mars Unicorn Fund.
“We are still bullish on growth
and there is a lot to achieve,” he
underlines. Ask him if it’s easy
being a unicorn, and he smiles. “I
live in the real world. Unicorns
are mythical,” he signs off .
“The right kind of entrepreneur and right kind
of board can help navigate tough times.”
PRASHANT PRAKASH, FOUNDING PARTNER, ACCEL

32
THE FOCUS LENS
Whenever the vision got blurred, Peyush Bansal adjusted his
focus. In a decade, he built India’s biggest eyewear company, and a
profitable unicorn, in Lenskart
PROFITABLE
UNICORNS
“The problem in India is
that everybody wants to be
a unicorn. One must be very
clear about one’s vision.”
PEYUSH BANSAL, co-founder and group
CEO, Lenskart
K
By RAJIV SINGH
FORBES INDIA • SEPTEMBER 23, 2022
“Kitna paisa chahiye (how much
money do you want)?” was the
pointed question. IDG Ventures
(now Chiratae Ventures) saw
immense value in Valyoo
Technologies. Co-founded by
Peyush Bansal, Sumeet Kapahi,
Amit Chaudhary and Neha
Bansal in 2008, the Delhi-based
ecommerce ﬁ rm rolled out
Lenskart in November 2010 and
started selling contact lenses.
Over the next few months,
Lenskart gradually dabbled into
spectacles and sunglasses, the
bootstrapped business gathered
steam, and the co-founders who
started Flyrr—an online store
to sell spectacles, sunglasses
and contact lenses in the US in
2009—were now set to get their
ﬁ rst VC (venture capital) cheque.
The excitement,
understandably, was palpable.
After ﬁ nishing his engineering
from McGill University in Canada,
Bansal joined Microsoft in the US
and worked for close to a year.
The truncated stint was the ﬁ rst
turning point. “Microsoft was all
Bengaluru, 2011
AMIT VERMA

about ushering in revolution and
consumer obsession,” recalls the
38-year-old co-founder and group
chief executive of Lenskart, which
has raised around $1 billion in
funding so far and is valued at $4.3
billion. “Kuch disruptive karna
tha (I wanted to do something
disruptive),” he adds. The
wannabe entrepreneur came
back to India in November
2007, invested
`25 lakh and
started SearchMyCampus,
an online classiﬁ ed for
students scouting for
jobs, accommodation
and rentals, from
the basement of
his parents’ house
in South Delhi in
January 2008.
Over a year later
came the ﬁ rst learning.
There was not much
money to be made. The
rookie founder didn’t give up,
adjusted his focus and came up
with another gig. In June 2009,
Flyrr was started, and it took off .
By mid-2010, the venture catering
to the US market was making
around $100,000 a month. The
success, though, was shortlived.
The suppliers in the US were not
customer-centric, didn’t pay heed
to user issues, and complaints
started piling up. Bansal dashed
to America, spent three months
in futility, and realised that
Flyrr didn’t have any control
over operations and delivery.
“What if the model could be
replicated in India?” he asked.
The answer from his team was a
resounding yes, and Lenskart was
rolled out in November 2010.
The initial challenge was to sell
lenses and glasses online. “Would
there be buyers?’ was the big
question staring at Bansal, who
took two steps to nudge users.
First, he rolled out a 14-day ‘no
questions asked’ return policy,
which was later extended to a
year. And the second was to set up
a dedicated call centre to address
consumer grievances. The gambit
worked, the business scaled and
it caught the attention of IDG,
which had invested in
fashion ecommerce
venture Myntra in 2008.
In Bengaluru, in early
2011, IDG was quick to
spot another hidden gem.
The compelling proposition
to invest in Lenskart was
simple. Titan Eye Plus, an
eyewear company started by
the Tata group in 2007,
had scaled operations.
Lenskart, IDG argued,
could be bigger than
its rival because of
the online reach.
The VCs were ready
to cut a cheque. “I
think we need
`1-2
crore,” said Bansal,
sharing his estimate of funding
requirement. The backers
proposed $4 million (around
`22 crore), the term sheet was
off ered, and the deal was sealed.
The money, though, came
with a rider. “Ab aap khaali
chasme nahin bechogey… aap bags,
watches and jewellery bhi bechogey
(now you won’t be selling only
glasses. You need to add bags,
watches and jewellery),” was
the mandate from the VC. The
idea was to do what Titan was
doing. Bansal liked the idea, and
started Bagskart, JewelsKart and
WatchKart within six months.
The tactic worked. With a mix of
own labels as well as other Indian
and foreign brands, all the new
sites posted brisk sales. From
`30 lakh, revenue leapfrogged
to
`10 crore by 2013. Lenskart’s
contribution, though, stayed low
at
`2 crore. But there was a bright
side. While all the new ventures
posted heady sales, they were in
losses. Lenskart, interestingly,
was immensely proﬁ table: Around
`1 crore on sales of `2 crore.
Bansal was in a ﬁ x. Though
his heart was with Lenskart,
he couldn’t think of scaling
down his other ventures. They
were growing in topline, most
of the backers liked the speedy
growth, and any thought of
putting an abrupt end would have
looked repulsive. Enter Ronnie
Screwvala. The media mogul,
who started UTV Group in the
90s and sold it to Walt Disney
Company in 2012, had invested
in Valyoo in December 2012. The
mentor now invited Bansal for a
breakfast meeting in Mumbai.
It was January 2013. The
disciple reached much before the
scheduled time. “It was Sunday
and there was negligible traffi c,”
recalls Bansal, who was used to
brain-storming sessions with
Screwvala. The topics, however,
never revolved around funding
or valuation. It was always about
consumers and user insights. This
time, though, Screwvala picked
up an intriguing subject. “Tum
kya banana chahte ho (what do
33
SEPTEMBER 23, 2022 • FORBES INDIA
3
Lenskart
has been
profitable for
consecutive
years
“If you really want to build a
very valuable enterprise, one
of the key things is focus.”
RONNIE SCREWVALA, SERIAL ENTREPRENEUR
MEXY XAVIER
LENSKART

versus `179 crore. The tipping point
came after a ﬁ scal. The numbers
ﬂ ipped. While operating revenue
for FY18 had a sedate growth at
`292.35 crore, the loss drastically
came down to
`118.04 crore.
Apart from a sharp focus on
business, what helped Lenskart
grow aggressively was its drive to
continuously strive for improving
34
STARTED IN: 2010
TOTAL FUNDING: $1 billion
LAST FUNDING ROUND: $100 million
in April
VALUATION:
$4.3 billion
BACKERS: TPG, Unilazer Ventures,
KKR, Temasek, Sofina, SoftBank
Vision Fund, Chiratae Ventures,
Premji Invest, Steadview Capital,
Kedaara Capitals, Falcon Edege
Capital, Avendus, xto10x, Pratithi
In
vestments, Ravi Modi Family
Trust and Alpha Wave GLobal
Operating
Revenue
(` crore)
FY17 FY18 FY19 FY20 FY21 FY22
1400
900.2
474.3
292.3
179
Profit
(` crore)
EBITDA Margin (%)
Cash Outflow
from Operations
(` crore)
NAME, GAME & FAME
Lenskart
PROFITABLE
UNICORNS
FORBES INDIA • SEPTEMBER 23, 2022
SOURCE Filings and company; FY22 numbers are unau-
dited; EBITDA margins and cash outflow from opera-
tions for FY17, FY18, FY19 and FY22 are not available
118.04
FY18
(loss)
31.57
FY19
6.32
FY20
28.92
FY21
7.75
FY21
you intend to make)?” asked the
guru as he off ered a cup of tea.
Bansal was elated with an easy
question. “I want to revolutionise
eyewear in the world,” he replied.
“Okay, if that be the case, why
don’t you sharply focus on
Lenskart and shut down all other
ventures?” questioned Screwvala.
Bansal went mute for a few
seconds. Then he opened up. “If
I do so, nobody will fund me,” he
shared his apprehension. “Don’t
worry. If you shut them down,
I will put more money in the
venture,” Screwvala said without
batting an eye. “And you won’t
have to take a haircut. It would
be at the same valuation,” he
reassured. Bansal took the off er,
IDG too joined hands, and Valyoo
got funded in February 2013.
Almost a decade later, Screwvala
talks about the incident, and the
moral. “If you really want to build
a valuable enterprise, one of the
key things is focus,” he reckons.
Back in 2011, jewellery, bags and
watches were a crowded space.
With Lenskart, he maintains,
Bansal had a bright chance of
making a massive impact because
it was an uncluttered space. “A 100
percent focus would have given
him 100x output,” he says. With
multiple projects, even a 25 percent
focus would have not given 25x
returns. “It would have been 2.5x,”
he underlines. Entrepreneurs,
he lets on, reach the glass ceiling
very easily. But then they don’t
smash it. They diversify, and get
distracted. “Had Peyush continued
with four things, he would have
nothing to count,” he says, praising
Bansal for taking a leap of faith. “I
only recommended. He did it, and
it has done wonders,” he says.
“After that, we never looked
back. We kept growing,” says
Bansal, who points towards the
rapid progress of the company
since FY17, a year when losses
eclipsed operating revenue:
`262.87
conversion rate, cut costs and
ramping backward integration.
While starting home services
and free trial were lynchpin in
the strategy to drive volumes,
and consequently erase losses,
progressively cutting costs
helped it keep expenses under
control. Next the company
ventured offl ine, opened physical
stores, expanded franchisees
and cemented its bonding
with the consumers. From
FY19, the revenue juggernaut
gathered steam, conversion
increased and bleeding
sequentially slowed down.
In December 2019, Lenskart
entered the unicorn club when
it reportedly raised around $231
FY20
88.94
(negative)
FY21
100.47
(negative)
905.3
262.87
FY17
(loss)
3.82
FY20

million in a Series G funding
round led by Japanese ﬁ nancial
conglomerate SoftBank. In FY20,
over a decade after starting the
venture, Bansal posted the ﬁ rm’s
maiden proﬁ t. The next ﬁ scal,
the unicorn remained proﬁ table,
and the trend continued in FY22
as well. “We are proﬁ table. Now
the business is at 69 percent gross
margin, and we never achieved
this number by increasing the
price,” claims Bansal. Though
he declines to share proﬁ t data
for FY22, he contends that the
company posted an operating
revenue of
`1,400 crore, a healthy
jump from
`905.3 crore in FY21.
“Our current Ebitda run rate is
`20 crore a month,” he claims.
In spite of strong growth,
35
LENSKART
SEPTEMBER 23, 2022 • FORBES INDIA
The trend of hiring a lot of external talent also perpetuated another associated evil. Lenskart inadvertently started aping big companies from where it was getting fresh hires. “Our strength was not what other companies were. We started playing their game,” he says. The move also led to the tampering of the DNA of Lenskart. Promoting homegrown employees took a back seat and paying special attention to the ones coming from outside was given high priority. “That was again a mistake,” he adds.
What, though, helped Bansal
in getting back his focus was a priceless advice. In one of the founders’ meet organised by venture capital fund Sequoia, the Indian entrepreneur bumped into Tony Hsieh. The chief executive of Zappos, who turned the company into a billion-dollar internet shoe store, shared a golden nugget with Bansal. “Forget all the numbers. Just focus on EPO (earnings per order),” he said. If a company is not making $10 on an order, it can never post proﬁ t. “It got
imprinted in my mind,” says Bansal, adding that he always wanted Lenskart to become a ‘pull’ rather than a ‘push’ brand. “If your business is based on pull, and is 10x better than the others, there is no reason why it should not be proﬁ table,” he contends.
Ask him his biggest fear
and challenge, and the gritty entrepreneur gives a peek into his mind. “I hate living on the edge,” he says. The company, he explains, must have a meaty proﬁ t
so that any major investment doesn’t push it into the loss zone. Whenever Lenskart goes public, he underlines, the bottom line won’t be slender but muscular. “We don’t want to be a ‘just proﬁ table’ business,” he says.
“We want to be ‘a well-proﬁ table
business,” he smiles.
Lenskart has had a fair share of blurry episodes. Bansal points out a few of them. The ﬁ rst
was not spending enough time on containing costs. Call it the curse of a high-margin business, a strong culture of questioning every penny spent was never built. The result was an ever-rising cost. “Overheads kept increasing, and the phase lasted for a few years,” says Bansal. The company slipped into a trap. Small leaks and at times overlapping expenses at multiple points started posing inconspicuous threat.
The co-founder points out
another mistake. “I was always customer-obsessed but not employee-obsessed. It was a big mistake,” he confesses.
Lenskart has also ventured offline to cement its bond with consumers. The impact showed
since FY19 when revenue and conversion picked up

to Uneven etc. Every year the
event is conducted across the
major cities of India to bring
together the architect &
designer community while
indulging in
thought-provoking
conversations. The format
has been inspired from the
Japanese Pecha Kucha
format of presenting 20
slides in 20 sec each, keeping
it short and to the point.
The topic for discussion this
year was “Design- Then &
Now,” taking inspiration from
how design has evolved from
a decade of Pecha Kucha
Kohler India celebrates
Kohler started its ﬁrst Pecha Kucha in the year 2013 as an initiative to provide a platform to some of the top architects to share their thoughts on various design related topics like Wanderlust- Creativity inspired by Travel, Eves- Even
past to present. Design trends are ﬂuid and over the years have changed, evolved and at times circled back from where it had started with many nuances, revamps, and renewals along the way.
To set the context, the
evening started with Mr.
Vishal Chadha’s presentation
(MD Kohler - K&B India &
South Asia), who showcased
the change in design across
various industries from his
own journey. This was
followed by presentations
made by – Qutub Mandviwala
(from MQA), Behzad Kharas
(from The BNK Group),
Kavita Talib (STAPL), Gaurav
Premchandani (from JOI
design), Amber Dar Wagh
(from DAR & Wagh). They
expressed diverse
interpretations of how Design
has evolved and how they
look at the various aspects of
design in today’s era,
with new dimensions and a
new lens.
The concept of design has
changed over the years not
only in Architecture but in
every facet of life. Many
external factors have
impacted design changes and
some of the recent ones have
really made us rethink design
& how it needs to evolve
sustainably in the future. It’s
our ﬁduciary responsibility to
create impactful designs for
a decade of Pecha Kucha
Kohler India celebrated its 10
th
year of Pecha Kucha event on 29
th
July this year in Mumbai at
Opa Kipos, Worli, attended by the top names of A&D Community.
BEHZAD KHARAS
The BNK Group
QUTUB MANDVIWALA
MQA
AMBER DAR WAGH
Interior Designer
KAVITA TALIBI
STAPL
MD Kohler - K&B India &
South Asia
VISHAL CHADHA
GAURAV PREMCHANDANI
JOI Design
the “Now” along with handing over an appreciable “Then” to the next generation.
The event was a huge
success, attended by 110
architects based out of
Mumbai, Ahmedabad & Pune.
BRAND CONNECT

to Uneven etc. Every year the
event is conducted across the
major cities of India to bring
together the architect &
designer community while
indulging in
thought-provoking
conversations. The format
has been inspired from the
Japanese Pecha Kucha
format of presenting 20
slides in 20 sec each, keeping
it short and to the point.
The topic for discussion this
year was “Design- Then &
Now,” taking inspiration from
how design has evolved from
a decade of Pecha Kucha
Kohler India celebrates
Kohler started its ﬁrst Pecha
Kucha in the year 2013 as an
initiative to provide a platform
to some of the top architects
to share their thoughts on
various design related topics
like Wanderlust- Creativity
inspired by Travel, Eves- Even
past to present. Design
trends are ﬂuid and over the
years have changed, evolved
and at times circled back
from where it had started
with many nuances, revamps,
and renewals along the way.
To set the context, the
evening started with Mr.
Vishal Chadha’s presentation
(MD Kohler - K&B India &
South Asia), who showcased
the change in design across
various industries from his
own journey. This was
followed by presentations
made by – Qutub Mandviwala
(from MQA), Behzad Kharas
(from The BNK Group),
Kavita Talib (STAPL), Gaurav
Premchandani (from JOI
design), Amber Dar Wagh
(from DAR & Wagh). They
expressed diverse
interpretations of how Design
has evolved and how they
look at the various aspects of
design in today’s era,
with new dimensions and a
new lens.
The concept of design has
changed over the years not
only in Architecture but in
every facet of life. Many
external factors have
impacted design changes and
some of the recent ones have
really made us rethink design
& how it needs to evolve
sustainably in the future. It’s
our ﬁduciary responsibility to
create impactful designs for
a decade of Pecha Kucha
Kohler India celebrated its 10
th
year of Pecha Kucha event on 29
th
July this year in Mumbai at
Opa Kipos, Worli, attended by the top names of A&D Community.
BEHZAD KHARAS
The BNK Group
QUTUB MANDVIWALA
MQA
AMBER DAR WAGH
Interior Designer
KAVITA TALIBI
STAPL
MD Kohler - K&B India &
South Asia
VISHAL CHADHA
GAURAV PREMCHANDANI
JOI Design
the “Now” along with handing over an appreciable “Then” to the next generation.
The event was a huge
success, attended by 110
architects based out of
Mumbai, Ahmedabad & Pune.
BRAND CONNECT

January 2020,
Sector 44, Gurugram
shaan Mittal was stunned. “It was
probably the smallest offi ce I had
ever seen,” recounts the venture
capitalist. On a Monday morning,
the principal at Sequoia India
landed in Delhi from Bengaluru,
navigated smog and congested roads
to reach Honasa Consumer’s offi ce
in Gurugram. He wanted to quickly
wrap up the last-minute formalities
before closing the series B round
of funding. Ghazal and Varun
Alagh were busy with the R&D
team cramped in the basement of a
building where the parent company
of skincare and beauty brand
Mamaearth was chaotically nestled.
Mittal was dazzled. He expected
some sort of visual relief. But there
was none. “This was the beauty
about the co-founders,” underlines
Mittal, now managing director
with Sequoia India. He explains his
‘pleasant state of surprise’. Started
in 2016 by Ghazal and Varun
Alagh, Mamaearth had raced to an
operating revenue of
`17 crore in
three years—
`22.19 lakh, `5 crore
and
`17 crore in FY17, FY18 and
FY19, respectively. The brand,
which started with toxin-
free babycare products,
was now striking a run-rate
of
`100 crore for FY20.
Mittal now talks about
another pedigree of the
startup, which gave it
enough room to ﬂ ex
its elbows. The direct-
to-consumer brand
had raised over $4
million from Fireside
Ventures, Titan Captial
and a bunch of angels in
its seed and series A round till
January 2020. So a company of
this size was expected to have a
slightly spacious and more modest
corporate headquarters. Right?
“Well, this is what I presumed,”
says Mittal, who had seen a bulk of
startups graduate to a much bigger
space after getting funded. The
Mamaearth co-founders, though,
were the odd ones out. “They
were immensely frugal,” he says.
The constricted size of the
offi ce, however, had nothing to do
with the ﬁ nancials of the startup.
Mamaearth has posted
three consecutive years of
losses—
`30 lakh, `34 lakh
and
`3.5 crore in FY17, FY18
and FY19, respectively—
and was expected to bleed
more in FY20. Queerly,
Mittal sensed an impending
tipping point. Sequoia India
led the series B round of
funding in January 2020
when Mamaearth
raised $20 million.
“Proﬁ table businesses
don’t happen by
serendipity,” he
maintains. “There
has to be a plan.”
Back in 2018, the
husband-wife duo was busy
executing a close-ﬁ sted plan.
Mamaearth roped in actor Shilpa
Shetty Kundra to endorse the
brand. Analysts and critics reacted
strongly. “Another D2C startup
burning money,” was the noise.
There was a ﬁ tting context for the
caustic reception. The combined
38
Ghazal and Varun Alagh built their skincare and beauty empire
Mamaearth on the foundation of frugality. The result is handsome profit
PROFITABLE
UNICORNS
I
By RAJIV SINGH
FORBES INDIA • SEPTEMBER 23, 2022
PENNY WISE,
POUND FULLISH
2
Mamaearth
has been
profitable for
consecutive
years

losses of ﬁ ve of India’s most funded
internet ﬁ rms—Paytm, Flipkart,
MakeMyTrip India, Swiggy and
Zomato—stood at
`7,800 crore in
FY18, according to data quoting
business intelligence research
platform Toﬂ er. The Alaghs,
though, stayed unfazed. “We did
an equity deal with the celeb. She
invested in the company, and we
didn’t pay her,” says Varun. “Humne
cash bachaya [we saved cash],”
chips in Ghazal. “Having clarity on
what not to do is more important
than aligning what all to do.”
The ﬁ rst-time entrepreneurs,
for their part, had crystal clarity
on their nays. Early in the journey,
when some backers insisted on
hiring experienced professionals
from bigger rivals such as Unilever,
the co-founders put their foot down.
Expensive hires, the entrepreneurs
argued, would dent the P&L of
the startup. The logic was simple.
A costly senior executive would
bring in a team that would come
at a heavy cost. “No doubt we
would have got highly skilled
staff but the question was at what
39
“Knowing what
not to do is
more important
than knowing
what all to do.”
GHAZAL ALAGH,
co-founder and chief
innovation officer,
Honasa Consumer
“Frugality is in
our DNA. It
comes from our
middle-class
background.”
VARUN ALAGH,
co-founder & CEO,
Honasa Consumer
SEPTEMBER 23, 2022 • FORBES INDIA
AMIT VERMA

FY21
cost,” says Varun. In a lot of cases,
he explains, startups have high
burn because they bring in really
expensive talent at an early stage.
“We needed hustlers who didn’t
cost a bomb,” adds Ghazal.
Another instance of keeping
costs under control was delaying
Mamaearth’s debut on television.
Pressure, again, was immense and
thrusted quite early. “Itna paisa
pada hua hai bank mein, tum TV ad
kar lo [there is so much of money
lying in the bank. Do a TV ad],” was
a strong pitch made by a bunch of
VCs in 2018. “This would help in
multiplying sales,” they argued,
rooting for an aggressive marketing
and promotional blitzkrieg. Yet
another suggestion was to expand
outside the country. After all,
new geographies would lead to
a spurt in sales and widening of
consumer base. The third advice
was to foray into the home care
segment. Again, the move made
sense. HUL and P&G were cited as
great examples and the huge total
addressable market (TAM) of the
segment was dangled as a carrot.
The co-founders balked at all the
ideas. Without a comprehensive
retail footprint and distribution
network, Ghazal led the counter-
charge, saying that spending
precious moolah on TV would hurt.
“You need to learn to walk before
running,” she says. She also deﬂ ated
the home care balloon by citing an
aborted experiment in 2018. The
co-founders entered the business of
dietary supplements for expecting
and new mothers. Though there
was a healthy demand for products
such as organic apple cider vinegar
and plant-based Omega 3, the pilot
was shuttered after four months.
“We realised that such products was
not core to the DNA of Mamaearth,”
says Varun. “Continuing with
it would have made us lose
our focus,” Ghazal adds.
Eventually, Mamaearth did
appear on TV when it sponsored
40
PROFITABLE
UNICORNS
FORBES INDIA • SEPTEMBER 23, 2022
SOURCE Filings and Industry; FY22 numbers are
unaudited
Cash Inflow from Operations for FY 22 is undisclosed
Profit for FY 22 is undisclosed
EBITDA Margin (%) for FY 22
is undisclosed
STARTED IN: 2016
TOTAL FUNDING: `650.1 cr
LAST FUNDING ROUND: `284 cr in
January
VALUATION:
$1.2 billion
BACKERS: Sequoia Captial and
Global, Stellaris Venture, Titan
Capital, Fireside Venture,
Shaarp Venture, Sofina and
Evolvence
NAME, GAME & FAME
Honasa Consumer
Profit
(` crore)
EBITDA Margin(` crore)
FY20
-5.9
FY19
-3.5
FY18
-0.34
-0.30
FY17
24.6
Cash outflow
from operations
(` crore)
FY20 FY21
29
-11
reality show Bigg Boss in December
2020. But by then, the startup was
galloping. It was well on its way to
post a four-fold jump in operating
revenue, and post its maiden proﬁ t
after four years of consecutive
losses. Subsequently, it entered the
Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)
region in December 2020, starting
with the UAE, and reportedly
expanded to Nepal, Bangladesh
and Sri Lanka. It closed FY21 by
posting its ﬁ rst proﬁ t:
`24.6 crore.
“Inherently the realisation that
businesses exist to make proﬁ ts has
always been there,” says Varun.
There was no let-up in growth,
funding and valuation. In July 2021,
Mamaearth was valued at $730
million when Belgian investment
fund Soﬁ na led a new funding round
of $50 million. After six months,
it raised $52 million in a new
round led by Sequoia and entered
the unicorn club this January. It
claims to be a unicorn that has
posted proﬁ t for two consecutive
years. “We are proﬁ table in FY22
as well,” claims Varun, declining
to share the unaudited numbers.
Revenue, meanwhile, doubled:
From
`461 crore in FY21 to around
`920 crore in FY22. The company

