India’s MFD-Led Wealth Distribution Is Going Digital India’s wealth-tech ecosystem is seeing a quiet but meaningful shift. While direct investing platforms dominate headlines, a large share of retail wealth continues to flow through Mutual Fund Distributors (MFDs). As compliance tightens and investor expectations rise, MFDs are increasingly adopting full-stack digital platforms to manage scale, advisory quality, and portfolio complexity. Funding Snapshot and Investor Backing Chennai-based AssetPlus has raised ₹175 crore (approximately $19.3 million) in a funding round led by Nexus Venture Partners, with participation from existing investors Eight Roads Ventures and Rainmatter Fund.The company had earlier raised $12.9 million from…
Author: Aman Atulya
Reliance Retail’s quick commerce arm emerges as India’s second-largest by volume Reliance Retail’s quick commerce platform JioMart recorded a daily order run rate of 1.6 million orders by the end of December 2025, marking a sharp acceleration during the October–December quarter, according to the company’s Q3 FY26 investor presentation. The run rate reflects a 53% quarter-on-quarter jump and over 360% year-on-year growth in average daily orders, underlining JioMart’s aggressive scale-up in India’s fast-growing quick commerce segment. Market position strengthens Based on disclosed volumes, Reliance said JioMart has become India’s second-largest quick commerce player by order volume, trailing Blinkit, which averaged…
Mukesh Ambani-led FMCG arm sharpens beauty and personal care push Reliance Industries’ FMCG subsidiary, Reliance Consumer Products Ltd (RCPL), has acquired the global rights to four international personal care brands—Brylcreem, Toni & Guy, Badedas, and Matey—the company disclosed alongside its results for the quarter ended December 31, 2026. RCPL did not disclose the financial terms of the transactions. The company said it plans to expand these heritage brands in India while scaling their presence across select international markets, with a few territories excluded. Building a global beauty and grooming portfolio According to Reliance, the acquisitions span key grooming and bathing…
‘Samagra Plus’ honoured for excellence in e-learning and digital education Kerala’s educational AI platform ‘Samagra Plus’, developed by the Kerala Infrastructure and Technology for Education (KITE), has received prestigious national recognition for its contribution to digital learning and assessment, according to an official statement. The platform was honoured at the 6th Governance Now Digital Transformation Summit held in New Delhi, where it won the award in the “Excellence in e-learning, Assessment and Digital Education Platform” category. What makes Samagra Plus stand out ‘Samagra Plus’ uses artificial intelligence to personalise learning for students by adapting content to each learner’s pace and…
Project to remove over 2 million tonnes of CO₂ while supporting smallholder farmers Varaha, a carbon dioxide removal (CDR) project developer working with smallholder farmers across Asia, has entered into a partnership with Microsoft to scale biochar-based carbon removal in India. Long-term carbon removal infrastructure Under the agreement, Varaha will develop 18 industrial biomass gasification reactors that will operate over a 15-year period, with a projected carbon removal volume of more than 2 million tonnes of CO₂ across the project’s lifetime. The reactors will be deployed across India’s cotton-growing regions, starting with Maharashtra. Turning farm waste into permanent carbon storage…
Backing India’s largest value-added potato processor for global expansion 360 ONE Asset, a wholly owned subsidiary of 360 ONE WAM, has announced an investment of around $70 million in Iscon Balaji Foods (IBF), India’s largest potato processor and exporter of value-added potato products. Building an integrated agri–food platform Founded in 2013, Iscon Balaji Foods operates a fully integrated, export-oriented model, spanning proprietary seed development, long-term farmer partnerships, large-scale processing, and global distribution. The company was initially backed by the JP Iscon family and the Balaji Wafers family, which helped establish and scale its vertically integrated operations. Over the past decade,…
Emergency Defence Procurement Is Accelerating Indigenous Capability India’s defence procurement strategy is increasingly prioritising speed and indigenisation. With evolving border and maritime security challenges, the armed forces are relying more on emergency procurement frameworks to induct mission-critical systems quickly. This has created a fast-track opportunity for domestic defence manufacturers with ready, deployable platforms. Contract Snapshot and Framework Context Pune-based Bharat Forge Limited has secured defence contracts worth ₹300 crore under the Emergency Procurement–VI (EP-VI) framework to supply indigenous unmanned systems to India’s security forces.The platforms are primarily intended for the Indian Army, with select systems also being inducted by the…
Product validation across 40+ consumer brands AdSocial.ai, a visual personalisation platform for consumer brands, has completed its product validation phase after working with over 40 brands across food and beverage, lifestyle, and marketplace categories. The validation demonstrates consistent improvements in conversion performance and revenue outcomes, positioning visual personalisation as a measurable growth lever for digital-first brands. The gap between data and execution Despite increased investments in customer data and analytics, many brands continue to use identical product collections and visuals for all users. This disconnect between insight generation and execution results in higher bounce rates, lower engagement, and revenue leakage…
₹44 crore penalty imposed on major e-commerce platforms for telecom violations The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has initiated suo motu action against multiple e-commerce platforms for listing and selling unauthorised walkie-talkies, imposing penalties totalling ₹44 lakh for violations of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 and telecom regulations. Platforms under scrutiny The authority issued notices to 13 e-commerce entities, including Amazon, Flipkart, Meesho, JioMart, Meta Platforms Inc. (Facebook Marketplace), IndiaMart, TradeIndia, Chimiya, Talk Pro, MaskMan Toys, Krishna Mart, Antriksh Technologies and Vardaanmart, after identifying over 16,970 non-compliant listings. Penalties imposed The CCPA levied ₹10 lakh each on Amazon, Flipkart, Meesho…
AI-led tax analytics deal becomes company’s third-largest order in a year LTIMindtree has secured a ₹3,000 crore ($332 million) contract from the Central Board of Direct Taxes to modernise India’s national tax analytics platform using artificial intelligence, the company said in a stock exchange filing on Friday. The seven-year mandate involves building an AI-powered programme aimed at upgrading the government’s tax analytics and policy insight capabilities. LTIMindtree said the project reinforces its position in large-scale digital transformation programmes leveraging advanced data architecture and analytics to deliver real-time insights for policymakers. At an estimated $47 million in annual revenue, the contract…