This and more in today’s ETtech Top 5.
Also in this letter:
■ Blinkit delivery workers protest in Delhi-NCR
■ Twitter had four months to live when I took over: Musk
■ FY23 iPhone exports touch $5 billion
PhonePe bags another $100 million from General Atlantic
From left: PhonePe cofounders Sameer Nigam and Rahul Chari
Digital payments major PhonePe has received another fresh infusion of $100 million from existing backer General Atlantic and its affiliate funds as part of its $1 billion primary funding, two people aware of the matter told us.
Tell me more: The new tranche has been raised at a $12-billion pre-money valuation, just as in the previous tranches. With this, the digital payments firm has stacked up $750 million to date in its ongoing fundraise, with General Atlantic and its affiliate funds pouring in a total of $450 million.
Quote, unquote: When we reached out, a PhonePe spokesperson confirmed the development and said, “PhonePe confirms a $100 million additional tranche of investment from General Atlantic and its co-investors as part of our ongoing fundraise.”
Funding spree: This is PhonePe’s fourth tranche of funding after it announced the separation of ownership from Flipkart last December. Its last tranche, in March, was worth $200 million, which it raised from majority shareholder Walmart.
Earlier, ET reported exclusively on March 10 that Flipkart cofounder Binny Bansal is in talks to invest about $100-150 million in PhonePe. If it goes through, the transaction will be among the largest individual investments in a new-age firm, similar to the $100 million bet taken by Flipkart’s other founder, Sachin Bansal, in Ola in 2018.
Pincode launch: This latest capital infusion comes after PhonePe made its ecommerce aspirations clear by launching its hyperlocal commerce app Pincode on the Open Network for Digital Commerce.
Also read | Early-stage fund pi Ventures raises Rs 100 crore from Sidbi’s startup fund
TCS Q4 net profit up 15% to Rs 11,392 crore
India’s largest software services exporter Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) on Wednesday reported a 16.9% year-on-year (YoY) rise in its March quarter revenue at Rs 59,162 crore while profits went up 14.76% YoY to Rs 11,392 crore.
Both revenue and profit figures were below Street estimates. At a board meeting, TCS also announced a final dividend of Rs 24 per share.
Financial highlights: TCS said its consolidated EBIT margin came in at 24.5%, flat on a quarter-on-quarter basis. During the quarter, the IT major’s earnings per share, or EPS, rose to Rs 31.14.
Its Q4 TCV came in at $10 billion with an all-time high number of large deals, taking the FY23 order book TCV at $34.1 billion.
Management speak: “It is very satisfying to look back at our strong growth in FY 2023, on top of the mid-teen growth in the prior year. The strength of our order book demonstrates the resilience of demand for our services and gives us visibility for growth in the medium term,” said TCS CEO and MD Rajesh Gopinathan, who will give charge to K Krithivasan with effect from June 1, 2023.
Headcount: TCS reported a net addition of 821 employees in headcount in the fourth quarter (Q4) of FY23 from 613,974 in Q3FY23. Further, the headcount rose 22,600 from 592,195 in the year-ago period.
This comes as India’s largest software exporter had a drop of 2,197 employees sequentially in Q3. Voluntary attrition for the quarter stood at 20.1% compared with 21.3% last quarter.
Change of guard: The earnings comes in the backdrop of Gopinathan stepping away and K Krithivasan taking on the TCS CEO role with effect from June 1, 2023. Gopinathan unexpectedly resigned as the CEO and MD on March 16. “Krithi and I are working closely to ensure that the leadership transition over the next few months is smooth and seamless to all our stakeholders and that TCS is well positioned to capture the opportunities ahead,” the outgoing CEO said.
Blinkit delivery workers protest in Delhi-NCR over payment terms
Hundreds of delivery partners working with Zomato-owned quick commerce platform Blinkit in Delhi-NCR went on strike on Wednesday protesting against a change in fee structure, which, according to the workers, results in a lower payout to them.
New structure: Delivery partners will henceforth be paid a minimum fee of Rs 15 per delivery, down from Rs 25 earlier. An additional Rs 7 per delivery paid to the partners during peak hours — 6 am to 12 pm, and 6 pm to 12 am — has also been scrapped.
Further, riders will be paid in terms of distance, depending on the time of the day. For example, in some stores in South Delhi, where the new system has been implemented, delivery workers will be paid Rs 10-14 per km.
From the horse’s mouth: A Delhi-based delivery worker told us the new structure results in a reduction of Rs 200-Rs 250 per day, on account of most dark stores operating only within a radius of 2 km. “The per-delivery fee till a few months ago used to be Rs 50 and was reduced to Rs 25. Now it is being reduced further to Rs 15 per delivery,” the worker said.
A positive step, says Blinkit: “This is an opt-in exercise, and our teams are on the ground to answer any questions from partners. We believe this is a positive step for our partner ecosystem, as it is fair to them and our customers. Although some locations have experienced disruptions, we are actively engaging with our partners to get the stores back up and running for our customers,” a spokesperson told us.
Also read | Uber, Ola, Dunzo among worst platforms for gig workers: Fairwork India report
Indian social media laws quite strict, can’t go beyond the law: Elon Musk
Social media laws in India are quite strict and Twitter can’t go beyond the law, Elon Musk, the new owner of microblogging platform Twitter Inc (now X Corp.) said on Wednesday.
Won’t let employees go to prison in India: In an interview with the BBC on Twitter Spaces, the billionaire said, “If we have a choice of either our people going to prison or us complying with the laws, we will comply with the laws.” He was responding to a question on why posts related to the BBC documentary on prime minister Narendra Modi were taken down by Twitter in India.
Twitter had four months to live: Asked if he regrets buying Twitter, Musk said the “pain level has been extremely high; this hasn’t been some kind of party”. The billionaire also said the microblogging platform has about 1,500 employees now, a sharp decline from over 7,000 workers before his acquisition.
Justifying the mass layoffs, Musk said there was “a $3 billion negative cash flow situation” and that Twitter had “four months to live”.
Tweet of the day
iPhone FY23 exports jump fourfold to $5 billion
Apple’s iPhone exports from India surged nearly four times year on year to cross $5 billion (more than Rs 40,000 crore) in FY23, as suppliers ramped up local production amid the Make-in-India push.
Overall exports at $10 billion: Backed by Apple, India’s overall smartphone exports also crossed $10 billion for the first time in a financial year, with Samsung accounting for around $3.5-4 billion in FY23, according to trade and industry data.
India now accounts for 5% of total iPhone production, up from less than 1% in 2020. China remains the largest maker of iPhones, with India in the second spot.
Apple’s India plans: The iPhone maker is scheduled to open its first company-owned retail stores in India on April 18 and April 20 in Mumbai and Delhi, respectively.
Retailers jittery ahead of launch: Meanwhile, mainline retailers in India fear footfalls by Apple customers will plunge 50-60% during the launch of products in cities where it opens physical stores.