FY17
-136
FY18
-6.4
FY19
-20.5
FY20
-5.1
FY21
5.6
Operating
revenue
(` crore)
FY22
920
FY21
461
FY20
110
FY19
17
FY18
5
FY17
0.22

is yet to ﬁ le the audited numbers
for FY22, and is preparing to tap
the public market next year. “The
operating revenue has doubled,”
says a high-ranking offi cial sharing
data on condition of anonymity.
“It will get listed as a proﬁ table
unicorn,” the source underlines,
adding that the startup has
negative working capital now.
From a baby in 2016, which
posted a few lakhs in revenue in the
ﬁ rst year of operation, Mamaearth
has morphed into a beauty and
skincare Goliath which is now
ﬁ ne-tuning its ‘house of brands’
strategy. While it bought three
companies— Mompresso, BBlunt
and Dr Sheth’s—it has built its own
army of brands—The Derma Co,
Aqualogica and Ayuga—over the
last two years. With a valuation
of $1.2 billion, a swelling topline
and positive bottomline, and a
battery of marquee VCs who
have pumped in
`650.1 crore so
far, Mamaearth is now gunning
for glory in the IPO market.
The backers sum up the
blistering six-year journey in one
word: Frugality. “They have been
running a tight ship,” says Mittal
of Sequoia. One of the cultural
aspects of a frugal startup striving
to build a proﬁ table venture,
he reckons, is to stay extremely
close to the ground. Even today,
senior leaders at Mamaearth go
to the market, talk to consumers
and are in sync with the taste of
the users. While conceding that
structural reasons might make some
businesses more proﬁ table than
others—FMCG and personal care
is a high margin business; in some
cases as high as 70 percent—Mittal
points out what makes Mamaearth
special: Not all beauty and personal
care players are proﬁ table!
So what is the most critical thing
that helps an entrepreneur post
proﬁ t? Is it the high gross margin
inherent in a business? Is it staying
thrifty? Or is it lack of competition
41
MAMAEARTH (HONASA CONSUMER)
SEPTEMBER 23, 2022 • FORBES INDIA
which leads to negligible cash burn? Mittal reckons all play a part but the fulcrum has to be an attitude. “Turning proﬁ table is 100 percent
about having a proﬁ table mindset.
You need to be conditioned to post proﬁ t,” he maintains. If companies
are in losses for years and then they decide to take a U-turn, it’s not easy. “You need to be determined to run a proﬁ table business. And
it’s not easy,” he says, adding that the founder needs to make tonnes of hard choices. Take, for instance, the temptation of top guns. There are phenomenal executives but they come at a much higher cost. “To leave them or on-board them is often a tough choice,” he says.
Turning proﬁ table, interestingly,
is not just a ﬁ nancial plan. There’s
also a lot of cultural decisions that one makes. Take, for example, the cost that one is willing to bring into the company. Though variable margin structure is often discussed, ﬁ xed costs are equally important,
underlines Mittal. Increasing ﬁ xed
costs too much early on, with the
hope to get to operating leverage with scale, can push out achieving proﬁ tability. “Creating a culture
of thoughtful expenditure can go a long way in becoming a proﬁ table
company,” he underlines.
Meanwhile, Varun and Ghazal
talk about the challenges for Honasa Consumer. The biggest is continuing to grow disruptively at a brisk pace. “In a hyper-competitive market, to keep growing ahead of the curve is a challenge,” says Varun. His partner talks about another interesting threat: Offl ine
expansion. Mamaearth was born as a digital-native brand but has furiously expanded its offl ine
footprint—available in over 40,000 stores across 100 cities—over the last few years. “Physical outlets are not natural to us,” says Ghazal, adding that it’s where traditional rivals are strongly entrenched. “So winning the offl ine battle is
going to be another challenge.”
The third tough task is the
one that will test the DNA of the company. Varun explains. Mamaearth is no longer a boat. It has evolved into a big ship. How to steer the ship proﬁ tably
and continuously is a challenge. Varun, though, now talks about the unexplored opportunity. Around 71 percent of the Earth is covered with water. “Our ship has just started the voyage,” he signs off .
Mamaearth’s exclusive store at the Phoenix Marketcity mall in Mumbai
“Profitable
businesses don't
happen by
serendipity.
There has to be
a plan.”
ISHAAN MITTAL, MD,
SEQUOIA INDIA

42
FORBES INDIA • SEPTEMBER 23, 2022
THE DARK HORSE WHO
A decade ago, there were heroes, superheroes and
Prashant Pitti, who was ‘the boy next door’. While
most tripped during the journey, EaseMyTrip
continued its profitable run
PROFITABLE
UNICORNS
he message was clear. Cleartrip
was switching gears. Born in 2006,
the online travel player started
galloping at a furious pace. It posted
a heady revenue of ` 253.7 crore
in FY16 as against ` 192 crore in
FY15, existing backers—US-based
Concur Technologies and Gund
Investment—infused a fresh round
of capital at a valuation of $300
million, the travel ticketing biggie
took its overall funding tally to
around $75 million, and boasted of
14 million app downloads till 2016.
Interestingly, Cleartrip’s paltry
loss of ` 64.6 crore in FY16—it was
`29 crore in FY15—fell on the blind
spot of every stakeholder. The
name of the game was land grab,
By RAJIV SINGH
T
Mumbai, 2016 and the rules were clear: Growth at all cost. Loaded with cash, the Mumbai-based online travel platform rolled out ‘Local’, a service which enabled urban dwellers to explore cities by off ering a host
of activities such as adventures, tours, workshops, events and ﬁ tness. It also launched a new TV
commercial with a tagline: ‘There’s a lot happening around you’.
Meanwhile, in Delhi, the
message was clear. There was nothing much happening around EaseMyTrip, which was stuck in the ﬁ rst gear. Founded by the Pitti brothers—Nishant, Prashant and Rikant—in 2008, EaseMyTrip started as a platform for travel agents to sell air tickets and posted sedate growth till 2016. It remained bootstrapped as venture capitalists (VC) didn’t ﬁ nd any merit in backing Cleartrip’s
insigniﬁ cant rival, which had not even touched the ` 50 crore-revenue
mark by FY16. “We were never on the radar of VCs,” quips Prashant. “For them, we had missed the bus.”
What matched the placid pace of
EaseMyTrip’s growth, though, was the speed at which it ﬂ exed its arms. From a one-room, 200 sq ft offi ce
in an obscure part of East Delhi— from where EaseMyTrip was born and operated during the ﬁ rst three
as
ound
ck in
as a
o sell
e growth
rapped
didn’t
eartrip’s
AMIT VERMA

43
GALLOPED AHEAD
“We were always the dark horse.
Public market made us a unicorn.”
PRASHANT PITTI, co-founder, EaseMyTrip
EASEMYTRIP

years—the company graduated to a
450 sq ft headquarters. Not all were
thinking and acting small, though.
In 2012, much bigger global rival
Expedia shifted its India team to a
new offi ce in Gurugram which was
spread over a staggering 42,000
sq ft. And in 2016, EaseMyTrip
graduated to a 1,200 sq ft workplace.
Now the homegrown laggard,
which had been consistently posting
pony proﬁ ts from the ﬁ rst year
of operations, started to trot.
A lot was happening in 2016 as
far as the big boys were concerned.
In February, ecommerce major
Ibibo Group raised $250 million
from its major backer Naspers.
The group, which then operated
hotel and ﬂ ight booking platform
Goibibo, redBus and YourBus, too,
was growing aggressively. From
October to December 2015, it
claimed to have processed over 6.5
million transactions, and bookings
of 1.6 million hotel rooms. The
backers were bullish and backing
the challenger brand to the hilt
in its cash-guzzling ﬁ ght against
the leader, MakeMyTrip, which
posted a revenue of $336 million,
and a loss of $88.5 million in FY16.
Another ‘hero’ in the travel
segment—the Salman Khan-
endorsed Yatra—was also dashing
at a brisk pace. The online travel
major, which started in 2006 and
reportedly clocked net revenues
and net loss of ` 354.4 crore and
`88.9 crore, respectively, in
FY15 was getting ready to
get listed on the Nasdaq.
Another player—B2B travel
platform Travel Boutique
Online (TBO)—too had
shown remarkable
growth. The company
reportedly had 45
offi ces in India, a
presence in Dubai
and revenue of over
`200 crore in FY16. In
fact, by the end of 2016,
almost all kinds of online
travel players were much bigger
than EaseMyTrip. Though the Pitti
brothers were in the fray, they were
nothing more than a fringe player.
Fast forward to 2022. Goibibo
was bought by MakeMyTrip in 2017;
Via.com was acquired by Ebix the
same year; Cleartrip was snapped
up by Flipkart in 2021; Yatra has
become a fringe B2C player; battered
by the pandemic, global biggie
Expedia has drastically shrunk its
India operations; and MakeMyTrip
is still in losses, though it keeps
talking about its intent
to post proﬁ t. And there
is EaseMyTrip, which has
emerged as the dark horse.
After surviving the
bloodbath of the last decade
and the pandemic onslaught,
the Pitti brothers listed their
bootstrapped company in March
2021. Last September,
EaseMyTrip entered
into the unicorn club
when its market cap
crossed $1 billion. The
underdog continued
with its unbeaten
proﬁ table streak, and
notched up a gain of
`105.73 crore on an operating
44
FORBES INDIA • SEPTEMBER 23, 2022
PROFITABLE
UNICORNS
VALUATION:
` 8,540 crore
STARTED IN: 2008
TOTAL FUNDING:
Bootstrapped unicorn
LAST FUNDING ROUND:
Got listed in
March 2021
BACKERS: No private funding
or PE investment
NAME, GAME & FAME
Easy Trip Planners
(EaseMyTrip)
Profit
(` crore)
EBITDA Margin
(%)
FY18
FY18
FY18
FY18
FY19
FY19
FY19
FY19
FY20
FY20
FY20
FY20
FY21
FY21
FY21
FY21
FY22
FY22
FY22
FY22
105.73
61.41
33.02
23.97
0.18
Operating Revenue
(` crore)
235.4
138.5
162.05
131.2
104.5
Cash Inflow from
Operations
(` crore)
58.8
27.56
29.65
10.81
20.19
12.8
70.18
27.46
73.85
58.09
always
Easemytrip
has
been
profitable
SOURCE Filings; FY22 numbers are unaudited

revenue of ` 235.37 for FY22. “Our
valuation was decided by the public
market. They made us a unicorn,
not the VCs,” says Prashant, who
has emerged as an unlikely hero.
Prashant off ers an explanation
for what is apparently inexplicable:
How on Earth, EaseMyTrip
survived, ﬂ ourished and emerged
as the second-largest OTA player
in India? “I have read my obituary
countless times,” he smiles. The
survival logic is simple. “More
organisations die of indigestion
than starvation,” the founder
quotes David Packard. The biggest
superpower of EaseMyTrip,
Prashant stresses, is that the
company was always an underdog.
“We were never under pressure. We
fell on the blind spot of everybody,
except the users,” he smiles. The
company never had a rival because
nobody considered EaseMyTrip
as a worthy competitor. ”We only
had ourselves to contend with.”
The second positive—a blessing
in disguise—was a bootstrapped
journey. “Nobody gave us money.
So we didn’t have money to burn,”
he laughs. The ﬁ nancial discipline
inculcated by the reality that the
company was not dependant on
outside money helped in a couple
of ways. First was that emphasis on
in-house talent became the norm.
Costly hires were not possible and
the ones working were trained
in all functions. Over half of the
headcount, Prashant underlines, was
taking care of call centre operations.
The ones who did well in all aspects
were promoted to managerial levels.
A third enabling factor was
running its own call centres. While
most of the rivals outsourced,
EaseMyTrip decided on the
contrary. “Customers want two
things: Cheap price and better
service,” he contends. Though
the Pitti brothers could never
match the high discounting game
played by their deep-pocketed
rivals, what gave them an edge
was the decision to charge zero
processing fees. “We never did
and still don’t do it,” he says.
Spending the ﬁ rst few years in
the B2B business and focusing on
travel agents was yet another plus.
What this meant, he lets on, was that
when the big boys were bleeding
and ﬁ ghting, EaseMyTrip was
growing slowly. With most of the
rivals disappearing or losing sting,
the discounting war too tapered
out. This helped EaseMyTrip in
getting value-focussed customers
and not bargain hunters. Look at
the numbers. Revenue jumped from
`131.19 crore in FY19 to ` 235.37
crore in FY22. “Others kept losing
value… and our value started getting
more appreciated,” says Prashant.
After the listing, the value got
noticed by everybody. “Their
focussed, capital-light, low-cost,
and no-frills approach sets it apart
from the rest of the OTA business
in terms of proﬁ tability and
cash ﬂ ow,” underlines Monarch
Networth Capital in its latest
brokerage report on EaseMyTrip.
The ‘no convenience fee’ policy
worked quite well for the company,
and with word-of-mouth, they
started getting more users on
their platform. “The company
has had an over 80 percent repeat
transaction rate in the last ﬁ ve
years,” the report released in
August points out, adding that
from 2016 to 2020, EaseMyTrip
grew at more than 50 percent
per year in the B2C business.
The challenge now for
EaseMyTrip is to stick to its frugal
DNA. While the company generated
adjusted revenue of ` 131.51 crore
in the quarter ended June 30, an
increase of 169 percent over the
corresponding quarter last year,
and also more than doubled its
net proﬁ t to `33.76 crore during
the same period, it has to keep a
ﬁ rm eye on cost. The marketing
and sales promotion expenses
increased by 276.1 percent to
`10.38 crore from ` 2.76 crore.
Prashant contends the
company will always stay true to
its core. “Growing proﬁ tably is a
habit,” he says. “One can’t learn
it or unlearn it quickly.”
45
SETEMBER 23, 2022 • FORBES INDIA
“Their focussed, capital-light, low-cost, and no-frills approach
set it apart from the rest.”
MONARCH NETWORTH CAPITAL IN ITS AUGUST BROKERAGE REPORT
EASEMYTRIP
EaseMyTrip could never match the high-discount game in the industry, but stood out with
their decision to charge zero processing fees

O
ver the last many decades, the real
estate sector has remained resilient
in the face of countless challenges
and pressures. The pandemic, an
unprecedented once-in-a-century event,
slammed the brakes on many industries.
The real estate sector, however, has
figured out ways to survive through
innovative use of technology and change
in business models. To understand this
renewed sense of optimism and discuss
how medium to long term projections
will translate into action, Forbes India and
Barclays Private Clients collaborated on
“Space to Grow”, the Real Estate Roundtable.
What followed was a riveting panel
discussion among Mr. Narayan Shroff,
Head of investments, Barclays Private
Clients; Mr. Kaushik Desai, Managing
Partner WSB Real Estate Partners
(formerly “Walton Street India”); Mr.
Murali Krishna V, Head of Investments
and Strategy, Kolte-Patil Group; Shridhar
Narayan, Group Director and CEO
Infrastructure, Hiranandani Group and
Mr. Krishnan S Iyer, Executive Director,
NDR Warehousing.
The pandemic forced everyone
indoors and “we discovered our housing
market from a different parlance”, said Mr.
Shroff. The typical theme was “work from
home”. Today, there is a lot of demand for
more space in residential real estate.
The definition of “office” has changed
On the commercial side, however, he felt
that “a hybrid model” would be here to
stay and that the industry should prepare
itself for this new order.
Mr Murali, on the other hand, believed
that the shakeup on account of the
pandemic was only temporary. Companies
that laid off thousands of employees would
eventually turn a corner and recruit in
droves. Despite the hybrid nature of work,
there will always be a robust demand for
commercial real estate. “Most real estate
developers are doing better than they were
during the pre-pandemic time,” he said.
From affordable housing to
affordable luxury
After the nationwide lockdowns, the
real estate sector has seen “a V-shaped
recovery”, said Mr Desai. With almost all
members of the family having to squeeze
in their work over laptops, the need for
bigger homes has been higher than ever
before. “You need to plan for these things.
There was a realisation that there is a need
for a good house. This has enabled an
uptick in demand”, he said.
“Earlier it was all about affordable
housing”, agreed Mr Shridhar. Now
it’s about “affordable luxury”. The
modern consumer wants utility but
not at prohibitive rates. Also, what was
previously construed as a luxury has now
become a necessity.
Warehousing: Taking flight
Warehouses were among the few sub- segments that grew at a scorching pace during the pandemic. “We grew the most during the pandemic”, said Mr Iyer. It wasn’t a cakewalk, he admits. “It was tough to find the right manpower and material, but we did it somehow”. A whopping 2.5-3 million square feet of warehousing needs were met in quick time. At the same time, the clients are ever so demanding and “want a project to be done in the minimum possible time with the same quality”.
The tremendous growth we have
witnessed in the technology, startups, “asset-light” businesses, has opened up an opportunity, with decent risk premium, in the “asset ownership and leasing” space.
Office serendipity spurs innovation
There is a lot of merit to attending an office in its physical form. “Ideation, conference room talk, your talk by the coffee machine is equally important. So the commercial office space will grow”, said Mr Shridhar while pointing to the serendipitous moments that physical spaces allow for unlike virtual meetings that are planned in advance.
For the real estate sector to grow
consistently, the allied infrastructure, too, needs to get a fillip. In that regard, the government deserves a lot of credit, reckoned Mr Iyer. Before the pandemic, about 20-24km of roads were being built daily. Today, the figure is around 35- 36km, a staggering feat.
Unlearn old business models to
imbibe new ones
Business models, too, are getting
disrupted. Previously, it was all about
“fixed rental''. Today “revenue-sharing
model” is the new way of doing business,
especially in co-working spaces, said Mr
Murali. Similarly, unlike the traditional
model where warehouses were leased at
one go, today, “data centres pay based on
the number of racks or servers they put
in”, said Mr Iyer.
All in all though, a paradigm shift
in the sector will be brought about by
technology, said Mr Shroff. Applications
of technology like Artificial Intelligence
and 3D printing will bring in efficiencies,
he said. Big data, for instance, can
be harnessed for predictive analytics
to decide a space, sales strategy,
understanding the customer’s tastes
and preferences and even the building
infrastructure, said Mr Murali.
Data can be “sliced and diced”, said
Mr Desai to garner meaningful insights.
“I think it’s going to play a very important
part and there’s a huge scope for it”. He
also pointed to some “positive macros”
too. “Affordability is at an all-time high
and per capita income is increasing”.
This bodes well for the entire sector in
general. “It’s a good time for the real estate
sector in the next decade and I am very
optimistic about it.”
Some outfits, including their own,
have even used drones to monitor
projects, said Mr Iyer. In the long term, the
outlook for the sector is “very positive”,
he added. The Environmental, Social and
Governance (ESG) perspective, too, has
become the need of the hour. “We plan to
go solar on almost all our warehouses. We
are careful about how we consume water
and how we consume electricity”.
Small wonder that there are around
1,077 real estate tech startups in India,
according to Traxn, a data provider. The
pandemic has turned out to be a catalyst
for the real estate sector, both commercial
and residential, to reinvent itself.
In the end, the biggest beneficiaries of
Proptech, short for property technology,
would be customers. And this will
translate to the bottom line too. “Even
if the proportion of technology spent
is small, the impact on the profitability
could be really high”, said Mr Shroff.
The biggest paradigm shift we
have witnessed in the Indian real
estate market has been Quality i.e.
significant improvement in governance,
transparency and credibility. The
consolidation seen in industry, presence
of large global and local institutional
investors in the space as well as a growing
local REITs/InvITs market is also a proof
of its growing attraction compared to US
or Chinese property markets. It is well
positioned over the coming decade in
attracting significant investments and in
generating employment in the country.
Space to Grow: The
Real Estate Roundtable
(From L to R) Mr. Murali Krishna V, Head of Investments and Strategy, Kolte-Patil Group; Mr. Kaushik Desai, Managing Partner, WSB
Real Estate Partners (formerly “Walton Street India”); Shridhar Narayan, Group Director and CEO Infrastructure, Hiranandani Group;
Mr. Krishnan S Iyer, Executive Director, NDR Warehousing and Mr. Narayan Shroff, Head of investments, Barclays Private Clients.
In the end, the biggest
beneficiaries of Proptech, short for
property technology, would be
customers. And this will translate
to the bottom line too. “Even if
the proportion of technology
spent is small, the impact on the
profitability could be really high.”
The Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) perspective, too, has become the need of the hour. “We plan to go solar on almost all our warehouses. We are careful about how we consume water and how we consume electricity”.
All-time high affordability and rising per capita income suggest that residential real estate is going to do well
this decade.
There is a lot of merit to attending an office in its physical form. “Ideation, conference room talk, your talk by the coffee machine is equally important. So the commercial office space will grow.”
Business models, too, are getting disrupted. Previously, it was all about “fixed rental''. Today “revenue-sharing model” is the new way of doing business, especially in co-working spaces.
Mr. Narayan Shroff,
Head of investments,
Barclays Private Clients Mr. Krishnan S Iyer, Executive Director, NDR Warehousing
Mr. Kaushik Desai, Managing Partner WSB Real Estate Partners
Mr. Shridhar Narayan, Group Director and CEO Infrastructure, Hiranandani Group;
Mr. Murali Krishna V, Head of Investments and Strategy, Kolte-Patil Group.
In an engaging roundtable discussion, industry stalwarts talk about exciting
opportunities of the real estate sector in the post-pandemic world.

O
ver the last many decades, the real
estate sector has remained resilient
in the face of countless challenges
and pressures. The pandemic, an
unprecedented once-in-a-century event,
slammed the brakes on many industries.
The real estate sector, however, has
figured out ways to survive through
innovative use of technology and change
in business models. To understand this
renewed sense of optimism and discuss
how medium to long term projections
will translate into action, Forbes India and
Barclays Private Clients collaborated on
“Space to Grow”, the Real Estate Roundtable.
What followed was a riveting panel
discussion among Mr. Narayan Shroff,
Head of investments, Barclays Private
Clients; Mr. Kaushik Desai, Managing
Partner WSB Real Estate Partners
(formerly “Walton Street India”); Mr.
Murali Krishna V, Head of Investments
and Strategy, Kolte-Patil Group; Shridhar
Narayan, Group Director and CEO
Infrastructure, Hiranandani Group and
Mr. Krishnan S Iyer, Executive Director,
NDR Warehousing.
The pandemic forced everyone
indoors and “we discovered our housing
market from a different parlance”, said Mr.
Shroff. The typical theme was “work from
home”. Today, there is a lot of demand for
more space in residential real estate.
The definition of “office” has changed
On the commercial side, however, he felt
that “a hybrid model” would be here to
stay and that the industry should prepare
itself for this new order.
Mr Murali, on the other hand, believed
that the shakeup on account of the
pandemic was only temporary. Companies
that laid off thousands of employees would
eventually turn a corner and recruit in
droves. Despite the hybrid nature of work,
there will always be a robust demand for
commercial real estate. “Most real estate
developers are doing better than they were
during the pre-pandemic time,” he said.
From affordable housing to
affordable luxury
After the nationwide lockdowns, the
real estate sector has seen “a V-shaped
recovery”, said Mr Desai. With almost all
members of the family having to squeeze
in their work over laptops, the need for
bigger homes has been higher than ever
before. “You need to plan for these things.
There was a realisation that there is a need
for a good house. This has enabled an
uptick in demand”, he said.
“Earlier it was all about affordable
housing”, agreed Mr Shridhar. Now
it’s about “affordable luxury”. The
modern consumer wants utility but
not at prohibitive rates. Also, what was
previously construed as a luxury has now
become a necessity.
Warehousing: Taking flight
Warehouses were among the few sub-
segments that grew at a scorching pace
during the pandemic. “We grew the
most during the pandemic”, said Mr
Iyer. It wasn’t a cakewalk, he admits. “It
was tough to find the right manpower
and material, but we did it somehow”.
A whopping 2.5-3 million square feet of
warehousing needs were met in quick
time. At the same time, the clients are
ever so demanding and “want a project
to be done in the minimum possible time
with the same quality”.
The tremendous growth we have
witnessed in the technology, startups,
“asset-light” businesses, has opened up an
opportunity, with decent risk premium, in
the “asset ownership and leasing” space.
Office serendipity spurs innovation
There is a lot of merit to attending an
office in its physical form. “Ideation,
conference room talk, your talk by the
coffee machine is equally important. So
the commercial office space will grow”,
said Mr Shridhar while pointing to the
serendipitous moments that physical
spaces allow for unlike virtual meetings
that are planned in advance.
For the real estate sector to grow
consistently, the allied infrastructure,
too, needs to get a fillip. In that regard,
the government deserves a lot of credit,
reckoned Mr Iyer. Before the pandemic,
about 20-24km of roads were being built
daily. Today, the figure is around 35-
36km, a staggering feat.
Unlearn old business models to
imbibe new ones
Business models, too, are getting
disrupted. Previously, it was all about
“fixed rental''. Today “revenue-sharing
model” is the new way of doing business,
especially in co-working spaces, said Mr
Murali. Similarly, unlike the traditional
model where warehouses were leased at
one go, today, “data centres pay based on
the number of racks or servers they put
in”, said Mr Iyer.
All in all though, a paradigm shift
in the sector will be brought about by
technology, said Mr Shroff. Applications
of technology like Artificial Intelligence
and 3D printing will bring in efficiencies,
he said. Big data, for instance, can
be harnessed for predictive analytics
to decide a space, sales strategy,
understanding the customer’s tastes
and preferences and even the building
infrastructure, said Mr Murali.
Data can be “sliced and diced”, said
Mr Desai to garner meaningful insights.
“I think it’s going to play a very important
part and there’s a huge scope for it”. He
also pointed to some “positive macros”
too. “Affordability is at an all-time high
and per capita income is increasing”.
This bodes well for the entire sector in
general. “It’s a good time for the real estate
sector in the next decade and I am very
optimistic about it.”
Some outfits, including their own,
have even used drones to monitor
projects, said Mr Iyer. In the long term, the
outlook for the sector is “very positive”,
he added. The Environmental, Social and
Governance (ESG) perspective, too, has
become the need of the hour. “We plan to
go solar on almost all our warehouses. We
are careful about how we consume water
and how we consume electricity”.
Small wonder that there are around
1,077 real estate tech startups in India,
according to Traxn, a data provider. The
pandemic has turned out to be a catalyst
for the real estate sector, both commercial
and residential, to reinvent itself.
In the end, the biggest beneficiaries of
Proptech, short for property technology,
would be customers. And this will
translate to the bottom line too. “Even
if the proportion of technology spent
is small, the impact on the profitability
could be really high”, said Mr Shroff.
The biggest paradigm shift we
have witnessed in the Indian real
estate market has been Quality i.e.
significant improvement in governance,
transparency and credibility. The
consolidation seen in industry, presence
of large global and local institutional
investors in the space as well as a growing
local REITs/InvITs market is also a proof
of its growing attraction compared to US
or Chinese property markets. It is well
positioned over the coming decade in
attracting significant investments and in
generating employment in the country.
Space to Grow: The
Real Estate Roundtable
(From L to R) Mr. Murali Krishna V, Head of Investments and Strategy, Kolte-Patil Group; Mr. Kaushik Desai, Managing Partner, WSB
Real Estate Partners (formerly “Walton Street India”); Shridhar Narayan, Group Director and CEO Infrastructure, Hiranandani Group;
Mr. Krishnan S Iyer, Executive Director, NDR Warehousing and Mr. Narayan Shroff, Head of investments, Barclays Private Clients.
In the end, the biggest
beneficiaries of Proptech, short for
property technology, would be
customers. And this will translate
to the bottom line too. “Even if
the proportion of technology
spent is small, the impact on the
profitability could be really high.”
The Environmental, Social and
Governance (ESG) perspective,
too, has become the need of
the hour. “We plan to go solar
on almost all our warehouses.
We are careful about how we
consume water and how we
consume electricity”.
All-time high affordability
and rising per capita income
suggest that residential real
estate is going to do well
this decade.
There is a lot of merit to
attending an office in its
physical form. “Ideation,
conference room talk, your talk
by the coffee machine is equally
important. So the commercial
office space will grow.”
Business models, too, are getting
disrupted. Previously, it was
all about “fixed rental''. Today
“revenue-sharing model” is
the new way of doing business,
especially in co-working spaces.
Mr. Narayan Shroff,
Head of investments,
Barclays Private Clients Mr. Krishnan S Iyer,
Executive Director,
NDR Warehousing
Mr. Kaushik Desai, Managing Partner WSB Real Estate Partners
Mr. Shridhar Narayan, Group Director and CEO Infrastructure, Hiranandani Group;
Mr. Murali Krishna V, Head of Investments and Strategy, Kolte-Patil Group.
In an engaging roundtable discussion, industry stalwarts talk about exciting
opportunities of the real estate sector in the post-pandemic world.

48
PIVOTING FOR PROFITS
As India’s two crypto unicorns look at other avenues, the future of crypto
intermediaries depends squarely on future regulations
PROFITABLE
UNICORNS
P
By SALIL PANCHAL
FORBES INDIA • SEPTEMBER 23, 2022
ain is probably the only emotion
that founders of crypto currency
exchanges and retail traders in
crypto coins share at this moment.
The businesses of intermediaries
have been impacted by a sustained
shrinking of trading volumes and
undue attention from investigation
agencies over contravention of
forex guidelines. Investors have
been hurt by discomforting taxes
and signiﬁ cant losses, which
threaten to make the future of
crypto trading uncertain.
The present puts into haze
the story of India’s only two
crypto unicorns—CoinDCX and
CoinSwitch Kuber. But just a few
years ago, these entrepreneurs
had, even while creating the
exchanges, muscled their way
through adversities as these are
new-world, volatile, unregulated,
digital assets operating in a
complex ecosystem. Not a friendly
environment for regulators and
policy makers to deal with.
While data on adoption and
access to crypto currency diff ers
wildly, India ranked second in the
world in Chainalysis’s 2021 global
crypto adoption index and sixth
SHUTTERSTOCK

in the global decentralised ﬁ nance
(Deﬁ ) adoption index. Technology
and the lure of quick money got
Indians to leap towards crypto
trading. After all, investing in stocks
could take days to start, involving
stringent KYC documentation.
But for cryptocurrencies, it
could take just a few hours.
Pivoting after the RBI
ban overturn
All successful corporate and
entrepreneurship journeys have
their moments of serendipity and
events attached to them. Prior to
launching CoinSwitch, Ashish
Singhal had been participating
in several hackathons—most
of them Sequoia-led—and was
looking to launch his own venture,
after working at Amazon and
interning at Microsoft. “There
was this one critical moment
that wasn’t planned. It was how
Vimal, our co-founder and COO,
joined us in the journey,” says
Singhal, CEO of CoinSwitch.
In 2017, Singhal had just
returned from the US and, with
friend Govind Soni, had plans
for a new product. This was a
global aggregator service to help
discover the best crypto prices
on a metasearch platform.
Soni and Singhal launched a
Facebook page to promote the
product, which was spotted by
Vimal, who reached out and
joined them. “They came across
as a very clever, enterprising and
energetic team, which was a strong
signal for us. Their coin exchange
business was always proﬁ table,”
says Shailesh Lakhani, managing
director of Sequoia India. “They
got more ambitious with time. If
you had suggested in 2018 that they
would become as big and successful
as they are today, I don’t think
they would have believed it, but
they kept on pushing themselves
to see what they could achieve.”
CoinSwitch could not have
49
SEPTEMBER 23, 2022 • FORBES INDIA
CRYPTO
an India-centric product after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in 2018 banned all regulated banks from facilitating crypto transactions. But the pivot for the company came when, in 2020, the Supreme Court overturned the RBI ban. It gave Singhal and his team the opportunity to create the structure they wanted to, that retail investors would understand and adopt quickly.
In four rounds of funding
(including seed), CoinSwitch has raised around $302 million, from investors such as Sequoia Capital, Ribbit Capital, Tiger Global, Coinbase and Silicon Valley venture capital (VC) ﬁ rm Andreessen
Horowitz. The latest funding round closed in October 2021, and valued it at $1.91 billion, making it India’s latest crypto unicorn. Another two unicorns, Polygon and 5ire, are in the Web3 infrastructure and blockchain space respectively.
The 2018 RBI ban had also
impacted CoinSwitch’s rival
CoinDCX, which went on to become India’s ﬁ rst crypto unicorn in August 2021. The story goes that IIT Bombay alumni Sumit Gupta and Neeraj Khandelwal had a plan to provide cryptocurrency trading for investors through CoinDCX. They company had planned to complete its seed round of funding when the RBI move came, causing potential investors to back out.
It forced Gupta and Khandelwal
to bank on their own savings and keep the business running for a few more months. When the ban was overturned, investors such as Polychain and Bain Capital helped raise $3 million in the ﬁ rst round.
This was followed by four more
rounds, the latest being a $135 million series D funding this April from Kindred Ventures, Steadview Capital and existing investor Pantera. The crypto trading craze of 2020-21 saw CoinDCX double its valuation in eight months to $2.15 billion this April. Coinbase’s venture arm has invested in both of India’s crypto unicorns. CoinDCX offi cials declined to
participate in this article.
The rush to earn
The overturning of the RBI circular
gave a fresh lease of life not just to
CoinDCX and CoinSwitch, but also
helped other crypto exchanges such
as WazirX, ZebPay and Unocoin
build their businesses in a more
robust manner, as retail investors,
particularly millennials embraced
crypto, which led to higher trading
volumes and boosted revenues.
“When these exchanges
were set up, crypto prices were
bullish, which helped them
acquire customers very fast,” says
Sidharth Sogani, founder and
CEO of Crebaco Global, a crypto
and blockchain market research
and ratings ﬁ rm. Bitcoin and
Ethereum prices were nearing their
lifetime highs before CoinSwitch
announced its series C funding.
Regulated crypto exchanges
Exchanges offering traditional
financial products and
interest-yielding crypto
products
Led by large corporates:
Technology and capital
strong, with large customer
base
Slightly leveraged, leaner
exchanges
The shape of future
crypto unicorns

50
PROFITABLE
UNICORNS
FORBES INDIA • SEPTEMBER 23, 2022
Most of India’s large crypto
exchanges saw a boost to their
total income and proﬁ tability
from 2019 onwards—led by a
surge in interest and the adoption
of crypto trading in India.
Santosh Parashar, an
independent researcher and crypto
investor awareness and protection
activist from the National Institute
of Securities Market (NISM),
says a social factor has started
playing out in India. “The major
inﬂ uence youth has on savings
and investment decisions of
their risk-averse parents in India
is being seen. But they remain
at high risk due to the youth’s
low digital ﬁ nancial literacy.”
Parashar assesses that in a
market where a large population
of savers is ﬁ nancially illiterate,
“any scheme, especially in the
name of blockchain for fast-
track multiplication works
swiftly in India”. In 2021, all
major crypto exchanges had
been advertising their brands
aggressively, targeting millennials.
Most of India’s crypto exchanges
have a simple formula, where
income is generated through
brokerage fees, matching buyers
and sellers on an exchange’s
platform. Investors also pay a
ﬂ exible withdrawal fee when
coins in an exchange wallet are
withdrawn to a personal wallet.
Exchanges also earn through
listing fees, when crypto coins are
listed at a particular exchange.
CoinSwitch buys and sells
crypto on behalf of users,
allowing them to invest and
divest through Indian rupees. In
return, it charges a trading fee
and commission. The exchange,
however, does not reinvest users’
crypto in any form or manner,
and has zero leverage on them.
This simple and transparent
trading method has spelt success
for the exchanges. “Crypto is a
business that touches money,
CRYPTO UNICORNS
FINANCIAL DATA
Total Income
Profit/Loss
Total Expenditure
FY19
0
20
40
60
80
100
FY20 FY21
94.74
14.23
4.01
0.01 6.25
47.15
CoinSwitch Kuber
CoinDCX
FY19 FY20 FY21
-5
0
5
10
15
20
25
-2.01 0.45
0.15
4.15
23.15
4.36
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
FY19 FY20 FY21
2.03
3.88
5.71
40.69
58.55
7.71
Note: The financial data is for the Indian arms of
the crypto exchanges. Neblio Technologies does
business through CoinDCX and Bitcipher Labs LLP is
the legal entity for CoinSwitch Kuber.
SOURCE Tofler, MCA Figures in `/c r
and daily newspapers often had
front-page advertisements splashed
with messages of India’s crypto
moment, where ‘crores of Indians
have invested over `6 lakh crore
in crypto assets’. But assuming
that between 2 and 3 lakh Indians
have invested in crypto, and most
have small ticket-size portfolios,
the math does not add up; this
could well be an exaggeration.
CoinSwitch ran television
advertisements of ‘Kucch toh
badlega [something will change]’
with actor Ranveer Singh. Another
campaign from the exchange said,
‘Trade kar, beﬁ kar [trade, without
worry]’. CoinDCX had roped
in actor Ayushmann Khurrana,
running advertisements saying,
‘Future yahi hai [this is the future]’,
while WazirX ran advertisements
without celebrities saying, ‘Crypto
mein pro [professional in crypto]’.
YouTuber and stand-up comedian
Tanmay Bhat has also discussed
the scope and evolution of crypto
in India for his followers.
Parashar says that in order to
channelise the surplus savings
of users, crypto exchanges apply
surrogacy marketing tactics and
spread “misleading news” that has
nothing to do with reality. “In the
recent past, the extremely bullish
advertisements of cryptocurrency
exchanges were advised to be
banned by policy makers,” he adds.
The aggressive advertising led to
the Advertising Standards Council
of India (ASCI) introducing
guidelines for the promotion
of cryptocurrencies and non-
fungible tokens (NFTs). But crypto
exchanges carried a massive burden
in terms of costs to their proﬁ t and
loss. With the trading environment
towards all asset classes turning
risk-averse, most crypto exchanges
have, since late 2021, lowered
their advertising costs to try and
improve proﬁ tability, even as
trading volumes remain volatile.
Crebaco’s Sogani speaks about
forex, security and trust. The
team at CoinSwitch advocates a
safe, calculated and trustworthy
approach to crypto investment,
and is transparent,” Lakhani says.
Costs that hurt
Advertising to urge Indians to
invest in volatile, unmonitored
digital assets is always fraught
with risk. India’s leading ﬁ nancial

the ‘trident eff ect’ of the current
tax structure on crypto trade and
services—a 30 percent ﬂ at tax and
an additional 1 percent TDS for
investors; an 18 percent GST to
be paid by crypto exchanges—and
the absence of regulations, which
are continuing to impact the Web3
ecosystem in India. “The faster the
government introduces regulations
and guidelines along with relaxed
taxation for cryptocurrencies and
their intermediaries, the better
it is for the ecosystem, for future
investment and innovations
in this space,” he adds.
CoinSwitch’s Singhal claims
crypto adoption has continued “to
grow” for retail and institutional
investors in 2022, but does not
substantiate with any data.
He says trading volumes have
“readjusted” in a downturn. “But
market cycles do not change the
long-term potential of crypto.
Crypto has introduced to the
world a functional model of
decentralised ﬁ nance. Investors
understand this. Traditional
ﬁ nancial institutions such as
Blackrock and Goldman Sachs are
increasing their exposure to crypto.
Even crypto-focussed funds such
as Greyscale are doubling down
and looking to bring ﬁ nancial
instruments to the traditional
investors in the US,” Singhal says.
In July, blockchain startup 5ire
raised $100 million from UK-
based SRAM & MRAM Group
at a $1.5 billion valuation. The
company, founded by Indian-origin
entrepreneurs Pratik Gauri, Prateek
Dwivedi and Web3 ﬁ nancer Vilma
Mattila, provides smart contract
and ESG ranking services. In
August, Goa Police announced
it had signed an agreement with
5ire to go paperless, by digitalising
offl ine systems, making the process
eco-friendly and effi cient.
Web3 infrastructure startup
Polygon, which is an Ethereum
scaling platform, founded by
51
CRYPTO
SEPTEMBER 23, 2022 • FORBES INDIA
Sandeep Nailwal, Anurag Arjun and Jaynti Kanani, became a unicorn earlier this year, with a valuation of more than $10 billion. It has received investments from American billionaire Mark Cuban, and this year it raised $450 million from Sequoia Capital, SoftBank Vision Fund II, Tiger Global and Elevation Capital, among others.
Caution: Consolidation ahead
Average spot-trading volumes
for most crypto exchanges have
fallen by between 85 and 95
percent from their 2020 peaks.
Income and proﬁ tability for
FY22 and FY23 is expected to
be impacted. CoinSwitch and
CoinDCX have started expanding
their product lines and services
beyond crypto products.
Both exchanges have launched
venture arms that will invest in
Web3 startups that are innovating
in the ecosystem. CoinDCX, on
August 28, concluded a three-
day hackathon ‘Unfold 2022’,
during which it announced
the decentralised ﬁ nance app
‘Okto’—a keyless self-custody
wallet—which will allow access
to over 100 decentralised apps.
Sequoia’s Lakhani said
CoinSwitch’s plan is to launch
more crypto products, “including
simple products where users
earn interest on crypto holdings,
besides a mix of real-world assets
and traditional ﬁ nance products”.
Sogani says if crypto regulations
are not implemented and users do
not ﬁ nd conﬁ dence in trading on
these platforms, trading volumes
will suff er and revenue generation
will continue to be diffi cult. “While
the smaller exchanges are likely to
shutter, the larger ones will ﬁ nd
the going diffi cult. The future of the
two crypto unicorns is shaky; they
will need to rework their business
models to survive,” he says.
He, however, adds that if
regulations come in, institutional
money will ﬂ ow in, which will
revive the market quickly.
However, large corporates—which
have technology, capital and a large
customer base—may also enter
the crypto ecosystem. Lakhani
says he is “optimistic” about the
demand for crypto returning,
“but it could come back with
diff erent narratives and themes”.
Singhal expresses concern over
the slow progress in establishing
a policy framework in India to
enable innovations. “Over the last
year, several countries, including
the US, Australia, Japan, UK,
and even UAE, have made rapid
progress in establishing a crypto
framework. My worry is that if
India doesn’t keep pace, we may
miss the bus in developing frontier
technologies at home,” he says.
While the RBI’s stance on
crypto is unlikely to alter quickly,
the government has sought
global collaboration to regulate
crypto. The Basel-based Financial
Stability Board (SFB), which
monitors ﬁ nancial systems and
proposes guidelines to prevent
crises, is expected, in October,
to give its recommendations to
the G20 countries on how to
regulate crypto. This could create
a framework for the government
to consider. Whether India will
see more crypto unicorns in future
years will depend on a range of
these factors and the creation
of regulated exchanges.
“While smaller exchanges will likely shutter, larger
ones will find the going difficult... they will need to
rework their business models to survive.”
SIDHARTH SOGANI, FOUNDER & CEO, CREBACO GLOBAL

52
FORBES INDIA • SEPTEMBER 23, 2022
WHO’S GAME FOR IT?
Gaming is one of the few sectors that has profitable unicorns. But with
regulatory and tax uncertainties, what does the future hold for its players?
PROFITABLE
UNICORNS
he gaming industry in India was
estimated at $2.2 billion in 2021
and is expected to hit $7 billion by
2026—more than 3x in the next
5 years, says Lumikai, a gaming-
focused VC fund. According to
Inc42, at present, the industry has
three gaming unicorns—Dream
Sports, Games24x7 and MPL.
Since August 2020, the Indian
gaming market has seen an
additional funding of $1.5 billion
and approximately 450 million
gamers in India, indicating that
gamers, investors and companies
are bullish about this sector.
However, with regulatory
uncertainties still dogging the
sector, how long will the dream
run continue for these proﬁ table
unicorns? Experts feel gaming
startups are here to stay, and a
lot more proﬁ table unicorns are
likely to join the bandwagon soon.
A dream run
While the gaming sector can
be sub-divided into multiple
categories, only two of the three
unicorns are proﬁ table—Dream
Sports and Games24x7—as per
FY21 ﬁ nancials. While Dream
By NAINI THAKER
T
ByNAINITHAKER

SEPTEMBER 23, 2022 • FORBES INDIA
53
Sports has its fantasy gaming
platform, Dream11, as its cash cow,
it has also expanded to various
other segments. In 2019, once
the company turned unicorn,
they launched personalised
sports content and commerce
platform FanCode, one-stop
payment platform DreamPay,
and sports travel and experiences
platform DreamSetGo.
With the regulatory uncertainty
surrounding the online fantasy
sports segment, is the group
diversifying to hedge the risks? “Yes
and no,” Harsh Jain, co-founder
and CEO of Dream Sports, had
said in a recent conversation with
Forbes India. “Yes, it helps de-
risk, but no that’s not why we are
doing it. We are just solving the
problem for sports fans in India.”
Dream11 has over 150 million
users, and its parent company is
valued at a whopping $8 billion.
Dream Sports closed FY21 with
a revenue of
`2,706 crore and
a PAT (proﬁ t after tax) of
`329
crore, up from
`2,120 crore
and
`181 crore, respectively,
from the previous year.
On the other hand, Games
24x7 has been betting big time
on RummyCircle—the largest
contributor to its total revenue—
followed by My11Circle, a fantasy
gaming platform. Outside of these,
Games24x7 also launched Ultimate
Teen Patti and U Games, a casual
gaming studio. The company has
seen close to 100 million users
across platforms, and for FY21,
it posted a revenue of
`1,573
crore and proﬁ t of
`110 crore.
While that’s just two proﬁ table
unicorns for now, experts believe
India is at the epicentre of an
explosion of the global gaming
economy. “We believe that India
will boast of as many as 10 unicorns
and 5 decacorns from the gaming
ecosystem in the next 5 years
alone,” says Paavan Nanda, co-
founder, WinZO, social gaming
GAMING
“We believe that India will boast of as many as
10 unicorns and 5 decacorns from the gaming
ecosystem in the next five years alone.”
PAAVAN NANDA, CO-FOUNDER, WINZO
and interactive entertainment
platform, which has a user base
of over 85 million and is available
in over 12 Indian languages.
Regulatory challenges
In May, the Group of Ministers
(GoM) had unanimously decided to
recommend increasing the goods
and services tax (GST) on online
gaming, casinos and race courses.
A GST of 28 percent is applicable
on games of chance, and the skill
gaming industry pays 18 percent
GST on the commission or gross
gaming revenue (GGR), the fee
charged by online gaming operators.
The GoM is still in discussions
if the GST should be 28 percent for
both skill and chance games. Adds
Roland Landers, CEO of the All
India Gaming Federation, “As per
news reports, the discussion is to
charge GST on the entire amount
which a player pays for a game,
and not GGR or platform fee.”
A stronger regulatory framework
from the government is welcome
by stakeholders, but, says Mitesh
Gangar, co-founder & director,
PlayerzPot, “As a progressive
gaming brand, we would like to
propose to continue with the
current tax slab of 18 percent GST,
which will stabilise our operations
and services without hampering
proﬁ ts. A tax hike might disturb the
current economy of the industry
at present, and slow down its
growth momentum.” The super
gaming app which caters to fantasy
sports, casual gaming, and card
games hopes to turn unicorn in
the coming two to three years.
Additionally, the debate of
whether online gaming, especially
$~0.8 Bn $~1.8 Bn $~2.2 Bn $~7 Bn
25-30
FY19-FY26P. USD Bn
CAGR ‘21-’26
Casual &
Hyper-Casual
Mid & Hardcore
RMG
PC & Console
FY19 FY20 FY21 FY26P
Esports
30-35%
27%
19%
50%
1%
3%2%
3%
52%
19%
24%
25%
22%
49%
3%
1%
7%
40%
12%
8%
0%
25-30%
25-30%
~10%
40-45%
Gaming Market In India
Trend by Segment

involving real money, can be
categorised as “game of skill” or
“game of chance” continues in
many states. The Supreme Court
has now reaffi rmed the decisions of
three diff erent high courts—Punjab
& Haryana High Court (2017),
the Bombay High Court (2019)
and the Rajasthan High Court
(2020)—that nulliﬁ ed laws banning
fantasy sports under the pretext
of gambling or betting. At present,
states, including Assam, Sikkim,
Odisha and Andhra Pradesh,
have banned fantasy sports.
To add to the industry’s
regulatory woes, as per news
reports, the inter-ministerial
group—set up by the Ministry
of Electronics and Information
Technology (MeitY)—that has
been tasked with drawing up a
framework to regulate online
gaming is likely to introduce rules
governing the amount of money
individual players spend in a
game, for “consumer and gamer
protection”. If implemented,
it might have a signiﬁ cant
negative impact on players.
However, Landers believes, “The
announcement of this inter-
ministerial group for regulating
online gaming headed by MeitY
has added a lot of gravitas to the
bullish sentiment of investors.”
“Within the entire gaming sector,
the real-money gaming segment
has a regulatory lacunae. For the
industry to grow, having this clarity
is key,” says Salone Sehgal, founding
general partner at Lumikai.
Impact on funding and
proﬁ tability
This lack of regulatory clarity
has not been easy, especially for
54
FORBES INDIA • SEPTEMBER 23, 2022
“Within the entire gaming sector, the real-
money gaming segment has a regulatory
lacunae. For the industry to grow, having this
clarity is key."
SALONE SEHGAL, FOUNDING GENERAL PARTNER, LUMIKAI
PROFITABLE
UNICORNS
GAMING
comparatively smaller players such
as WinZO. “The lack of regulatory
stability, and perceiving the GST
considerations as a negative
sentiment towards the online
gaming sector, many investors are
uncertain about the future of the
gaming in India,” says Nanda.
WinZO claims it is already
proﬁ table, it is hoping for, “the
macroeconomic conditions to
return to normalcy to evaluate
the next round of fund raise”. Can
larger players such as Games24x7
and Dream Sports continue
sustaining their proﬁ tability? Both
Sehgal and Langer are positive.
From an investor point of view,
Sehgal feels, such regulatory
hurdles have not led to VC funds
being overly cautious. “We have
to bear in mind that gaming is
the fastest growing sector in the
country. With 450 million gamers
and 67 percent of India’s millennials
taking to gaming, clearly it’s here
to stay. As a VC, when we look
into the future we realise that
these gaming companies being
incubated today are the exits of
2030,” she adds. “Regulation and
taxation needs to be balanced
in a way that innovation in the
industry doesn’t get stiﬂ ed.”
INFOGRAPHIC: MUKESH SINGH
Game On
Valuation
Dream Sports
$8
billion
$
2.5
billion
2130
FY20
FY21
2706
1312.6
FY20
FY21
1573
Games24x7
181
329
387.7
110
Revenue (in ` Crore)
Proﬁ t (in ` Crore)
Valuation
SOURCE Tofler & news reports
SOURCE Filings
and company

THE NEW@WORK ENVISIONS THE
FUTURE OF DIGITAL WORKSPACES
Sumedha Chakraborty assured that
tools were being researched and developed
at Google Workspace to enable individuals
to work from anyplace and still be
productive. “In industries where physical
presence is important for at least some
of the workforce, our technology aims to
enable them to stay in touch with others
in the organization who are working
remotely.”
She shared how Google Workspace
was evolving to meet challenges faced
by its customers due to hybrid work and
offered examples of how communication
tools and technology could keep employee
engagement levels high in a hybrid work
model.
The discussion concluded with
a consensus that in a hybrid world,
companies would rely on technology
to bridge the gap between remote and
in-office employees and this model of
working could only be facilitated by mature
collaborative technology infrastructure
and suitable security.
Jagdish Ramaswamy
President & Chief
Digital Officer, Hindalco
Industries Limited
M Sivasubramanian
CIO,
VA Tech Wabag
Vishal Somani
Head - Enterprise and
Content Technology,
ZEE
Chirag Boonlia
CTO,
Embassy group
Ashish Khushu
CTO,
L&T Technology
Service (LTTS)
Poorav Sheth
CDO,
Godrej & Boyce
Sumedha Chakraborty
Country Head, India
& SAARC Business,
Google Workspace
A
s work-from-anywhere has become
a reality for many segments of
businesses across the globe, workspaces
have been redefined and revamped to
accommodate in the new normal at work.
Google Workspace, in association with
Forbes India, hosted a special series of
panel discussions under the banner ‘The
New@Work’ to explore these trends. The
fourth discussion of the series, moderated
by Manu Balachandran from Forbes India,
set out to envision digital workplaces
in the future and how innovation and
collaboration could become key elements
in ensuring sustainability.
The panel comprised stalwarts from
the world of business, including Chirag
Boonlia, Group Chief Technology
Officer, Embassy Group; Poorav Sheth,
Chief Digital Officer, Godrej & Boyce
Manufacturing Company; Jagdish
Ramaswami, President & Chief Digital
Officer, Hindalco Industries; Vishal
Somani, Head - Enterprise & Content
Technology, Zee Entertainment
Enterprises; Ashish Khushu, Chief
Technology Officer, L&T Technology
Services; Sumedha Chakraborty, Country
Head, India & SAARC Business, Google
Workspace and Sivasubramanian M,
Global CIO, VA Tech WABAG.
Setting the tone for the discussions
that followed, Chirag Boonlia observed,
“We used to travel to attend meetings
now it’s become the norm to attend using
collaborative tools.” He also noted that
adoption of technology goes beyond the
workspace, impacting every aspect of
businesses.
Representing a complex business,
Poorav Sheth explained, “At heart, we
are a manufacturing company with
lakhs of square feet of warehouse space
and thousands of retail outlets. Getting
everyone comfortable and effective while
working remotely was a huge challenge but
surprisingly, we adapted very well.”
Also from a very traditional
manufacturing company, Jagdish
Ramaswami shared, “The kind of
collaboration we have achieved in past two
years would have taken us 10 years, without
the disruption. However, the journey is still
at a very nascent stage and the possibilities
for further collaboration are immense.”
Speaking for the media industry, Vishal
Somani said, “We were already using basic
collaboration tools. Our challenge during
the lockdown was to ensure that our
content moved smoothly from production
and post-production to distribution and
consumption.”
Putting a fresh spin on the discussion,
Ashish Khushu remarked, “If our systems
were not as mature as they are right
now, and on the path to becoming more
intelligent, hybrid working would not have
been possible.”
Sivasubramanian added, “We have
realized the need to integrate information
technology into operation technology to
increase productivity. Going forward, there
is the possibility of bringing information
to a central location. Controlling and
monitoring performance will improve.”

ver the last decade or so, a narrative
took hold that successful startups,
particularly in the consumer
space, must prioritise growth over
anything else. After all, investors
only back founders going after
large market opportunities, rather
than a niche proﬁ table business.
Haven’t all great companies
like Google, Microsoft, Amazon
executed the same playbook– big
idea, raise a lot of capital, innovate
fast, hire the best talent, invest
aggressively to acquire customers,
and eventually annihilate the
competition? Haven’t we all heard
about the ‘Winner takes all’ model,
where the ﬂ ywheel of proﬁ ts
kicks in as the sector transitions
to a monopoly (or duopoly)?
Nothing could be farther from
the truth. Microsoft was proﬁ table
in its ﬁ rst year, PayPal in two years,
Google turned a proﬁ t in its third
year, Facebook in its ﬁ fth year,
Netﬂ ix in six years and Airbnb/
Amazon in under nine years.
Even Tesla, which as a category
creator had to invest heavily, also
turned its ﬁ rst proﬁ t in ten years.
56
FORBES INDIA • SEPTEMBER 23, 2022
PROFITABLE
UNICORNS
O
GALLOPING INTO
PROFITABILITY
The unicorn stable needs more startups that can
strike a balance between growth and profitability
ASHISH SHARMA
The author is managing
partner at InnoVen
Capital, India’s biggest
venture debt fund
PORTRAIT: CHAITANYA DINESH SURPUR, ILLUSTRATION: SAMEER PAWAR

So, what changed?
Till a decade ago, startups raised
a few rounds of private capital
and then had to either access
public markets or entertain buyout
off ers from a larger player. Since
availability of private capital
was limited, companies couldn’t
sustain a ‘Growth at all costs’
playbook for long and had to take
a more disciplined approach in
balancing growth and proﬁ tability.
Availability of private capital
(and lots of it) gave founders
an option to continuously raise
capital and stay private for a much
longer time. The US venture
capital investments increased
10-fold to over $300 billion in
2021. Mega funds like promising
companies could now focus on
growth and not worry about
proﬁ ts or quarterly analyst calls.
The vanity metrics that got
rewarded were GMV, market
share, user growth, DAU/
MAU, and many founders
and investors rationalised
that proﬁ ts will eventually
follow. Some didn’t even care
about proﬁ ts as several high-
proﬁ le, loss-making companies
continued to raise money at
ever-increasing valuations,
while a few were also able to
access public markets, thereby
giving investors great exits.
Bill Hewlett, co-founder of
Hewlett Packard (HP), once
warned his team that “More
companies die of indigestion than
starvation” at a time when HP was
growing fast with lots of capital.
Raising way too much capital, even
at signiﬁ cantly higher valuations,
comes with an expectation that
the company will continue to grow
fast to justify returns for late-stage
investors. History shows that
only a few companies can achieve
the growth v/s proﬁ tability
balance, while most struggle.
With so much liquidity at
their disposal, many companies
resort to investing heavily in
brand building, performance
marketing, over-hiring, customer
discounts and glitzy marketing
campaigns, without being
thoughtful about returns.
Narratives of companies like
Amazon have been quoted often
to argue that once the company
becomes the dominant player,
proﬁ ts will follow. This is often
diffi cult, and one can look at
the global ride-hailing industry,
where all players have struggled
to turn in a proﬁ t, despite raising
tens of billions of dollars over
a decade in a monopoly or
duopoly industry structure.
Don’t all big companies need
to invest before they can be
proﬁ table?
Yes, it’s true that going after large
addressable markets requires
upfront investments but it’s also
true that world-class companies
can achieve proﬁ tability in a
reasonable time. While ‘one size
ﬁ ts all’ cannot be applied to all
sectors, founders and investors
must take a nuanced approach
considering the size of the prize
(market), ability of the business
to monetise, lifetime value of
the customers, ability to cross-
sell, customer’s ability to pay,
competitive dynamics etc.
GE’s legendary CEO Jack Welch
once reminded his managers that
“Control your own destiny or
someone else will,” and the same
lesson holds true for founders.
Most founders start with a
frugal mindset, but some change
along the way, often due to
unrealistic investor expectations
or peer pressure. There is
nothing wrong about raising a
lot of capital at high valuations.
It’s also acceptable that some
early-stage investors, founders,
and employees get nice returns
before a company turns proﬁ table.
However, just optimising
for the next capital raise and
valuation, with no credible path
to proﬁ tability, will lead to a
situation where all it takes is one
failed fundraise and you don’t
control your own destiny.
“With great power comes
great responsibility”
The Indian venture ecosystem has
grown impressively, and there is a
lot to cheer about—the innovation,
entrepreneurial spirit, and big
ideas. With 100+ unicorns and
a few public companies, where
millions of retail investors have
reposed their faith, it’s important
that we see the emergence of
more enduring and sustainable
business models coming out of
India. This will then ensure that
entrepreneurs get supported
by private capital, and all
stakeholders (founders, employees,
investors) generate healthy long-
term returns, thereby keeping
the ﬂ ywheel in motion. I am
optimistic that we will see some
great entrepreneurs build world-
class businesses out of India.
57
SEPTEMBER 23, 2022 • FORBES INDIA
“Most founders start
with a frugal mindset,
but some change
along the way. Often
it’s due to unrealistic
investor expectations
or peer pressure.”

Date: 15.06.22 • Size: 418 x mm_Forbes India273
CELEBRATING INDIA'S IMPACT CREATORS ON
Infosys
SALIL
PAREKH
Hero Motocorp
PAWAN
MUNJAL
T V
NARENDRAN
Tata Steel
VARUN
BERRY
Britannia
THE LEADERS WHO LEAD FROM THE FRONT
BY SPOTTING OPPORTUNITIES IN CRISES
RAJESH
GOPINATHAN
TCS

62
FORBES INDIA • SEPTEMBER 23, 2022
INVESTING IN STARTUPS:
WHAT HNIs MUST KNOW
Cash flow or growth potential: Which startup makes for a better investment?
Sanjiv Bikhchandani and Nikhil Kamath discuss the perks and pitfalls on
Forbes India’s podcast series Money Talks
PROFITABLE
UNICORNS
By NEHA BOTHRA
MONEY
TALKS

AUGUST 13, 2021 • FORBES INDIA
63
ash ﬂ ow and growth are two sides
of a coin. They are intertwined as
a company scales its presence in
markets. Yet, in the initial years,
many internet companies grow
at the cost of high cash burn and
no cash ﬂ ow. And they are richly
valued, mainly on their potential
to become market leaders. On
the other hand, several new-age
companies are bootstrapped,
generate a positive cash ﬂ ow, but
are not in the game of ‘unlocking’
value through rapid growth.
Which startup makes for a better
investment? To answer this and talk
about factors that determine the
success of an internet company, we
were joined by Sanjiv Bikhchandani,
founder and executive vice
chairman, Info Edge, and Nikhil
Kamath, co-founder of Zerodha
and True Beacon, on Money
Talks. The tech entrepreneurs
and investors discuss strategies
and approaches to building and
betting on promising tech startups.
Bikhchandani, an internet
pioneer in India, survived the
dotcom bubble and has seen
business cycles over three decades.
He is sceptical of valuations
and the path to proﬁ tability of
some internet companies in
current market conditions.
“Clearly it is a mixed bag. At one
level, there is a funding winter and
at another level, there are [funding]
rounds happening. Will some of the
companies that raised money so far
end up with down runs? We have to
wait and watch. When will the next
round of IPOs happen, how long
will the gap be, and the ones that
have gone public... what will happen
to their market share, valuation,
what is their path to proﬁ tability?
All these are up in the air,” he says.
Bikhchandani believes that
beyond the early stage, when
companies are at the growth stage,
they need to have a clear and
credible path to proﬁ t. Info Edge
owns over 15 percent in Zomato and
around 13 percent in Policybazaar,
both of which are trading
signiﬁ cantly lower than their issue
prices of last year, and have raised
investor concerns on proﬁ t metrics.
However, Bikhchandani expects
these portfolio companies to be
“alright” in the coming years.
“Losses are going down every
quarter, and Zomato has a clear
path to getting to where it wants
to in the next couple of years.
Zomato looks like it will be alright.
It will grow in revenue, it will get
to proﬁ t in two years; that’s what
we are looking at. Policybazaar is
also doing alright. We are holding
our stake in both,” he adds.
Kamath’s online broking
ﬁ rm Zerodha has followed a
diff erent growth path. The
founders have zero debt and
are not wooing investors. The
focus is on building a sustainable
business model with prudent
unit economics and cash ﬂ ow.
“Stock broking is a niche
market with less than 2 percent
penetration in India, so there is
no point spending a lot of money
because the target audience is so
tiny. This diff ers from business to
business, and I don’t think there
is one formula that ﬁ ts all. But
what’s happening in the market
is something that in the longer
run will clear out a lot of the noise
and is probably a good thing.”
Kamath has invested about $100
million in a clutch of technology
startups. He prefers a top-down
strategy and chooses to allocate
his funds in one or two sectors.
“Outside of management quality,
we look for people who are frugal
in the way they spend money. I
don’t think spending excessive
amounts of money works in
startups, especially when the cost
of acquiring a customer becomes
much higher than what you can
earn from the customer.”
In contrast, Bikhchandani
has a bottom-up investment
strategy and is sector-agnostic.
He advises investors to focus on
how “relevant” and “diff erent” the
company’s product or service is.
Other important factors include
how eff ectively a company can
organically “pull” customers to use
its off erings without aggressive
marketing. “The key to successful
entrepreneurs is not just valuation
but how they look at managing
risk. That is a key test of a good
entrepreneur.” he adds.
For the full conversation, tune
in to Money Talks, Forbes India’s
new podcast series that delves into
divergent trends and contrasting
strategies in the world of ﬁ nance. In
each episode, we will be joined by
two ﬁ nancial experts with diff ering
views—on stocks, economy, safe-
haven assets, bonds and alternative
investments—to empower you
to grow your wealth.
WATCH OUT FOR THE MONEY TALKS
PODCAST ON FORBESINDIA.COM
CASH FLOW VERSUS GROWTH
“At one level, there is a funding winter and at another, there are
[funding] rounds happening. Will some companies that raised
money end up with down runs? We have to wait and watch.”
SANJIV BIKHCHANDANI, founder and executive vice chairman, Info Edge
C
SETEMBER 23, 2022 • FORBES INDIA

64
FORBES INDIA • SEP
SONU MEHTA / HINDUSTAN TIMES VIA GETTY IMAGES
Testing Times
In Focus

In its introductory year, CUET aims to standardise
college admissions, but is plagued with teething
troubles that are affecting students
By MANSVINI KAUSHIK
SEPTEMBER 23, 2022 • FORBES INDIA
65
CUET
T
he senior secondary
school years are
stressful and crucial
for students, as
they not only
have to prepare for their board
exams, but also think about gaining
admission to colleges. Lately, the
process has been more diffi cult than
usual, with the Covid-19 pandemic
bringing multiple obstacles and
changes in evaluation patterns.
Till 2021, admissions to central,
state, and private universities were
largely based on merit, with a few
exceptions. However, the National
Testing Agency (NTA), in March 2022,
introduced the Common University
Entrance Test (CUET), a standardised
test for admission to undergraduate
and postgraduate courses, diplomas,
certiﬁ cation courses, and research
programmes. CUET-UG is for
admission to undergraduate courses
in 90 universities, including 21
private and 12 state universities
for the academic year 2022-23.
With 14.9 lakh registrations in
its introductory year, CUET-UG
has become India’s second-biggest
examination, surpassing the JEE-
Main’s average registration of 9
lakh over the past ﬁ ve years. While
CUET eliminates the limitations of
merit-based admissions for students
from diff erent boards, so far it hasn’t
been a smooth ride for students.
CUET is being conducted in six
phases between July 15 and August
31. But students who have taken the
exam are unsatisﬁ ed, because of
multiple last-minute changes to test
centres and timings, lack of clarity on
the examination pattern, technical
glitches reducing the time available to
students, and a looming uncertainty of
how and when the admission process
will end and the academic year begin.
“I was informed of the test centre
Many students who have take CUET this year
are unsatisfied with multiple last-minute
changes to test centres and timings, lack of
clarity on the examination pattern, technical
glitches etc

66
FORBES INDIA • SEP
In Focus
being changed, from Panvel to Raigarh
[in Maharashtra], a day before the
exam; it increased my commute
time by an hour, and added to the
nervousness,” says Nitant Kaushik, 18,
a resident of Mumbai, who is seeking
admission to Delhi University.
Under CUET, NTA off ers 27
domain-speciﬁ c subjects and 33
languages, from which a candidate can
choose a maximum of nine subjects,
according to their preference for
college and course. This spectrum
of options had created over 45,000
unique subject combinations.
CUET creates fresh opportunities
for edtech players and offl ine
coaching centres to tap into a larger
student base. Edtech platforms have
introduced new courses speciﬁ c to
CUET preparations and have seen
a rise in enrolment of students.
“Almost everyone I know who
has been preparing for CUET has
enrolled for one or the other online
CUET preparation courses because
this is the ﬁ rst year of aptitude-
based entrance exams, which we
aren’t used to,” says Kaushik.
“CUET will add to the coaching
culture in India; many students
will bank on coaching centres and
online platforms for preparation,”
says Girish Kumar, principal of
Apeejay School, Jalandhar.

MISSED OPPORTUNITIES
CUET has delayed the admission
process by months—usually, college
classes begin between June and
CUET in numbers
14,90,000
No of applicants
for CUET- UG
in 2022
45,000
Unique subject combinations, with
27 domain-speciﬁ c subjects and
33 languages
6
Phases in which
CUET is being
conducted; with
4 to 6 days each
560
Exam centres; 547 in
India and 13 worldwide
90
No of central,
state and private
universities
considering CUET
for admission
in 2022-23
July—leading many aspirants to give up on their preferred choice of college. “I wanted to get into Delhi University, but since we still don’t know when the admission process will be completed, my parents didn’t want me to wait and instead join a college that took admission based on Class 12 results,” says Sidharth Chopra, an 18-year old who enrolled in APJ
College of Science and Commerce in Jalandhar after taking the CUET on July 18. “NTA organises some of the most diffi cult exams in the country,
like JEE and NEET, and yet there
have been so many problems with
CUET. With such complications this year, the current batch is
losing out on opportunities to get
enrolled in their preferred colleges.”
Sehaj Chabbra also ended up
enrolling in a private university with merit-based admission despite taking the CUET. “My parents were getting anxious; they didn’t want me to have a gap of some months in my education. In my college, classes have started,
and by the time admissions through
CUET will be completed, we would have covered half the syllabus for
the ﬁ rst semester,” says Chabbra
who enrolled for bachelor’s in commerce at DAV College, Amritsar.
Anil Nagar, founder and CEO of
Adda247, an entrance test preparation platform, says that of the 14.9 lakh CUET applicants, more than 2.1 lakh are enrolled with Adda247. “The anxiety and panic among students is high at the moment. Most of their grievances are genuine. Ideally, board exams should be over by March and CUET should be conducted from April to July for a smoother conduct,” he says. “However, we have to acknowledge that an exam of this scale and complexity has been a mammoth task for NTA.”
CHANGING EXAM DYNAMICS
The introduction of CUET is set to have a two-fold impact: It will reduce the signiﬁ cance
of Class 12 board exams, while increasing the dependence on coaching classes for preparing for the common entrance test.
“After the introduction of NEET
and JEE, medical and engineering aspirants started focussing more on competitive exams rather than board exams. The same thing is likely to happen with CUET,” says Anish Kulkarni, who consults
“There is a high demand for
CUET courses among Class
12 students across various
boards. We have seen 100
percent growth for our K12
segment business since the
introduction of CUET.”
ANIL NAGAR
FOUNDER AND CEO, ADDA247

67
SEPTEMBER 23, 2022 • FORBES INDIA
students on under-graduation and
post-graduation admissions.
“The goal of CUET is to remove
the disparity between students from
diff erent boards, reduce the hassle
of multiple examinations and bias in
evaluations, while testing students on
fundamental skills and concepts,” says
Venkat Phanikiran, chief academic
offi cer, Extramarks Education, an
edtech platform. “Board examinations
are comprehensive, while objective
examinations are aligned towards
quick problem-solving skills.
Board examinations might become
completely redundant for admission
to colleges if the admission
criterion is solely CUET results.”
The increasing signiﬁ cance of
CUET will, simultaneously, push
students more towards online or
offl ine coaching options. “CUET
will add to the coaching dependence
of students, with more students
enrolling for online or offl ine coaching
centres for preparation,” says Kumar
of Apeejay School, Jalandhar.
This is already being reﬂ ected
in the high number of enrollments
for CUET coaching. “There is a
high demand for CUET courses
among Class 12 students across
various boards. We have seen 100
percent growth for our K12 segment
business since CUET introduction,”
says Nagar of Adda 247.
“CUET has been a new addition
to our product portfolio in the last
four to ﬁ ve months, and that has
shown attractive numbers in the
ﬁ rst quarter,” says Nikhil Mahajan,
executive director and group CEO,
Career Launcher, a coaching platform
for competitive exams. “As the
exam gets accepted by a wide gamut
of universities and institutions, it
becomes a big market opportunity
over the next three to ﬁ ve years.
CUET in three years will probably
become one of the biggest exams in
India. With about 15 lakh students
registering for the ﬁ rst edition, we
expect the number to grow to between
70 and 80 lakh in three to ﬁ ve years.”
them all together on a singular
platform raises questions of
equitable opportunities,” says
Phanikiran. “But we must
understand that getting into
college, irrespective of background,
requires some fundamental skills;
this applies to both undergraduate
and postgraduate courses. Having
one pan-national examination also
reduces the stress that students
face of having to take multiple
exams for diff erent universities.”
Following complaints of
glitches in the conduct of CUET,
NTA is considering changes for
next year’s exam. These include
a reduction in the number of
subject combinations on off er, and
reviewing the number of cities
where exams are conducted.
“There are multiple ways in
which CUET can pan out. It
might become the pan-national
school leaving or college selection
examination, like the Gaokao in
China or the Suneung in South
Korea,” says Phanikiran.
“One nation, one exam; that’s
the philosophy with which CUET
was envisaged,” says Mahajan. “It
is likely to be the only entrance
test for all undergraduate and
postgraduate courses, like SAT in
the US. There are aspects of the
exam that can be handled better,
including design elements like
pattern and structure. However, the
intent is clear, and CUET should
have a promising future.”
CUET
The number of students who
are likely to take the CUET in future is only set to increase exponentially, if the Universities Grants Commission’s (UGC) recent proposal to merge it with NEET and JEE Mains is implemented.
In 2021, nearly 16 lakh students
applied for NEET, for admission to medical courses, with around 83,000 MBBS seats, and 27,000 BDS seats, while more than 22 lakh students applied for IIT-JEE examination, for nearly 16,000 seats in the Indian Institutes of Technologies.
“JEE and NEET account for nearly
38 to 40 lakh aspirants. With the government considering merging JEE and NEET with CUET, the landscape would change rapidly. The number
of universities depending on CUET
is expected to double in 2023, and
with the proposal to merge more
exams with CUET, we could reach
an enrolment count of 5 to 6 million
in a few years,” says Mahajan.
Nagar agrees: “Already Delhi
University, Banaras Hindu University,
Aligarh Muslim University, and
more than 50 central universities
are considering CUET scores.
With the merger of NEET and
JEE, CUET will reach an annual
registration of 5 million.”
THE ROAD AHEAD FOR CUET
The ability of common entrance tests
to assess the aptitude of students with
diff erent skill sets and from diff erent
boards is up for scrutiny. “Bringing
“Board examinations might
become redundant for
admission to colleges if the
criterion for admission is
solely on CUET results.”
NIKHIL MAHAJAN
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AND
GROUP CEO, CAREER LAUNCHER

L
et’s start with a fact
check. The Chinese
Checkers board game
has roots in Germany.
Reportedly, the name
originated in the US as a marketing
scheme by Bill and Jack Pressman in
1928. Now let’s talk about a fantasy:
Almost everybody perceives Chinese
Checkers to be a Chinese game.
In 2014-15, India was in the midst
of an interplay between fact and
fantasy. The fact was the emergence
of a breed of homegrown players
in the smartphone industry, led by
Micromax, which toppled Nokia and
Samsung to take pole position. There
was wide exuberance, with analysts
predicting a MILK (Micromax, Intex,
Lava and Karbonn) revolution in
India. But despite a promising start,
the fantasy ended when Chinese
players vanquished the Indian clones.
Over the next eight years, a new
fact emerged. Indian players got
decimated and the smartphone market
became synonymous with Chinese
As authorities crack down on Chinese handset makers for alleged tax evasion,
Indian players are well-placed to muzzle the dragon’s play in smartphones
In Focus
68
By RAJIV SINGH
FORBES INDIA • SEP
Chinese Checkers
CHAITANYA DINESH SURPUR

SEPTEMBER 23, 2022 • FORBES INDIA
69
the corporate brand but consume the
consumer brand off ering gleefully,”
he contends. Vivo, Oppo, Realme and
Xiaomi, Bijoor points out, are classic
cases in point. The fact remains that
the market is overwhelmingly loaded
in favour of these players. Everything
boils down to demand and supply.
Now comes the latest fantasy
cookie, which is being baked. The
government is reportedly making
a fresh attempt to reign in Chinese
players. This time, though, the
strategy is aimed at focusing on supply
rather than inﬂ uencing demand.
There are talks about shunting
Chinese players out of the under-$150
(
`12,000) smartphone segment. Does
the move make sense? “Absolutely,”
says a top ranking government offi cial
requesting anonymity. “Look at the
market dynamics,” he points out.
Around 60 percent of the market
is between $100 and $200 (
`8,000-
`16,000). “This is the belly of the
market. Once you are out of this, you
start losing the game,” he contends,
adding that once these players start
losing volume, then it becomes an
existential problem for them.
But if Chinese players exit the
entry-level segment, who ﬁ lls the gap?
The game clearly is over for MILK.
The old breed of desi players have lost
the plot, lack mass appeal and are not
strong enough to replace handsets that
SMARTPHONES
brands. In the April-June quarter of 2022, over 70 percent of India’s smartphone market was dominated by companies from the Dragonland. Of this, 66.3 percent was cornered by four players—Xiaomi, Realme, Vivo and Oppo—according to the mobile phone quarterly data provided by IDC.
Now let’s talk about fantasy, and
its multiple strong versions. The ﬁ rst
one—and it is a recurrent theme— emerges whenever tension between India and China ﬂ ares up. There is a
clamour for banning and boycotting Chinese goods. Interestingly, it ﬂ ames out in months, if not days.
Nothing changes at ground level. Then there are serious allegations of tax evasions against the Chinese ﬁ rms.
Union Minister of Finance Nirmala Sitharaman recently informed the Rajya Sabha that the government is looking into cases of alleged tax evasion by Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi. There was a huge hue and cry.
Nothing, though, changes on
ground. The Chinese smartphone players continue their dominance and Indian consumers continue to buy Chinese handsets. While Oppo and Vivo didn’t respond to a list of questions from Forbes India, Xiaomi’s spokesperson couldn’t be contacted.
Harish Bijoor explains the
paradox in consumer behaviour. The consumer is a two-minded person.
How the market is behaving
PREMIUM SEGMENT
$500+
(`40,000-plus)
Was the highest growing
segment with
83% growth YoY
Contributes 6%
of the market
Apple dominates with 53%
share, followed by OnePlus (19%)
and Samsung (15%)
MID-RANGE SEGMENT
$200-$300
(`16,000-`24,000)
Accounts for 17% of
the market; is growing by
21% YoY
Continues to be the
focus area of vendors
with
several launches
slated over the next
few months
Sub-$100
(`8,000 and below)
Has had a
steep
decline from 22% a
year ago to
17%
$100-$200
(`8,000-`16,000)
This is the
belly of
the market
Has 60%
market
share
Loud Chinese
ringtone
(Volume and Q2 (April-June) market share)
Samsung
slips to
fourth slot
5.7 mln
16.3%
Oppo
4 mln
11.5%
Xiaomi7.1 mln
20.4%
Realme6.1 mln
17.5%
Vivo5.9 mln
16.9%
17.4%
Others
SOURCE Company
“There is good-for-country at one end and good-for-me at another end,” reckons Bijoor, who runs an eponymous brand consulting ﬁ rm.
While consumer greed is personal, consumers’ ‘feel-good’ jingoism is a public factor. “In many ways, this new consumer is a wolf in sheep’s clothing consumer,” he underlines, adding that the consumer speaks in two tongues. “He and she will rile

In Focus
70
have the same, if not superior, features
and technology. The government
offi cial talks about a new permutation.
“What if boAt, Noise and others ﬁ ll the
gap?” he asks. It’s a strong possibility.
“These players are dominating
the wearables segment, are widely
popular, and beating the Chinese
at their game.” The government,
he adds, might push them to make
a transition to smartphones.
Industry analysts and experts
reckon the government’s intent
is serious this time. “It’s not as
far-fetched an idea as you would
imagine,” says Navkendar Singh,
associate vice president, (devices
research), IDC India, South Asia and
ANZ. “Indian wearables players are
now big brands,” he says, alluding to
the dominance of boAt and Noise.
Look at the market dynamics in the
segment. boAt and Noise had a 34.3
percent and 11.5 percent market
share, respectively, in the second
quarter this year, and are bigger
than Chinese rivals OnePlus and
Realme which bagged 8.7 percent
and 4.6 percent share, respectively.
In the smartwatch segment, Noise,
Fire Boltt, boAt and Titan collectively
have over 75 percent market share.
“So I don’t see why this success
can’t be replicated in the entry-level
smartphone segment,” he argues,
adding that adequate government
support can realistically change the
dynamics over the next few quarters.
“It will not happen overnight, but can
it happen? Yes, absolutely,” he says.
While Noise and boAt declined
to comment on the possibility of
exploring entry-level smartphone
market, another Indian player is
keen to take the plunge. “Most of
our products,” he explains, “are
made by third-party manufacturers
in India.” If these guys, who
have tech collaborations with
Taiwanese players and have set up
extensive manufacturing plants
in India, can make headphones
and smartwatches, then can’t they
make smartphones? he asks.
Corp of Taiwan to make smart
devices, including smartphones.
“They can make for us if we get
enough government funding and
support,” the above-quoted founder
of a wearable Indian brand says,
requesting anonymity. Optiemus
Electronics declined to comment.
Despite the possibilities of
propping Indian players in the entry-
level smartphone segment, there are
holes in the new ‘fantasy’ theory. “In
a Chinese Checkers game, there are
places where marbles have to be ﬁ t,”
says a senior smartphone analyst. To
win the game, one has to get all the
marbles to the opposite point of the
star. “It’s easier said than done,” he
reckons, requesting not to be named.
The biggest ﬂ aw in the new theory,
he underlines, is the assumption that
Indian players can replicate Chinese
success. The fact that the Chinese
dominate smartphones, and not
wearables, disproves the theory. “You
can’t copy and paste success from one
category to another,” he points out.
The other problem lies with
underestimating how India’s
smartphone market is changing. The
sub-$100 (
`8,000) category saw a
steep decline from 22 percent a year
ago to 17 percent, according to IDC.
With consumers upgrading and an
increase in average selling price
(ASP)—in India, ASP of smartphones
is $213 (
`17,040), a growth of 15
percent year-over-year—Chinese
players would be more than happy to
vacate the less lucrative entry-level
segment. The third problem lies in
implementation. “The government is
still mulling. Nothing is ﬁ nalised,” says
the analyst, adding that even if a law
is implemented, it would take a year
or so for the Indian players to make a
mark. “There are a lot of ifs and buts,”
he says. “If the government is serious,
then it must bite and stop barking.”
Well, the smartphone game, and
Chinese Checkers, will be loaded in
the favour of the Chinese as long as
all the marbles don’t move together,
and in the right direction.
FORBES INDIA • SEP
Tidbits
$213
(`17,040)
35 mln
Average selling
price of a
smartphone in
India; a growth of
15% YoY
Smartphones shipped by all players in the
second quarter this year
66.3%
Market share
grabbed by just

four Chinese
players
Realistically, they can. Take, for
instance, Noida-based Optiemus
Electronics, which once had
Zen mobile as its brand, was the
brand licensee for BlackBerry
in Southeast Asia and India, and
made devices for LG, HTC, Oppo,
OnePlus, and JioPhones. It also has
a tech collaboration with Wistron
Indian big boys
Wearable Market Share (Q2)
Smartwatch Market Share
19.7%
2.6%
24.8%28.5%
BOAT
TITAN
FIRE BOLTT
NOISE
34.3%
8.7%
11.5%
4.6%6.8%
BOAT
ONEPLUS
NOISE
REALMEFIRE BOLTT
Chinese
players, too,
have started
making noise
SOURCE IDC India
SMARTPHONES

As Maruti Suzuki turns 40, it is investing heavily in SUVs
and EVs to maintain its dominance of Indian roads
By MANU BALACHANDRAN
SEPTEMBER 23, 2022 • FORBES INDIA
71
MARUTI
The Big Small-Car
Company
I
n 1982, a year into his
deputation with the then-
government-owned Maruti
Udyog Ltd, a small car
project launched by the
Indian government, RC Bhargava
had a tough choice to make. He had
to either stay in the Indian civil
services, which meant leaving Maruti
Suzuki and going back to work for
the government with a fair chance of
becoming cabinet secretary in a few
years or sticking on with the public
carmaker in a country where a paltry
40,000 cars were sold annually.
Back then, India’s roads were
ruled by the CK Birla Group-owned
Hindustan Motors and Walchand
group-owned Premier Automobiles,
which made the popular Fiat. “The
existing carmakers were going
nowhere,” Bhargava, now 88, told a
room full of reporters in Ahmedabad
in August, where he had come to
celebrate Maruti Suzuki’s 40th year
of operations. “The market was
stagnant at 35,000 to 40,000 cars.
Everything was wrong in those
days. There were foreign exchange
shortages and all kinds of restrictions
Maruti’s portfolio
includes some of India’s
best-known cars
MONEY SHARMA / AFP

72
FORBES INDIA • SEP
In Focus
on imports. So, the sector was not
something that excited anybody.”
The decision, however, came to
Bhargava quickly, he now reckons.
Two decades of being a bureaucrat
had made him somewhat disillusioned
by how governments function.
He soon hung up his civil services
career and continued as director
of sales and marketing at Maruti
Udyog. It is in that role that he and
V Krishnamurthy, then managing
director of Maruti Udyog, travelled
to Japan to meet Osamu Suzuki,
the then-CEO of Suzuki Motor
Corporation, to cement a deal that
would see the Japanese automaker
team up with the Indian carmaker
as a minor partner, and provide
technical knowledge for the project.
“Suzuki told me once that when
he decided to partner, he was the
only person in favour of it,” Bhargava
recalls. “Everybody else thought,
what kind of decision is that? And
that is what most people felt here
in India too about the project.”
Forty years later, Suzuki, now 91,
was alongside Bhargava at Gandhi
Nagar’s Mahatma Mandir along with
Prime Minister Narendra Modi to
announce Suzuki‘s latest round of
investments in India. On August 28,
Suzuki announced plans to invest
more than
`30,400 crore, of which
`10,400 crore will go into making
cells for electric vehicles (EVs) and
ramping up capacity to make EVs,
while another
`20,000 crore will
be used for manufacturing 1 million
vehicles, across electric and internal
combustion engine (ICE) powertrains.
“The coming of Maruti as a
low-cost reliable transport, in many ways, has changed the face of India,” Bhargava said. “We never saw the same number of women who drive cars 20 to 30 years ago, before Maruti came. It has given opportunities to women to enter the workforce more freely because they can commute. Maruti also made a lot of small entrepreneurs come up because they’ve had the
availability of low-cost transport.”
Its low-cost manufacturing,
coupled with a distinct advantage of understanding the Indian consumer, has helped Maruti off er vehicles that
are aff ordable, low on maintenance
costs, and with superior fuel effi ciency. It also boasts an impeccable
sales and service network, apart from good resale value, all of which have contributed to the carmaker’s success.
Since 2001, Maruti’s market
share has hovered around 50 percent, barring a blip in 2012, and most recently in the ongoing year; this July, it had a market share of 39 percent, compared to 43 percent in the year-ago period.
“You can’t take away from the
fact that Maruti helped build the automobile ecosystem in India,” says Puneet Gupta, director for automotive forecasting at market research ﬁ rm
S&P Global Mobility. “Suppliers for mass manufacturing were built, and they skilled most people who then went on to work for many foreign companies when they set foot in India. They ensure Japanese quality and discipline in the business, and many other sectors learnt from Maruti’s way of manufacturing.”
WHERE IS MARUTI NOW?
Maruti has had a tremendous run as India’s most preferred carmaker.
From its wildly popular Maruti
Suzuki 800, launched at
`48,000 in
1983, its portfolio has included some of India’s best-known cars such as Zen, Wagon R, Omni, Alto, Esteem, and Baleno. Today it sells six of the top 10 cars sold monthly in India.
“Maruti Suzuki’s contribution in
making India a formidable market is unparalleled,” says Harshvardhan Sharma, head of auto retail practice at Nomura Research Institute. “It took a leap of faith in India when the ‘numbers’ for India weren’t so promising, and it has paid off .
It’s also a testament to a strong India-Japan partnership. The best part about MSIL’s journey in
“You can’t take away from the
fact that Maruti helped build
the automobile ecosystem in
India. They ensure Japanese
quality and discipline.”
PUNEET GUPTA , DIRECTOR, AUTOMOTIVE
FORECASTING, S&P GLOBAL MOBILITY
Maruti
Suzuki
Hyundai
Motors
Tata
Motors
Mahindra
Nov 2049.33% 16.21% 7.5% 5.48%
Dec 48.21% 17.1% 7.25% 5.81%
Jan 2149.24% 17.13% 8.26% 5.34%
Feb 46.94% 17.27% 8.25% 5.78%
Mar 46.26% 16.34% 8.77% 5.48%
Apr 46.31% 16.08% 9.16% 5.64%
May 42.76% 18.72% 10.95% 6.45%
June 40.6% 18.7% 11.06% 6.73%
July 43.67% 17.09% 9.53% 6.24%
Aug 43% 17.36% 10.1% 6.5%
Sep 42.43% 17.44% 10.08% 6.35%
Oct 40.12% 16.98% 11.27% 6.1%
Nov 41.93% 15.51% 12.01% 7.43%
Dec 42.53% 15.83% 12.65% 7.31%
Jan 2246.82% 13.6% 12.55% 7.21%
Feb 43.11% 14.93% 13.82% 7.1%
Mar 41.08% 14.95% 13.42% 8.25%
Apr 40.15% 14.4% 13.75% 8.44%
May 42.03% 14.56% 13.53% 7.49%
June 41.03% 14.18% 14.18% 7.44%
July 39.17% 15.96% 14.36% 7.69%
SOURCE Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations
Not The Best Times
Mahindra
(Market Share)

73
SEPTEMBER 23, 2022 • FORBES INDIA
MARUTI
India is that it has been symbiotic.
Today Maruti’s performance is
almost a macroeconomic indicator
of the Indian economy.”
In FY22, the Gurugram-
headquartered company sold 11.65
lakh vehicles, cornering 42.75 percent
of the market, in comparison to 11.63
lakh vehicles in FY21, with a market
share of 48.71 percent, according
to the Federation of Automobile
Dealers Association. Yet, the last
few years have been challenging
for the company, especially with
rapidly dwindling market share.
Much of that, of course, is a result of
Maruti’s own doing. It has missed
the bus where the SUV market is
concerned, which is dominated by
Hyundai, Kia, Mahindra and Tata.
Last year, India sold 30.69 lakh
passenger vehicles, of which over
12 lakh were SUVs. Of this, over
6.5 lakh were compact SUVs, with
the remaining being mid-size SUVs
comprising Hyundai Creta, Kia Seltos
and Jeep Compass, among others.
That segment is expected to grow
at a CAGR of 10 percent and double
in the next three to four years.
Maruti, however, continues
to hold its ground among small
and entry-level vehicles, where
it has 65 percent of the market.
Hatchbacks, meanwhile, have seen
their market share fall by 25 percent
over the past four years to around
38 percent, largely due to rising
commodity prices and taxes.
“Maruti Suzuki’s market share
in the non-SUV segment has been
increasing, and is the highest in
the last 20 years,” said Shashank
Srivastava, senior executive director,
marketing and sales, in a July
interview. “When you combine
the market share with SUVs, it has
fallen around 45 percent. Clearly,
the SUV segment is dragging
down the overall market share.”
The company is now going all
guns blazing. Within a span of three
weeks in June and July, it launched
two SUVs—the next generation
of its entry-level SUV Brezza, and
its premium, mid-size SUV Grand
Vitara—that are expected to give the
carmaker a foothold in the booming
segment. In August, it launched
the next-generation variant of its
entry-level hatchback, Alto.
“We are moving into segments
that are more proﬁ table, and have
growth,” Bhargava says. “We have
been a little late in moving to the
higher segments, but it’s happened
ADITI SHAH / REUTERS
Hisashi Takeuchi, managing director and CEO of Maruti Suzuki India Limited, poses next to the Grand Vitara sport utility vehicle during its global
launch in Gurugram in July

74
FORBES INDIA • SEP
In Focus
PIB
in the past. We will maintain market
share and it is not going to be diffi cult
because there are so many other
things that work in Maruti’s favour.
The biggest is the consumer of India.
They trust this company and the
brand. I think nobody can deny that”.
It’s perhaps this trust that has
seen Maruti’s market capitalisation
grow nearly eightfold from
`34,430
crore in 2012 to over
`274,764
crore, a decade later. Its share price
has grown from
`1,139 in 2012 to
`9,093, as of August 30, 2022.
“For a leader, change management
is critical, especially at the scale they
operate in. Therefore, while a ﬁ rst-
mover advantage is good to have,
it may not necessarily guarantee
success. Furthermore, in the case of
MSIL, they have always had a very
good sense of the market and have
continued to recalibrate themselves
as per consumer requirements,”
adds Sharma of Nomura. “We must
also consider that they did all the
above while continuing to build
and protect shareholder value.”

MISSING THE ELECTRIC GAMBLE?
Maruti has also had the ability to
sweep in and capture a market, even
when it is a late entrant. But that
may just not be the case with EVs.
In the past decade, when diesel
vehicles saw a massive boom in
India, led by the likes of Hyundai,
Maruti quickly moved to partner with
Fiat for its diesel engine, launch its
vehicles with diesel technology, and
quickly ramp up sales. Then, in 2019,
it led the boycott of diesel engines
as the cost to meet emission rates
went up, leading to a churn in the
country’s diesel engine segment.
Since then, Maruti has turned
its attention to petrol and is now
advocating green fuels such as CNG,
biogas and ethanol. Today, it controls
82 percent of the domestic CNG
market, with models such as Alto,
S-Presso, Celerio, Wagon R, Dzire,
Ertiga and Eeco. In the ﬁ rst half of the
current ﬁ nancial year, 101,412 CNG
cars were sold, compared to 51,448 in
the year-ago period, indicating a 97
percent growth. CNG vehicles have
lower running costs, especially since
fossil fuel prices have been on the rise
in India. However, a shortage of CNG
ﬁ lling stations has been a deterrent
to mass adoption of these vehicles.
“If we want to reduce carbon
footprint, then we have to use all other
technologies and fuels also,” Bhargava
said in Ahmedabad. “Electric alone
is not going to do the job in India.
Whether it is hybrid, ethanol or
biogas, all these fuels need to be
encouraged over petrol.” This means
the company won’t launch an EV
before 2025. At the heart of Maruti’s
thinking is a belief that electric
technology continues to be expensive,
making it unaff ordable for the masses.
“If I could make electric cars
aff ordable, I would have no problem,”
Bhargava says. “But it’s not happening
because the technology development
for electric cars, especially battery
technology... nobody is doing in India.
How quickly costs will come down,
and how quickly electric cars will
become more aff ordable depends on
how technology and R&D succeed in
ﬁ nding answers all over the world.”
Maruti Suzuki’s parent company,
Suzuki Motors, will set up a
facility in Gujarat’s Hansalpur for
about
`7,300 crore, where it will
manufacture advanced chemistry
cell batteries for EVs. Suzuki also
partnered with Toyota in 2019 for
collaborating in new ﬁ elds, including
RC Bhargava (left), chairman, Maruti Suzuki India, and Osamu Suzuki, CEO, Suzuki Motor Corp,
during the foundation stone laying ceremony of Suzuki EV battery plant and Maruti Suzuki
vehicle manufacturing facility, in Gandhinagar, Gujarat

75
SEPTEMBER 23, 2022 • FORBES INDIA
MARUTI
autonomous driving, that will help
Maruti Suzuki in the long run.
“The recent announcement about
Hansalpur is a huge positive step
towards EV development in India,”
adds Sharma of Nomura. “Given the
volumes at which MSIL operates,
it is prudent to stay invested across
all alternative powertrains. If the
aim is net zero, it can be achieved
with an assortment of powertrains.
Automakers might continue to
have a diversiﬁ ed development
programme, consisting of a composite
powertrain tech instead of over-
indexing on any particular type.”
But it’s a thought that many of
Maruti’s peers in the domestic market
aren’t even considering. Instead, many
of them are aggressively building
electric portfolios. Tata Motors
accounts for about 85 percent of
India’s EV sales, and it has a slew
of models lined up for the next few
years, including a third-generation
all-EV by 2025, by when Maruti
plans to bring out its ﬁ rst EV.
Mahindra, too, announced plans to
launch ﬁ ve EVs, and has even set up
a subsidiary to focus on building EVs.
It has roped in British International
Investment (BII), the UK’s
development ﬁ nance institution, to
invest in the new subsidiary, valued at
$9.1 billion. Another new entrant, Ola
Electric, is planning to put out an all-
electric car on Indian roads by 2024.
“We are now in what’s perhaps
the third phase of shift in the auto
sector,” says Gupta of S&P Mobility.
“There is a paradigm shift to EVs, and
companies such as Tata, Hyundai, MG
and others have put their vehicles on
the road. As India’s largest carmaker,
Maruti should have been leading this
revolution. But that’s not the case.
Aside from the need to protect the
environment, this is also the time to
give back to the country and not just
make money from the country.”
India’s EV market is expected to
have a CAGR of 90 percent in this
decade, and touch $150 billion by
2030, according to consulting ﬁ rm
RBSA Advisors. Yet, EVs are in their
infancy in India and lag markets like
China and the US. The government
has tried everything—from tax cuts
to manufacturing incentives—to
kickstart an EV revolution in India.
As of 2021, EVs account for 1
percent of the total vehicles sold in
India. This number is expected to
grow to 39 percent by CY27, driven
largely by electric two-wheelers and
electric three-wheelers, according to
a report by EY. While e-buses have a
lower adoption rate, state government
initiatives could signiﬁ cantly
ramp up sales in the coming years.
However, large-scale adoption of
electric four-wheelers is expected
to take longer due to range anxiety,
varying duty cycles, and inadequate
charging facilities, according to EY.
“MSIL has a strong moat both in
the upstream and downstream value
chain,” says Sharma. “It isn’t about
tactical dominance, but deep-rooted
cognisance of Indian consumers
and matching it with a highly
optimised operational capability.”
In 2021, the Indian EV industry
attracted investments of $6 billion
and is projected to attract $20
billion by 2030. According to Niti
Aayog, India’s EV ﬁ nancing industry
is projected to be worth
`3.7 lakh
crore by 2030, about 80 percent of
the current retail vehicle ﬁ nance
industry. Between 2020 and 2030,
the estimated cumulative capital cost
of the country’s EV transition will be
`19.7 lakh crore across vehicles, EV
supply equipment, and batteries.
All this means Maruti really
needs to up its electric game quickly,
before losing further ground in a
category that’s only poised to grow
stronger. It also has the challenge
of regaining lost turf among
SUVs, while remaining relevant
in India’s automobile industry.
“If you have been number one
for a long time, the biggest danger is
complacency,” Bhargava said. “We
are conscious of that. And these kinds
of things that happen periodically,
like market share loss, is good in a
sense because it jolts us out of the
comfort zone and makes us work
a little harder to get back.”
Can Maruti
win back?
Ramping up CNG vehicles as part of its
green strategy
To invest over `20,000 crore in a new plant in
Kharkhoda, Haryana, to manufacture a million vehicles
Two new launches in the SUV
market in June to strengthen sales
in the fast-growing SUV market
Suzuki Motor to set up an EV battery
facility at Hansalpur, Gujarat, with an
investment of around `7,300 crore
to manufacture advanced chemistry
cell batteries
“Maruti Suzuki’s contribution
in making India a formidable
market is unparalleled...
but for a leader, change
management is critical.”
HARSHVARDHAN SHARMA ,
HEAD, AUTO RETAIL PRACTICE, NOMURA

Led by Vinod Kannan,
Vistara has emerged out
of Covid to become India’s
second-largest airline.
From hereon, it will have to
stave off competition from a
crowded domestic sector and
global economic headwinds
In Focus
76
By MANU BALACHANDRAN
FORBES INDIA • SEP
MADHU KAPPARATH
Come, Fly
With Me

SEPTEMBER 23, 2022 • FORBES INDIA
77
VISTARA
INFOGRAPHICS: MUKESH SINGH
four aircraft belonging to American
Airlines and United Airlines, and
crashed them into the iconic World
Trade Centre in New York and the
Pentagon in Washington DC.
The Bengaluru-born Kannan had
just ﬁ nished his master’s degree in
high-performance computing from
the Singapore-MIT Alliance, a global
partnership in graduate education
between MIT, the National University
of Singapore (NUS) and Nanyang
Technological University (NTU), and
joined Singapore Airlines in August. It
took almost two years before air travel
returned to normalcy after the attack.
In 2019, almost two decades after
he spent his life rising through the
ranks at Singapore Airlines, Kannan
shifted to India, only to be welcomed
by another global mayhem. He joined
Vistara, a joint venture between
Singapore Airlines and Tata group,
as chief strategy offi cer in June,
six months before the ﬁ rst case of
Covid-19 was detected in China. By
January 2020, as air travel began to
be curtailed, Kannan was elevated
as chief commercial offi cer and was
in the thick of things when air travel
came to a standstill in March.
“I took on the commercial role in
January 2020 and then everything
came crashing down, for the lack
of a better word,” the 42-year-old
tells Forbes India over a virtual
interaction. “For two months we
couldn’t ﬂ y, which was a big shock.”
Fast forward two years, Kannan
and Vistara seemed to have walked
out of the crisis, relatively unscathed
and, in the process, mightier than ever
before. While many Indian carriers
are bleeding, and in some cases even
struggling to pay monthly salaries,
Vistara became India’s second-largest
airline by market share, crossing the
signiﬁ cant 10 percent milestone in
July. In January 2022, seven years
after the Gurugram-headquartered
airline ﬁ rst took to the skies, Kannan
was appointed the company’s CEO.
Market leader IndiGo is several
knots away with a market share of
V
inod Kannan has made it a habit of walking out of turbulence unscathed and,
perhaps, even stronger.
Back in 2001, barely a month after
he began his tryst with aviation as a marketing executive with Singapore Airlines (SIA), the global airline industry went into mayhem when, on September 11, terrorists hijacked
nearly 60 percent, and closing in seems to be a Herculean task. But, beating well-established rivals, including SpiceJet and Go First, both of whom started a decade before Vistara began operations, certainly isn’t an easy task by any measure.
“Vistara’s mandate is to be the
best premium airline in the country and hopefully the world someday,” Kannan says. “If you look at where we are today, more than 80 percent of the market is low-cost carriers. That’s not easy to change because all these guys have also ordered aircraft. They’re all growing because we expect demand to grow. So, at a high level. I would expect the same kind of share split to take place.”
That has meant that in the next
few months, Kannan isn’t chasing after markets that low-cost carriers are targeting. He is instead looking to build up a healthy mix of domestic and international operations, which could see 60 percent of its capacity being deployed in the domestic market and 40 percent in international. Currently, that ratio stands at 80:20, and Vistara will be adding nearly 17 aircraft by the end of 2023.
“Without doubt, as it stands, they
are the best full-service airline in India today and it might be a while until this changes especially given the challenges the Tata group face
Market Share (%)
Vistara: The rise of
the challengers
SOURCE DGCA
Vistara CEO
Vinod Kannan
knows a thing
or two about
emerging out
of turbulence

best-known brands, the Tata
group and Singapore Airlines.
Now, the company operates
25 percent more departures
compared to two years ago and
has ramped up its international
off erings with the addition of
two new Boeing Dreamliner
aircraft. That has meant the
company operates ﬂ ights to
London, Frankfurt and Paris.
It will also take delivery of
one more Boeing 787 which is
expected to join in October, in
addition to four more expected
in the next 12 to 18 months.
“In the next one-and-a-
half years, I will have another
16 to 17 aircraft, so that is a
signiﬁ cant increase and a lot of
it will be international because
domestically we operate to 31
points already,” Kannan says.
“Those constitute most of the
key points for our business
model. Of course, when you
look at the SpiceJet or the
IndiGos of the world, they do
operate to second and third-tier
cities. But our model is slightly
diff erent. We’ve covered most
of the key places that we want
to go to.” IndiGo, the country’s
largest airline currently, has
a ﬂ eet size of 279 aircraft
and a destination count of 74
domestic and 25 international.
While Vistara will continue
to add domestic routes—it had
recently added Coimbatore—
it will focus on ramping up
frequency on existing routes.
“International and Tier I and
Tier II are strong points but by
no means easy markets,” says
Satyendra Pandey, managing
partner at aviation consultancy
ﬁ rm Aairavat Transport &
Technology Ventures. “The
risk proﬁ le for these markets
varies and will require
comprehensive planning.
my competition,” Kannan says.
During the early days of the
pandemic, domestic airlines
such as IndiGo and SpiceJet
built up a stellar business
in cargo movement. In fact,
SpiceJet is now planning to
hive off its cargo business,
which the company reckons
will lead to a one-time gain
of nearly
`2,600 crore.
“On the commercial
side, we had to redraw our
networks because some of
the traditional sectors like
Delhi-Mumbai or Delhi-
Bengaluru had dried up
because corporates were
not travelling,” Kannan
says. “People were not
travelling for work anymore
and were travelling to meet
their loved ones. So, we had
to re-tune our network.”
The company also ensured
there were no layoff s and
while the senior management
took pay cuts, those below a
certain salary level were left
off the hook. “We needed to
make sure that aircraft were
taken care of, even when
they didn’t ﬂ y,” Kannan says.
“So, we had made sure there
are enough resources. We
were also clear that we did
not want to ﬁ re people. That
would be the real last resort.”
In the meantime, Vistara
quickly went about expanding
its ﬂ eet, having added 13 new
aircraft since March 2020. “At
the start of the pandemic, the
ﬂ eet size was 40. Today I sit
at 53,” Kannan says. “That has
kind of helped us reach the
number two spot in domestic
market share because we were
able to deploy capacity wisely
and because of the trust that
the passengers had.” Vistara is
owned by two of the world’s
78
FORBES INDIA • SEP
In Focus
in turning around Air India,” says Vinamra Longani, head of operations at Sarin & Co, a law ﬁ rm specialising
in aircraft leasing and ﬁ nance.
“Crossing the 10 percent market share number is signiﬁ cant and that means,
despite the competition, people are choosing Vistara over other airlines.”
According to data published by
India’s aviation watchdog DGCA, Vistara cornered 10.4 percent of the domestic market in July. SpiceJet— which had been forced to cut down its capacity by 50 percent—held 8 percent of the market while Go First, the ultra- low-cost airline from the Nusli Wadia group stood at 8.2 percent. Vistara’s lone rival in the full-service carrier segment, Air India, held 8.4 percent.
“As long as SIA is a shareholder, the
strategy remains focussed on premium service,” says Shukor Yusof, founder, and analyst of Malaysia-based aviation consultancy ﬁ rm Endau Analytics.
“Vistara isn’t after market share... it’s going after the market that can aff ord its fares—the middle class, and
professionals. Tata provides comfort to SIA to continue with its operations and directions, including establishing new routes or acquiring new planes.”
RISING STAR
Kannan, who grew up in Bengaluru before moving to Singapore for his college education, joined Vistara after several stints at Singapore Airlines, including ones in Italy, Indonesia, and as a chief commercial offi cer at Scoot, the low-cost arm
of Singapore Airlines. Before he became CEO of Vistara, Vistara was headed by Phee Teik Yeoh and Leslie Thng in its seven-year history.
Under Thng and Kannan, while
the company did turn to operating cargo during the lockdown, it did not entirely diversify itself into a cargo operator unlike some of its peers. Instead, it spent its time ensuring the safety of the airlines and preparing for route rationalisations and network planning. “We did partake in cargo, not to the extent perhaps of some of
Passenger
Load Factor (%)
84.7
SpiceJet
84.3
Vistara
77.7
IndiGo
76.5
Go First
75.2
AirAsia
71.1
Air India
Full-service carriers:
Not really out of fashion
SOURCE DGCA

79
SEPTEMBER 23, 2022 • FORBES INDIA
Interestingly, other airlines are also
after similar markets, thus intense
competition is all but certain.”

FLYING HIGH
Of the 17 new aircraft that Vistara
will take delivery of by end of 2023,
13 are narrow-bodied. “Out of the 13,
ﬁ ve will be A-321, the longer version
of the A320,” Kannan says. “Some
of them will be long range, so they
can ﬂ y slightly longer. This product
has been one of the standouts for us
because you have lie-ﬂ at business
class, which is something not
many airlines do on a narrow-body
aircraft.” All that means is apart
from Europe, the company will ramp
up its presence in South Asia and
the Middle East, among others.
“As full-service carriers, we’ve
always said the value we bring to the
table is magniﬁ ed for an international
ﬂ ight or a longer ﬂ ight because
people understand and require the
full-service off ering,” Kannan says.
“Premium is measured by the
share of wallet,” adds Pandey.
“The label only matters to the
consumer if the product and service
are at a level where the consumer
consistently pays more compared to
other options. For that to happen,
several items have to align. While
Vistara’s product has been good,
volumes and yields in premium
airline of choice in terms of passenger
comfort and service. In addition, the
group is also reportedly considering
merging AirAsia India, a company
in which it owns 83 percent stake,
with Air India Express, a low-cost
international arm of Air India that
it acquired recently. In all, the
Tata group owns and operates four
airlines—Air India, Air India Express,
AirAsia India and Vistara. Air India
and Vistara currently operate on both
domestic and international routes.
AirAsia India does not ﬂ y abroad,
while Air India Express operates
solely on international routes.
“Should Vistara continue to be the
preferred full-service airline in the
long run (as far as domestic market
share goes), the Tata group will
ﬁ nd itself staring at an interesting
conundrum,” adds Longani. “If the
group is to consolidate its presence in
the full-service airline space, which
of the two brands does it retain?
Given Vistara’s evident popularity,
unless Air India is spruced up before
such a merger, Vistara’s frequent
ﬂ iers may feel disappointed and
may even switch to an alternative
which may be available once Jet
Airways takes to the skies.”
With Covid-19 forcing a rethink
among passengers on their journey,
customers are also expected to opt
for direct ﬂ ights—something Vistara
reckons could be an opportunity for
itself and even Air India. “People don’t
want to transit and stop,” Kannan
says. “They want to take direct ﬂ ights
as much as possible. And they want
to gravitate again towards brands
they have conﬁ dence in. I think
India does have a dearth of quality
international long-haul operators—
with the Tata group coming on
board Air India, that will change.”

CAN VISTARA FLY HIGHER?
Over the past few months, India’s
airlines have seen numerous safety-
related incidents forcing the country’s
aviation watchdog to step in.
Between May and July, for
VISTARA
cabins are not to a point where they are in solidly proﬁ table territory.”
Then, there is a possibility that
Vistara could see a merger with Air India. In October 2020, the Tata group, which holds 51 percent in Vistara, managed to successfully purchase Air India when the government put it on sale. As part of its bid, the Tata group’s wholly- owned subsidiary Talace Pvt Ltd put an enterprise value (EV) bid at
`18,000 crore with debt to be
retained at
`15,300 crore and a cash
component of
`2,700 crore. Tata’s bid
was higher than the Ajay Singh-led consortia’s EV bid at
`15,100 crore.
Tatas took 100 percent control of Air India, the low-cost carrier AI Express, and Air India’s 50 percent stake in ground handling ﬁ rm AI-SATS.
“In the long run, or at the very high
level, perhaps there are synergies, but we also need to be mindful because we are still competitors,” Kannan says. “We don’t want to engage in any anti-competitive behaviour, so we do not talk about route rationalisation, networks or pricing. Maybe down the road, there is an opportunity for procurement where we are pretty much price takers in the market. So those could be opportunities.”
The Tata group has so far remained
silent on any merger talks, although it has promised to make Air India the
Vistara has
added 13
aircraft to its
fleet since
March 2020
FRANCIS MASCARENHAS / REUTERS

instance, SpiceJet saw nine incidents
ranging from smoke in the cabin
to the cracking of a windshield
and an emergency landing in
Karachi, prompting the aviation
regulator to ask the airline to ﬂ y at
50 percent of its approved ﬂ ights
for two months. Go First, too, has
reportedly grounded a ﬁ fth of its
aircraft due to delays in engines.
“I wouldn’t attribute it just to that,”
Kannan says in response to whether
scaled-back deployments at other
airlines led to a rise in market share.
“We’ve expanded and addressed
customer requirements. Is it because
of these incidents that people are
migrating? Probably. Potentially
yes. That could be happening, but
again, we need to be careful that
we don’t shout out to say that this
(safety) is the reason why people
should travel with us. I would
rather use the other aspects of why
people need to travel with us.”
For now, Vistara is well funded,
backed by two of the world’s biggest
conglomerates, although the airline
has been struggling with proﬁ tability.
In ﬁ scal 2022, the company’s annual
revenue stood at
`5,520 crore, up
by a staggering 100 percent from
`2,730 crore in 2021, while losses
swelled to
`2,032 crore. It has also
helped that the promoters have been
pumping money into the airline and
keeping it away from any ﬁ nancial
turbulence that has aff ected some
of the ailing domestic carriers.
For the Tata group, apart from
Vistara’s mounting losses, the
company is also reportedly planning
to write off loans worth
`2,600 that
AirAsia India had accumulated,
while Air India’s annual loss
stands at over
`9,500 crore.
“Just because you’re backed by
Singapore Airlines and the Tata
group doesn’t mean that we can’t
get let off ,” Kannan says. “Every
investment has to have some sound
business plan and I’m grateful that
the shareholders agree with what we
set out to do.” This year, however,
Kannan reckons the company was on
track to perhaps turning around its
fortunes before crude oil prices began
rising while the rupee depreciated.
“We’ve seen very good revenue
upside because of the market share
but also because of the average fares,
which we are able to command,”
Kannan says. “Because of oil price
and USD exchange, which has
depreciated almost 6-7 percent
from January to now, a lot of that
upside is gone. I had to pay a lot
more to the fuel companies.”
According to a recent report by
ratings agency ICRA, if the fuel cost
increases by 30 percent compared to
last year’s levels, and the industry can
pass on only 10 percent of the increase
by a rise in fares, the industry’s
operating proﬁ t margin will moderate
by 10 percent. Similarly, with the US
dollar appreciating by more than 5
percent in recent times, earnings are
also likely to be severely aff ected.
“Since 35 to 50 percent of the
airlines’ operating expenses, including
operating lease payments, fuel
expenses, and a signiﬁ cant portion
of aircraft and engine maintenance
expenses, are denominated in
USD, it has further pressured the
earnings for the industry,” Suprio
Banerjee, vice president and sector
head, ICRA, said in a statement.
“This aside, some airlines also have
foreign currency debt. Despite the
signiﬁ cant improvement in passenger
traffi c, the revenue per available seat
kilometre–cost per available seat
kilometre (RASK-CASK)—spread
for the Indian carriers in H1FY23 is
expected to be unfavourable, owing
to the signiﬁ cant surge in costs and
the limited ability of the airlines to
pass on the same to the customers.”
Then, there is the entry of the
new ultra-low-cost airline Akasa,
along with the impending entry of
Jet Airways, which could intensify
competition in the skies. India off ers
one of the lowest fares in the world.
The Indian aviation market needs
over 1,900 aircraft in 20 years to keep
up with the growing demand. Aircraft
manufacturer Airbus projects the
20-year traffi c growth of India’s civil
aviation sector at 7.7 percent, almost
twice the world average of 4.3 percent.
Domestic traffi c growth is expected at
8.2 percent, one of the world’s highest.
“India continues to be an intensely
competitive market,” adds Pandey
of AT-TV. “With Akasa and possibly
Jet, the market will have seven to
eight airlines all competing for similar
demand. Yields will be diluted further
while input costs continue to rise. In
such a scenario, a clear and deliberate
strategy built around market realities
will be the key to success.”
So, what happens now for
Vistara? “Fuel price and the USD
can single-handedly kill me, and
I can’t make any projections
based on that,” Kannan says. “But
from a revenue perspective, I’m
very conﬁ dent that we’ve kind of
seen a watershed moment.”
Kannan knows a thing or two
about emerging out of turbulence.
And, when he says it’s now a
watershed moment, it means only
one thing for Vistara: It’s time to
climb to cruising altitude.

Revenue (` cr)
-419.63
-830.8
Loss (` cr)
Not in the best shape
2,201.41
3,045.54
4,851.06
2,730.86
5,520
-1,813.4
-1,611.6
-2,031.5
2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
SOURCE Tofler
In Focus
FORBES INDIA • SEP
VISTARA
80

The Pied Piper
of Restaurants
82
FORBES INDIA • SEPTEMBER 23, 2022
By RAJIV SINGH
A dash of pivots, a sprinkle of co-investing rivals and heavy seasoning of food and
beverage players... UrbanPiper has played the right tune so far.
But can the restaurant management platform now scale up?
In Focus
I
t was ‘shock and awe’. Or
let’s call it the ﬁ rst thumb
rule of the food business,
which Saurabh Gupta
gulped last year. It was peak
summer in 2021. After completing his
masters in electrical engineering from
the University of South California
and working in the US for close to a
(From left): COO Anirban Majumdar, Chief of Growth Manav Gupta, and CEO Saurabh Gupta
NISHANT RATNAKAR FOR FORBES INDIA
“Building a SaaS platform for Indian
restaurants is not easy. Initially, revenues stay
low, but you soon see the flywheel effect.”
SAURABH GUPTA
CO-FOUNDER AND CEO, URBANPIPER

about the ambitious plan. “Go ahead,
but I don’t know how you would
execute it,” he said. The explicit
consent from Swiggy’s rival whetted
Gupta’s appetite. “I knew Sriharsha
Majety, and I was sure I would bring
the two rivals together,” he reasoned.
Now came the second lesson: If you
haven’t understood the ﬁ rst lesson,
then learn again. “Dude, what are
you talking about?” quipped Swiggy’s
co-founder, who took a while to
warm up to the idea of co-investing
with Zomato. After a month when
the funding food was all set to be
served, Gupta learnt his third lesson:
The garnishing has to look pleasing
to all eyes. In business parlance, the
meaning was simple. Gupta needed
to manage the interests of competing
and diverse sets of funding partners
in a fair manner. One of the online
food aggregators, Gupta refuses to
divulge the name, wanted a bigger
share of the pie in UrbanPiper.
The idea was unpalatable to others
sitting at the table. The pot kept
simmering and after a while Zomato
and Swiggy picked up 5 percent
each, and the series B funding of $24
million ﬁ nally concluded in April.
Meanwhile, back in 2003,
Gupta learnt his ﬁ rst life lesson.
“A degree from a decent college
helps,” rues the entrepreneur who
ﬁ nished his electrical engineering
from an inconspicuous institute in
Maharashtra. “I couldn’t get through
IIT or any premium engineering
schools,” he recounts. After four years
of graduation came a bitter realisation.
There were no takers for the young
engineer. “I even applied at BPOs but
got rejected,” he rues. The recruiters
mocked Gupta’s poor verbal skills in
English. Enraged, the young engineer
decided to go for higher studies,
cracked competitive entrance tests
and completed his masters from the
University of South California.
The gambit worked. Over the next
few years, Gupta found himself in the
fast lane: A breezy life, a big house,
two cars and a hefty pay cheque. In
2012, Gupta was bowled by a wrong
one from destiny. He rushed back to
India to take care of his ailing father,
took a sabbatical for over a year and
then went back to restart his life. It
was easier said than done. He came
back to India, co-founded InfraEyes,
a medical device startup based out
of Bengaluru. The venture didn’t
succeed, and the gritty founder tried
his luck now with the food business
and co-founded UrbanPiper. The
simple idea was to build a social
app for businesses to go viral.
83
URBANPIPER
decade, Gupta co-founded UrbanPiper with Anirban Majumdar and Manav Gupta in 2015. UrbanPiper started as a viral, social and loyal tool for restaurateurs to understand customer behaviour, improve r etention and
expand sales. By 2021, it morphed into a full-stack restaurant management software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform, counted Kumar Vembu, founder and CEO of GoFrugal, Axilor Ventures, Sequoia India and Tiger Global among its backers, and was getting ready to add new players to its cap table.
After months of prepping, Gupta
was set to close the deal with a global biggie in 2021. A few days before signing, though, came the ‘shock’. The German online takeaway food company Delivery Hero wanted to become a strategic partner. In short, it meant investing in UrbanPiper with the intent to acquire the company at a later stage. Gupta and existing investors were not prepared. “We still had a lot of juice left,” recalls Gupta. He declined to take the money, and UrbanPiper’s funding sprint came to a screeching halt before the ﬁ nish line.
Here was the ﬁ rst lesson: Don’t count
your chickens before they hatch.
Full of beans, Gupta quickly
cooked another plan. This time destiny played its bit in adding a dash of luck: Zomato’s blockbuster IPO last July. Gupta knew maverick food entrepreneur Deepinder Goyal and called to congratulate him. After exchanging pleasantries, Gupta got into the act. “We are raising our next round. Would you like to invest?” he asked. To his surprise, Goyal was game. Egged on, Gupta now added another ingredient to the conversation. “Would you mind if I also get Swiggy on board?” he grinned.
Goyal again didn’t disappoint. He
knew Gupta’s dilemma. UrbanPiper was a neutral platform and not having both the food aggregators on the cap table would hurt the prospects of the startup which had sped up integrating restaurants into Zomato and Swiggy. Goyal, though, remained sceptical
SEPTEMBER 23, 2022 • FORBES INDIA
Name & Game
UrbanPiper
was founded
by Saurabh
Gupta, Anirban
Majumdar and
Manav Gupta
in 2015
Builds a full-
stack restaurant
management platform
that helps restaurants
operate and scale
their businesses
Counts restaurant
chains such as Pizza
Hut, McDonald’s, KFC,
Subway, Taco Bell,
Cure Foods, Rebel
Foods, and Biryani by
Kilo among its clients
Claims to process over
20 percent
of all online food orders placed each month in India
Platform is live in 30,000+ restaurant locations across eight countries
Bengaluru-
based restaurant
management
platform raised $24
million in April this
year; overall it has
raised
$31.5 mln
Series B round in April
was led by existing
investors Sequoia
Capital India and
Tiger Global; Swiggy
and Zomato too
invested in
the startup
Angels too joined
the queue such as
Zomato and Shyft
co-founder Pankaj
Chaddah; Curefoods
founder Ankit Nagori;
Shiprocket founders
Saahil Goel and
Vishesh Khurana;
Khadim Bhatti and Vara
Kumar from Whatﬁ x,
Jim Vitek from Yum!
Brands
In May 2018,
UrbanPiper raised pre-
series A funding from
GoFrugal founder and
CEO, Kumar Vembu and
existing investor Axilor
Ventures
Processes 15 million orders per month, which equates to approximately
$800 million of order value annually

84
FORBES INDIA • SEPTEMBER 23, 2022
In Focus
There was one problem, though.
The B2C venture didn’t have takers.
All interested parties, Gupta recounts,
wanted a white label solution. For
UrbanPiper it meant the solution
and services sold would not have
its branding. “We went B2B and
there was an instant uptick,” he
says, adding that the venture closed
the ﬁ rst ﬁ scal with an operational
revenue of around
`30 lakh. The
next year, it inched to
`50 lakh. Then
came the ﬁ rst speedbreaker. Gupta
and his partners realised that there
had been a bunch of companies in
the same ﬁ eld, but couldn’t scale.
UrbanPiper, too, was stuck.
Gupta quickly pivoted. UrbanPiper
now started enabling restaurant
owners to get their business online.
The move worked, and business
scaled. But after a year, it hit another
bump. Food aggregators like Swiggy
and Zomato had started gaining scale,
all kinds of food and beverage players
were hopping on to the online food
ordering platforms and the business
of building individual websites
for restaurants found itself on the
backburner. UrbanPiper again pivoted.
The threat from Swiggy and Zomato
was transformed into an opportunity.
The startup became the backend
tech partner for restaurant players
who were struggling to streamline
operations and grapple with surging
orders from online delivery players.
Fast forward to 2022. UrbanPiper
has notched up decent scale. It
processes 15 million orders per month,
which equates to approximately $800
million of order value annually; the
platform is live in more than 30,000
The backers are excited with the
growth story. While the restaurant
ecosystem has evolved rapidly
with changing consumer needs
over the last few years, pandemic-
induced disruptions have made food
merchants more than eager to arm
themselves with technology, adopt
digital channels and upgrade their
operations. “UrbanPiper is at the
forefront of this digital transformation
and is strategically positioned to
build infrastructure connecting
digital players to merchants in
the F&B space,” says Shraeyansh
Thakur, principal at Sequoia India.
Industry experts decode the secret
sauce. Explosion in food delivery
due to online food aggregators
made the backend foodtech startup
an indispensable tool for F&B
players. “It has become very handy
as an integration tool,” reckons KS
Narayanan, a food and beverage
expert. The startup has a point
of sale (PoS) system, customer
relationship management (CRM)
tool and inventory management
system, which have removed a big
headache for all kinds of restaurants,
he adds. Though the startup has had
a muted growth over the last two
years, it is now well-placed to make
the most of the opportunity that the
food delivery industry off ers. “They
can only scale from here,” he says.
Gupta does intend to scale at a
furious pace. “We are building a global
SaaS foodtech company from India,”
he says, adding that UrbanPiper has
operations across eight countries and
will further scale the venture. But
will the zeal to fan out furiously come
at the cost of sustainable growth?
Gupta underlines that he has learnt
his lessons. “Quality of revenue is
more important than quantity of
revenue,” he says. What also matters,
he lets on, is the kind of customers
the startup wants to work with rather
than having a random approach.
“Slow is better, and spending
wisely is the name of the game,”
he shares his biggest learning.
URBAN PIPER
restaurant locations across eight countries; and Gupta claims that his startup processes over 20 percent of all online food orders placed each month in India. Funding and revenue too have kept pace. While it has raised $31.5 million from a clutch of marquee backers such as Axilor Ventures, Sequoia India and Tiger Global, operational revenue has jumped over three times from
`4.34 crore in FY21 to `15 crore in
FY22. The losses, too, have come down during the same period, claims Gupta, who declines to share the unaudited numbers for the bottom line. “We are now striking a revenue run-rate of
`40 crore,” claims Gupta.
SOURCE Filings and com-
p
any; FY22 is unaudited
Meet the Pied Pipers
Loss
Operating
revenue
FY22FY20 FY21
`15 cr
`4.34 cr
`4.83 cr
`6.22 cr
NA
`15.82 cr
“UrbanPiper is at
the forefront of the
digital transformation
of F&B players. ”
SHRAEYANSH THAKUR
PRINCIPAL, SEQUOIA INDIA

S
ugar for `19 a kilogramme.
There are not too many
grocery buyers who’d
say no to such a deal.
Add to that free
delivery, no minimum orders, and
an assortment of local brands,
and DealShare has a winning
proposition. The company, on its
part, is conscious that it is serving a
very diff erent consumer. These are
lower-income buyers in large towns
and value-conscious consumers in
smaller towns who have rarely, if
ever, shopped online before. The
only time they’ve ventured online is
usually for buying a mobile phone.
This buyer is usually not
technologically savvy. They are at
ease with local brands they trust
and are unwilling to pay a premium
for national brands. Delivery times
can be stretched, as long as the
products arrive in good condition.
And once comfortable, they will tell
their neighbours, friends, family
and acquaintances about the new
website they are buying from.
They don’t care much about mass
marketing, as word of mouth is as
important for this consumer.
This part of the retail industry
has not proved to be a happy hunting
ground for organised retail. Over
the last decade, there have been
In Focus
86
FORBES INDIA • SEPTEMBER 23, 2022
Cracking the
Viral Grocery Loop
Smart marketing, low customer acquisition costs and relevant products have
played an important role in DealShare’s success
By SAMAR SRIVASTAVA
NISHANT RATNAKAR FOR FORBES INDIA
DealShare co-founders (from left): Sankar
Bora, who is also chief operating officer;
Sourjyendu Medda, chief commercial officer;
Vineet Rao, CEO; and Rajat Shikhar,
chief product officer

several business failures—companies
like Subhiksha or Big Bazaar have
gone broke. Others like Aditya
Birla’s More have had to pivot their
model. While high rentals, people
and logistics costs are to blame,
there is also a case to be made out
for these companies spreading
themselves too thin. They failed to
cluster their operations eff ectively
to spread costs more evenly.
Online players—Grofers, Bigbasket,
Milkbasket—have also had to pivot their business models multiple times. At ﬁ rst, order fulﬁ lments
were done from neighbourhood stores. Supplies were restricted to once a day. Then the warehouse- based inventory model came in, thus increasing costs. Minimum order sizes that started at
`500 were
progressively brought down to
`200,
before being eliminated completely. Eventually they all merged with a bigger rival—Zomato, Tata Digital and JioMart respectively.
Importantly, all these failures
have not been for want of a market. The Boston Consulting Group estimates India’s retail industry at $800 billion, of which organised players have an eight to 10 percent share. This market is growing at 25 percent a year. It is estimated that retailers who are purely online have a sub-1 percent share, but growth rates are in excess of 50
SEPTEMBER 23, 2022 • FORBES INDIA
87
DEALSHARE
The DealShare numbers
CITIES
150
(10 STATES)
AVERAGE
ORDER SIZE
`500
(10 STATES)TA
VALUATION
$1.7 bln
(`13,387 cr)

SALES
`500 cr*
a month
ACTIVE
USERS
2 mln
*Claims the company (last RoC numbers for FY21
indicate sales were at `236 crore for that year)
“We wanted to
leverage the deep
penetration of mobile
and social media
to launch a retail
business.”
VINEET RAO,
CO-FOUNDER & CEO, DEALSHARE

In Focus
88
percent. So while there is a large
market, it is one that has proved
hard for an organised player to
cater to and make money.
In April 2018, DealShare set out
to address this challenge. In the
four years since, they’ve shown that
their model has been able to scale.
In the process they’ve attracted
marquee investors—Matrix Partners,
WestBridge Capital, Unilever
Ventures, Tiger Global and Abu
Dhabi Investment Authority, among
others—taking their valuation
to $1.7 billion. “We invested in
DealShare as it is focussed on the
mass market—in the belly of that
market,” says an investor who has
put in money multiple times in the
company. He declined to be named,
citing his ﬁ rm’s global policy.

SERVING THE MASS MARKET
It was in 2018 that childhood friends
Vineet Rao and Sourjyendu Medda
got together to set up a retail business,
along with Sankar Bora. Rao and
Medda had spent the last decade
working at retail and consumer
companies (Metro Cash & Carry,
and Britannia for Medda, and
Microsoft for Rao), while Bora had
more than 23 years of experience
in businesses such as Myntra
and Aeon Learning. They were
joined later by Rajat Shikhar.
That was also the time when
social commerce was making its
presence felt. Chinese company
Pinduoduo was a pioneer in this
space and showed how a business
could be built through word
of mouth. With this in mind,
DealShare was launched in Jaipur
on WhatsApp groups. “We wanted
to leverage the deep penetration of
mobile and social media to launch
a retail business,” says Rao.
Their initial hypothesis was
that top brands and consumers
accounted for no more than 10 to
15 percent of the market size in
India. Existing players were trying
to organise this end of the market,
what they needed to do to scale the business. Internally they asked themselves: “What do we need to do to build DMart on a mobile phone?” They’d have to challenge a lot of the assumptions of the retail business to make the model work.
Medda, who’d spent time in
organised retail, realised that consumers cared about brands, but these were not necessarily national brands. Good quality, local brands were just as acceptable. “The reason why the top brand thesis doesn’t resonate is because the per capita income is limited. The real need of mass consumers is to increase family aff ordability,” says Medda.
In their conversations with local
manufacturers, who would serve third-party orders for national brands, a similar refrain came up: “We would love to sell under our own name but lack the marketing wherewithal.” DealShare partnered with them and started selling on their site. In time, consumers realised that these brands are just as good—some local brands on the site now come with a ‘DealShare-certiﬁ ed quality
label’. A recent search for dish washing liquid showed a DealShare- certiﬁ ed brand at
`77 versus `212 on
Amazon for delivery in Mumbai.
Another important learning was
that ecommerce sites in India have usually been copy-pasted from the West. Less affl uent consumers ﬁ nd
them intimidating. They also ﬁ nd
the abundance of choice diffi cult
to deal with. The team set out to create a simple and easy-to-use site on the web and mobile.
Go to Dealshare.in and the
fonts are large. The menu is neatly divided into sections for various types of groceries—snacks, fruits, cleaning supplies, home and kitchen, and fashion. The check-out is a simple two-step process, with no options for coupon codes (all discounts are upfront) and credit/debit card off ers.
The company has an 80 percent
leaving the rest of the market free of competition. But these consumers were very diff erent,
and serving them was going to be a challenge. Over the course of 2018, their hypothesis evolved.
First, the consumer cared about
getting a good deal. That deal was what they were most excited about and this translated into them telling their contacts about the service. This viral marketing of the business contributed to zero marketing spends and almost no customer acquisition costs. (Till this day, DealShare doesn’t advertise). Tarun Davda, managing director at Matrix Partners, saw this ﬁ rst-hand when
he got himself added to a few WhatsApp groups in 2018. The orders just took off through Jaipur as people started telling others about the service. By the end of the year, DealShare was servicing 2,000 orders across the city.
As the model evolved, the
company started thinking about
FORBES INDIA • SEPTEMBER 23, 2022
DealShare’s secret sauce
Product
assortment of
600-800
SKUs
only
Tying up
with
local
suppliers/
brands
Low
customer
acquisition
costs
Outsourcing delivery

and bunching delivery times
Deals on
bulk
buying

conversion rate, meaning a user has
an 80 percent chance of placing an
order. Engagement rates are also
high, with monthly active users
opening the app 10 to 15 times a
month to order to check for deals.
Medda was clear that the
assortment has to be kept limited—
no more than 600 to 800 stock
keeping units (SKUs) compared to
the 4,000-7,500 SKUs that larger
online retailers off er. This helped
them eliminate the complexity of
managing diff erent pack sizes in
their warehouses as well as
stock outs.
While getting the viral marketing
loop in place and the assortment
right was a challenge, the team faced
an arguably bigger task in getting
the goods to consumers. Grocery
deliveries have been the bane of
ecommerce deliveries in India.
Margins in most products are no
more than 6 to 8 percent. Setting
up an extensive delivery network
is time-consuming and costly.
With increased competition,
companies no longer insist on
minimum order sizes. Bigbasket,
which, till last year, had a
`600
minimum order requirement, now
doesn’t. Companies like Bigbasket,
with an extensive warehouse network,
ﬁ nd themselves competing with
Swiggy Instamart and Blinkit, which
have a dark-store network closer
to customer homes. The likes of
Bigbasket and Amazon have been
forced to off er the option of two-
hour deliveries in the hope that
customers will stay loyal to them.
The team at DealShare was clear
that they did not want to compete
in this race to the bottom. Last-
mile deliveries can burn a lot of
cash and they set about addressing
this challenge as they knew this
had the potential to break the
business over the longer term.
An additional challenge they faced
was that lower income consumers
would order multiple times a
month. So, while a middle-class
household would place one
`3,000
order a month, these consumers
would place ﬁ ve
`600 orders. “It
is not that they can’t buy, but it is
a cash ﬂ ow issue and they want
to stagger their purchases in a
month,” says Davda of Matrix.
Last-mile deliveries, while
being expensive, are also time-
consuming; ﬁ nding local addresses
in a warren of lanes can take time,
and it’s best to employ locals. The
team came up with the idea of
DealShare Dost. These are local
entrepreneurs who run a business
and employ people for it. There is
invariably some downtime during
the day when they can make
deliveries. If the company were to
employ them, they’d have to pay
“The reason why the top brand
thesis doesn’t resonate is
because the per capita income
is limited.”
SOURJYENDU MEDDA,
CO-FOUNDER, CHIEF COMMERCIAL
OFFICER, DEALSHARE
SCALING UP, AND THE ROAD AHEAD
In its third year of operations,
DealShare turned unicorn. In late
January, it raised $165 million
from Tiger Global and Alpha Wave
Global, valuing it at $1.7 billion.
On the operations front, it serves
20 lakh monthly active users, with
an average bill size of
`500. Kiranas
also order from their website, with
an average bill size of
`15,000,
taking the monthly weighted
average to
`1,100 per user or `500
crore a month, according to the
company. They have 100 warehouses
leased, totalling 30 lakh sq ft.
The company has achieved this
by keeping its costs in check.
According to Davda, the bane of
Indian ecommerce has been the
SEPTEMBER 23, 2022 • FORBES INDIA
89
DEALSHARE
them minimum wage, along with provident fund dues, making the model unviable. So tie-up with local entrepreneurs who can deliver.
Another learning was that
while it costs a lot to ship goods individually, it is much cheaper if they are delivered in bulk. Think of shipping a table from Delhi to Mumbai, and it would cost
`5,000-
10,000. In contrast, the furniture of an entire house can be shipped across the cities for
`1.5 lakh.
Similarly, if goods are sent to local delivery areas in bulk and the sorting is done just before delivery, it would be a lot cheaper. In cities where DealShare has a substantial mass of orders, this is now their preferred mode of delivering. They have no plans to build their own delivery ﬂ eet.
low GMV achieved for every dollar spent. He estimates that DealShare has spent $1 for every $10 in GMV it has achieved. The company is still not proﬁ table, as it focuses
on scaling up. Investors point out that DealShare’s success is by no means certain and it all depends on how they continue to execute.
The founders have big,
hairy and audacious goals. Over the next ﬁ ve years, Rao says he
would like the company to achieve $10 billion in annualised sales, with an Ebidta margin of 5 to 6 percent. The cash it generates will depend on how much they invest in the company. And that’s not bad for a company that started out of Jaipur and till today prides its ‘small-town DNA’.

Hedge fund analyst Salman Khan quit a lucrative
job to build Khan Academy into a massive global
edtech empire that aims for a multi-generational
impact, rather than raking in profits
In Focus
90
By RAJIV SINGH
FORBES INDIA • SEPTEMBER 23, 2022
A Zero-profit
Khan Blockbuster
T
he penny suddenly
dropped. It was a few
months into 2010.
Salman Khan had
quit his high-paying
and impressive job as a hedge fund
analyst in 2009, and ﬁ nally converted
his ﬁ ve-year old ‘admirable hobby’
into his new profession. “So, what do
you do,” quizzed one of the couple
who bumped into Khan and his
wife at a dinner event in Palo Alto,
California. The Harvard grad, who
was also armed with three degrees
from MIT, did his best to dish out an
impressive reply. “Well, I am running
this project, which is not-for-proﬁ t,”
Khan said proudly. “I’ve made some
software, and also make YouTube
videos on math and science which
are getting popular,” he continued,
listing his nascent achievements. “I
am looking for people who can donate
as this project will deﬁ nitely turn into
something big,” he ﬁ nished, hoping
to hear words of encouragement.
The silence, though, was deafening.
The couple quickly walked away.
It was, however, their hushed
conversation that cut like a knife.
“One of them said, ‘Good thing that
his wife is training to be a doctor’,”
recalls Khan, who overheard the
gossip. The uncharitable comment
was devastating. “It hit my fragile
male ego very heavily,” he recounts.
“It was like a sucker punch,” he adds.
Until a year ago, Khan was courted
by everybody during dinner parties
and social gatherings. The biggest
pull for the then hedge fund analyst
was his professional background
and enviable educational pedigree:
Bachelor of Science in math and
computer science, and Master of
engineering from the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology; and an
MBA from Harvard. “When I used
to go to dinner parties and introduce
myself to people, they used to be
mighty impressed,” he recalls. “They
used to talk very nicely,” he adds.
Well, a lot changed after Khan
quit his job. In fact, he started talking
to himself. And this was not a good
symptom. “I would wake up in the
middle of the night in a cold sweat,”
he recalls. “I used to wonder what I
had done to myself and to my family,”
he says, narrating those haunting
moments. It was in 2004 that Khan
started making math tutorials for his
cousins. The next year, he got the
domain name—Khan Academy—and in
2006 he set up a YouTube channel and
started uploading educational videos.
The response was encouraging.
Khan’s appeal spread much beyond
his family, he started amassing users
every day, and letters of appreciation
were pouring in from all parts of the
US. “It kept me going and I realised

SEPTEMBER 23, 2022 • FORBES INDIA
91
there’s real value here,” he says.
“It was incredibly rewarding.” The
fact that people were beneﬁ tting
enormously from the free lessons
had a message that the venture was
making an impact, and could be
scaled. Khan, who pursued his ‘hobby’
of uploading free tutorials till 2009,
decided to quit his job and take a
plunge into the not-for-proﬁ t world
of education. The biggest trigger to
lead a proﬁ t-less life was MIT. “I was
inspired by MIT OpenCourseWare,
a web-based publication of MIT
course content,” he says. A lot of
universities, he says, will try to teach
students values and ethics. “But
when push comes to shove, very
few take a stand,” he underlines.
There was another inspiration.
Khan was attempting to do something
audacious, which was perceived by
many as outrageous. “They thought
I am squandering a lot,” he says,
alluding to the reactions of his friends,
well-wishers, and all who mattered
and not mattered so much. Khan,
though, was clear in his mind. What
can for-proﬁ t organisations aspire
to be, he asked. “You can become
“In India, there
is cynicism about
free education
content. If it’s free,
then it’s too good
to be true.”
SALMAN KHAN
FOUNDER, KHAN ACADEMY
KHAN ACADEMY

92
FORBES INDIA • SEPTEMBER 23, 2022
In Focus
the next Google, the next Facebook,
or the next Apple,” was the logical
reply. Now, what could a not-for-
proﬁ t aspire to be, he ﬂ ipped the
question. “Well, you could become
the next Harvard, the next Oxford,
the next Smithsonian,” came the
reply from within. Khan listened
to his heart, and took the plunge.
A few months into it, his heart
was in his mouth. “For eight
months, I was out of a job. It meant
zero income,” he says. Khan was
alarmingly dipping into his savings,
which he had stockpiled for buying
a house. “Those months were
incredibly stressful,” he recalls.
The lowest moment, though, was
the day before he met Ann Doerr. A
trustee of Rice University, Doerr had
started her career as an engineer, and
had held various engineering and
management positions at Intel, Silicon
Compilers, and Tandem Computers.
In May 2010, the electrical engineer
donated $10,000 to Khan Academy.
“This is the largest donation that
Khan Academy has ever received,” he
dropped an email to Doerr, thanking
her for her incredibly generous
donation. Doerr replied. “I love what
you’re doing. My daughter uses the
resources, I use it,” she underlined.
What happened next was a lunch
meeting. Doerr had just one query.
“How are you supporting yourself?”
she asked. Khan paused for a while,
and gave an honest reply. “I am not.”
The meeting ended, Khan came
back to his house and saw a text
message from Doerr: You really need
to be supporting yourself. I’ve just
scripting a blockbuster. Khan
Academy, which started operations
in 2017, has over 1 million monthly
active users, is supported by Tata
Trusts, CSF, SBI Foundation,
HDFC Bank and Kotak Mahindra
Bank, and off ers content in
English, Hinglish, Hindi, Kannada,
Gujarati, Punjabi and Marathi.
“India is fascinating, and has
always been a place close to my
heart,” says the man who traces
his origins to the subcontinent and
has Bengali as his mother tongue.
The roots of the India journey,
though, go back to 2015. It was Khan’s
maiden visit to the country. “We
got introduced to Tata Trusts,” he
says in a Zoom meeting with Forbes
India. Khan Academy had been
working extensively on its project
in Latin America and Tata Trusts
wanted to do something similar.
He met Ratan Tata, and the genesis
of the India operations started.
Over two years of post-pandemic
and online education, has the learning
world changed for the better? How
does he look at edtech unicorns and
VC-backed startups in Silicon Valley,
India and across the world? Khan
shares his brutally candid assessment.
“If I really want Khan Academy to
be a long-lasting multi-generational
institution, then it can’t get too caught
up in trends,” he underlines, alluding
to edtech startups bagging loads of
VC dollars over the last two years.
Though there are conversations
within his team around work done by
for-proﬁ t players and funding, Khan
In 2004, Sal—as he is popularly known
as—started making math tutorials for his
cousins
The hedge fund analyst got
the domain name Khan
Academy in 2005
In 2006, he set up a YouTube
channel to make videos
In 2008, he registered
Khan Academy as a non-
proﬁ t organisation
In 2009, he quit his job and joined
Khan Academy on a full-time basis
Khan holds three
degrees from MIT and
an MBA from Harvard
Has Bill Gates, Ratan Tata
and Susan McCaw on
global advisory board

Meet the blockbuster Khan
$10,000,000 and above
Big donors
Ann and John Doerr
Bank of America
Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation
College Board
Comcast
Dan Benton
Google
Amgen Foundation
AT&T
Elon Musk Foundation
Fundación Carlos Slim
Jack Dorsey
Omidyar Network
The O’Sullivan Foundation
HDFC Bank
Reed Hastings
The Walt Disney Company
$5,000,000 to $9,999,999$1,000,000 to $4,999,999
SOURCEKhan Academy’s website; the list is not comprehensive
wired you $100,000. “The money
was valuable. It gave me at least an
extension for a year,” says Khan, who
was set to experience a dramatic
turn in fortune. A month later, he got
another message from Doerr. This
time, the philanthropist shared some
priceless news. “Just now Bill Gates
spoke about Khan Academy at Aspen
Ideas Festival,” Doerr texted. Khan
pinched himself in disbelief. “What’s
going on? Is this a dream? Is this
actually happening?” he wondered.
The tide turned. Over the next few
months, Gates and Google pumped in
$2 million each. “We were becoming
a real organisation,” says Khan,
who had now got the much-needed
fuel to drive his vision and mission
of providing free and world-class
education for everyone across the
world. Over a decade later, in 2022,
Khan Academy is still passionately
driving its ‘free education’ venture.
It has over 130 million registered
users across 190 countries, who are
accessing content in 51 languages.
The impact, globally, is staggering.
Back home, in India, Khan is

93
SEPTEMBER 23, 2022 • FORBES INDIA
knows how to block the noise. “Do
you think if we don’t do what we’re
doing, these players will actually
improve educational outcomes in
whatever geography they’re in?” he
poses a pertinent question to his team.
In an interview last September,
over the last two years? Khan gives
us a glimpse into another side of his
personality. “At times, there might
be a quick pang of envy,” he says,
alluding to the multi-billion valuation
of organisations which had the same
starting line as Khan Academy.
“But then the envy goes away very
quickly,” he explains drawing upon
his hedge fund experience. Those
who got amazing multiples, got
it on the back of a hyper-growth.
As soon as that growth goes from
hyper to normal, that multiple dies.
“Once you get on the treadmill of
valuation, it’s hard to get off ,” he says.
Back in India, Khan Academy
has grown at a decent pace. The
educator, though, thinks the inﬂ ection
point is yet to come. People in India,
Pakistan and Bangladesh are very
cost-conscious. The moment there
is a ﬂ ip in their minds, and they
realise that there is better education
and it’s for free, the academy would
take off . So can Salman Khan get
mass support in India? Can he play
to the gallery the way his namesake
in Bollywood does? Khan smiles. “I
have watched many movies of Salman
Khan,” he says, adding that he met
the Bollywood star in 2015, and is
aware of his massive popularity.
“Every now and then, when I’m
having less conﬁ dent moments,
I say that I’m Salman Khan,” he
says with a laugh. His excitement,
though, is always punctured by his
wife. “When I was wooing her, she
thought I was confused about which
Salman Khan I was,” he adds.
As far as edtech education
and impact is concerned, Khan is
deﬁ nitely scripting a blockbuster.
KHAN ACADEMY
Offers free lessons in math,
science, humanities and more
Over 130 million registered users
Available in 51 languages
Used in more than 190 countries
Platform includes practice
problems, videos, articles
and quizzes
Platform includespractice
problems, videos, articles
andquizzes
Edtech footprint
Khan Academy globally… The ﬁ rst person hired
by Salman Khan for
localisation of content
was Bilal Musharraf,
son of former Pakistan
president Pervez
Musharraf
Trivia
T
w
…and in India
Offers content in English,
Hinglish, Hindi, Kannada,
Gujarati, Punjabi and Marathi
Has partnered with state governments
and private schools across 24 cities
Some of the public school partners
include Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas,
Kendriya Vidyalayas and New Delhi
Municipal Council
Tied up with Karnataka government to
make content available in Kannada
The free app is optimised for low
bandwidth conditions, and has features
such as bulk download for ofﬂ ine
usage
Partnered with the Delhi
government for Summer
Guided Learning Programme
for 5 lakh students across
Class 9 and 10 in April this
year
The 10-week programme helps
minimise learning loss due to school
closures
Partnered with UP government for
summer guided learning programme
for over 1 crore students across
classes 6 to 8
Khan further clariﬁ ed his take on
online education post-pandemic.
“What we’ve just gone through
over the last 18 months is very, very
sub-optimal. It isn’t the best online
learning,” he candidly said in an
interview to The Washington Post.
“It is—you know, we could only
describe it as pandemic learning,”
he added. If I had to pick between
an amazing in-person teacher for
myself, for my own children, for
anyone else’s children, versus the
most amazing technology distance
learning, etc., I would pick the in-
person every time, he underlined.
Seen as a poster child for distance
learning, Khan has been scathing
in pointing out the quality of the
content. Though he underlines that
there is value in for-proﬁ t edtech and
the work done by them, he reckons
that the impact is limited. “There are
people creating value for subsets of
the population,” he confesses. But
even there, Khan lets on, they should
recognise that there are free solutions
like Khan Academy that can also
deliver the same or better value.
Ask him to list out ways in which
Khan Academy’s experience in the
Indian subcontinent is diff erent
from the US, and the educator ﬁ res
a silver bullet. In the US, he stresses,
there was instant adoption. “In
India there’s a cynicism about free
education content. If it’s free, then it’s
too good to be true,” he says with a
smile. Though a section of the elite--
those who are looking to send kids to
American schools and colleges—are
using Khan Academy, the majority
is still reluctant. Most of them, he
reckons, are programmed to believe
that if they are not paying for it, their
kids are going to fall behind. “I think
the incentive of a lot of for-proﬁ ts is to
target that insecurity, and spend a lot
of marketing dollars there,” he says.
But is he not enamoured by the
unicorn tag? How hard is it for a not-
for-proﬁ t organisation to raise money
in an environment when for-proﬁ ts
found themselves buried under dollars

Shattering
Stereotypes
Romita Mazumdar’s transformation from an i-banker and a venture capitalist
to a ‘proud woman founder’ of skincare brand Foxtale is a story of how
women entrepreneurs are forced to acknowledge their gender
By RAJIV SINGH
94
whenever you have kids?” was the
follow-up query. Mazumdar—who
had stints with Harbor Ridge Capital,
Provident Healthcare Partners
and Bank of America Merrill
Lynch as an investment banker for
three years, and then joined A91
Partners as a venture capitalist (VC)
in May 2019—felt suff ocated.
“Why didn’t you opt for a male
co-founder?” the angel continued with
In Focus
I
t was an uncomfortable question. “It bothered me a lot,” recalls Romita Mazumdar, alluding to her maiden conversation with
an angel investor around the time she was raising money for her ﬂ edgling
direct-to-consumer (DTC) skincare brand Foxtale, which was started in February 2021. “Are you married?” was the ﬁ rst question. “What happens
his outrageous quizzing. “Maaf karo. Mujhe aapke paise nahin chaahiye
(Please excuse me. I don’t need your money),” replied the exasperated ﬁ rst-
time founder. “I was never identiﬁ ed
by my gender,” says Mazumdar. “I never ever said I am a woman banker or a woman VC,” Mazumdar says, adding that it for the ﬁ rst time she
was learning the diff erence between
a female and a male entrepreneur.
FORBES INDIA • SEPTEMBER 23, 2022
NEHA MITHBAWKAR FOR FORBES INDIA
“I never wanted to
be identified with
my gender. But
now I proudly say
that I am a woman
entrepreneur.”
ROMITA MAZUMDAR
FOUNDER AND CEO, FOXTALE

and polite individual to a feisty and
stern founder was her encounter
with one of her vendors. Something
went wrong on the part of the
supplier. To hide his fault, he raised
his pitch and started arguing. The
heated conversation was not about
logic, but who could speak louder.
Mazumdar was forced to up
the ante. “The moment I raised
my voice, which was louder than
him, everything settled down,” she
recalls, adding that she never felt
the need to either sound or act in an
assertive manner. “I was never an
alpha person, and always had high
EQ (emotional quotient),” she says.
Over a year into entrepreneurship,
things have changed. “I never
wanted to be identiﬁ ed by my
gender,” says Mazumdar. “But now
I proudly say that I am a woman
entrepreneur,” she stresses.
Interestingly, what has also
changed is the way a funder-turned-
founder looks at things. She explains.
“The power on the table changes,” she
smiles. As a VC, one focuses on the
problem, the addressable market and
the numbers. During an investment
pitch, the concluding remarks of
VCs usually were something like,
“Okay, I get your story, but where are
the numbers?” Now, as a founder,
Mazumdar talks about a diff erent
perspective. The narrative changes
from asking about numbers to
storytelling and passion. “I don’t
have numbers, but there is a story,
and companies can’t be built without
stories,” she says. As a founder,
she underlines, one has to focus on
solutions. “Problems toh har roz aate
hain (There are problems every day).”
Back in 2020, Mazumdar identiﬁ ed
an interesting problem. A host of
skincare brands, she observed, were
able to grow only on the back of rolling
out new products. What was missing,
though, was consumer stickiness.
Most had low repeat rates. “There
has to be more customer loyalty in
skincare,” she says, adding that brands
like Pond’s or skincare counterparts
95
FOXTALE
SEPTEMBER 23, 2022 • FORBES INDIA
Coming from a family of lawyers
in Ranchi, Jharkhand, Mazumdar and her younger brother were always treated equally. “My parents never discriminated between a son and a daughter,” she says.
Later in her career as a funder too,
gender never cropped up. She worked closely with Abhay Pandey, general partner, and the team at A91. “All were supporting, encouraging… and it was a terriﬁ c atmosphere,” she recalls,
adding that Sugar Cosmetics was one of the portfolio companies of the fund with which she was deeply involved. Once Mazumdar donned the founder hat, then was nothing sugar-coated. “When I became an entrepreneur, it actually hit me hard,” she says in a candid conversation with Forbes India. “I’ve been asked questions that I don’t think a man would ever be asked,” she says, narrating one of the ‘shocking’ incidents. Recently, a VC called her and confessed that he missed out on an opportunity to invest in Foxtale’s last round of funding. The Mumbai- based startup raised
`5.5 crore in seed
funding in August 2021 from Kae Capital and a clutch of angels such as Kunal Shah (founder of Cred) and Rohit MA (co-founder of hospital chain Cloudnine Hospitals). In June this year, Foxtale raised another $4 million (around
`30 crore) in its pre-
Series A round led by Matrix Partners India and Kae Capital. “It was a bad miss,” the VC quipped. But what came next was something Mazumdar was not prepared for. “I thought Foxtale was your hobby and you would never do it seriously,” the funder reckoned.
“Seriously!” an enraged Mazumdar
replied. “I am a banker and a VC. How could this be my hobby?” she retorted. Foxtale hit the market by rolling out four products—cleanser, Vitamin C serum, moisturiser and sunscreen— last December. From a low single-digit units sold daily to begin with, the numbers have jumped to over 200 every day now, and the D2C skincare startup is eyeing to hit a revenue run rate of
`100 crore by mid next year.
“What made you think that I am doing this as my hobby?” she asked.
Unfortunately, the VC was not
alone to have a ‘sexist’ perspective. There were other culprits, too, who consciously or unconsciously kept focussing on her gender. One of the HR recruitment agencies Mazumdar contacted for hiring senior talent also came up with a ridiculous reason for its inability to recruit. “The potential candidates are not sure if you are serious with your business or if you would be in the game for the long run,” the HR consultant replied. Other sceptics popped up from her circle of friends and colleagues. “I think she has enough savings for a couple of years. If things fail, she will come back,” was one of the uncharitable remarks. A few made her see the silver lining. “Do an MBA if Foxtale doesn’t work out. In the VC world, you would be valued more.”
Mazumdar was not bemused at all. A tipping point in her
transformation from a soft-spoken
From Funder to Founder
Mazumdar was born and brought
up in Ranchi, Jharkhand
She did her schooling from
Loreto Convent and Delhi
Public School
Completed BA business economics
& BSc ﬁ nancial mathematics,
accounting and business
management from the University
of California,
Los Angeles
Had stints with Harbor Ridge
Capital, Provident Healthcare
Partners and Bank of America
Merrill Lynch as an investment
banker
Joined A91 Partners as a venture
capitalist in May 2019
Turned entrepreneur and started
Foxtale in February 2021

unit economics and scalability. That
stood out most for us,” she adds.
The skincare challenger brand,
however, would need to ensure
stickiness even when it achieves
scale, Viswanathan says. Foxtale
has demonstrated that it can launch
products that work. Like any DTC
brand that wants to scale, Foxtale
will need to ensure that customer
acquisition happens cost-eff ectively.
“It has to show strong repeat
rates even at scale,” she adds.
Mazumdar, for her part, is
conﬁ dent of making it big. Effi cacy,
she claims, is one of the biggest selling
points of Foxtale. A formulation
in the US had high repeat rates.
“I want a
`1,000-crore brand
with a 20 percent Ebitda (earnings
before interest, taxes, depreciation,
and amortisation) margin,” she says.
Focus on repeat users and word-
of-mouth marketing have enabled
Foxtale to grow without increasing
cash burn dramatically, she claims.
The startup will roll out ﬁ ve more
products over the next two months
and will focus on tapping into the
Tier III and beyond markets.
The backers of Foxtale are
delighted with the initial push. The
beauty and personal care market in
India has been growing fast and is
expected to become a $28-billion
market by 2025. “DTC brands will
contribute around 16 percent of this
pie,” says Sunitha Viswanathan,
partner at Kae Capital. In spite of
larger well-established players,
there was a white space for a DTC
brand to come in with a strong value
proposition. “We knew a right team
would be able to build a large business.
We found that in Romita’s thinking
and approach,” she says. Foxtale,
Viswanathan underlines, germinated
after conducting intense research
with over 3,000 women. Customers
wanted effi cacious products that
worked. If this can be done at an
aff ordable price point, then there is
no reason why Foxtale cannot grow
to become a leading skincare brand
in India, she argues. “Romita marries
the customer’s needs well with
building a business, keeping in mind
team headed by Dr Ramesh
Surianarayanan—who has had
stints at Himalaya and Unilever—
will ensure that the product
development engine keeps user
community at the centre. From
identifying which products to launch
to testing them to ﬁ nalising the
packaging, Foxtale tries to include
feedback from users in every step of
the product development. “Unless
the products have over 90 percent
repeat rates, we don’t launch
them in the market,” she adds.
Ask her what’s her biggest
learning as a founder, and the ﬁ rst-
time entrepreneur sums up her
experience in one sentence. “You
can’t be soft spoken and polite as
a leader. I don’t know if that’s a
good learning or a bad one,” she
says. Something, she lets on, has
changed in her personality and
this has worked well. When you
are a founder, she explains, people
rally around you for the vision you
have. “You need to have a very
strong clarity, and that clarity
needs to be translated in a very
assertive way,” she signs off .
In Focus
96
“Romita marries the
customers’ needs well with
building a business, keeping
in mind unit economics and
scalability. That stood out
most for us.”
SUNITHA VISWANATHAN
PARTNER, KAE CAPITAL
FOXTALE
FORBES INDIA • SEPTEMBER 23, 2022
Name & Game
Foxtale was started in
February 2021, and launched
pr
oducts in December 2021
Raised $4 million (around
`30 cr
) in its pre-Series
A r
ound in June 2022
D2C skincar
e brand,
which has r
aised
around `35 cr
so
f
ar, has four products:
Cleanser, Vitamin C
serum, moisturiser and
sunscreen
Led by Matrix Partners
India, e
xisting investor
K
ae Capital and angels
also participat
ed
The Mumbai-based startup
raised `5.5 cr
in seed
funding in August 2021
fr
om Kae Capital and a
clut
ch of angels such as
Kunal Shah (founder of
Cr
ed) and Rohit MA
(
co-founder of hospital
chain Cloudnine Hospitals
TOP: WWW.FREEPIK.COM

‘Keep working on your present
to build your future’
In my early days, I was scoring a lot of runs in the domestic
circuit for two years, but I wasn’t

making it to the national team.
In times like these, a person
can be restless. At times, I’ve
questioned when my chance
will come. I’ve also thought
about whether there is a
place in the Indian team at
that time. But I was lucky that,
at that time, we were playing
a lot of domestic and India A
games. So I could keep myself
occupied with what was coming
up next, instead of focusing
on what I was missing out, and
piling on runs in those games to
win matches for the team. It helped
me stay in a great mental space.
‘The long term is your goal,
not daily ups and downs’
I have set a long-term goal of
representing the country. I want

to win World Cups for India,
and that dream keeps me hungry
and motivated to work hard and
improve my game every day. On the
way, there are good and bad days,
and each player goes through that.
But every time I’ve felt the day
isn’t going well, or I’ve had a bad
time the previous day, I just think
about the goal, and what I need to
do to achieve it. That helps me to
be up and about the very next hour.
‘Every journey begins
with small steps’
My international journey has been a bit of a
stop-start. I’m grateful for the opportunities

I have got and I had a great start to my international
career. But I do understand that each player goes through
their ups and downs... like I could have done better in
white ball cricket. I deal with it in a couple of ways. First,
I assess what’s gone wrong, make notes of what I need
to improve, and then quickly get back to the drawing
board to start working on those. Two, I make short-
term goals, like a milestone for three months, or even
the next month or 15 days, and work towards
achieving those. It helps me focus hard on
what’s next, rather than what’s gone by.
‘Push your limits hard’
To succeed at the top level, one has to push
out of one’s comfort zone. For instance, I used

to like running, but never ran long-distance.
Around 2012-13, I realised that if I had to improve
in Test cricket or in the longer format of the
game, I had to run long distances. It was
more mental than physical—when you
run 3K/4K, the mind tells you to stop,
because it’s not really helpful for the
game. But one has shut out that noise
and continue to run till you reach your
target. This exercise helped me deal
with my negative thoughts, and of
giving up during diffi cult times.
‘Life doesn’t go according to
your plan, and that’s okay’
The biggest lesson that being an
international athlete has taught

me is that life doesn’t always
go how you want or plan it to.
What’s important is how you
perceive it, and take things
that come in your stride.
And then look to improve
and get better from those
experiences. Chalk out a plan
on how to go forward, and
be ruthless in its pursuit.
Naini Thaker & Kathakali Chanda
ForbesLife
98
‘Focus on What’s Next,
Not on What’s Gone by’
From The Field
FORBES INDIA • SEPTEMBER 23, 2022
CHAITANYA DINESH SURPUR
Indian cricketer Mayank Agarwal on dealing with his stop-start career and
why improvement, not results, should be your focus
coring a lot of runs in the domestic
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