Reliance Retail buys 25.8% stake in Dunzo for $200 million
New Delhi, Jan 6: Reliance Retail has bought a 25.8 per cent stake in Dunzo, India's leading quick commerce player, for USD 200 million (around Rs 1,488 crore) as it looks to expand its presence in online grocery delivery business.
Dunzo has raised USD 240 million (about Rs 1,787 crore) in its latest funding round that was led by Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd(RRVL) - the retail arm of Reliance Industries, the two firms said in a statement.
Existing investors Lightbox, Lightrock, 3L Capital and Alteria Capital also participated in the funding round.
"With an investment of USD 200 million, Reliance Retail will own 25.8 per cent stake," the statement said.
In addition to the funding, Dunzo and Reliance Retail will also enter into certain business partnerships. Dunzo will enable hyperlocal logistics for the retail stores operated by RRVL, further adding onto Reliance Retail's omni-channel capabilities.
Dunzo will also facilitate last mile deliveries for JioMart's merchant network.
The capital will be used to further Dunzo's vision to be the largest quick commerce business in the country, enabling instant delivery of essentials from a network of micro warehouses while also expanding its B2B business vertical to enable logistics for local merchants in Indian cities, the statement said.
We are seeing a shift in consumption patterns to online and have been highly impressed with how Dunzo has disrupted the space. Dunzo is the pioneer of Quick Commerce in India and we want to support them in furthering their ambitions of becoming a prominent local commerce enabler in the country, RRVL Director Isha Ambani said.
She added that through the partnership with Dunzo, the company will be able to provide increased convenience to Reliance Retail's consumers and differentiated customer experience through rapid delivery of products from Reliance Retail stores.
Our merchants will get access to the hyperlocal delivery network of Dunzo to support their growth as they move their business online through JioMart, she said.
Dunzo is a leading player in the quick commerce category which has an addressable market opportunity of over USD 50 billion.
Currently, Dunzo is available across seven metro cities in India and the additional capital will be used to expand the quick commerce business to 15 cities, the statement said.
Dunzo launched its instant delivery model Dunzo Daily' in Bengaluru earlier this year, which is seeing over 20 per cent week-on- week growth.
The Dunzo Daily model delivers daily and weekly essentials within 15-20 minutes, with a focus on providing high quality fruits and vegetables.
While traditional e-commerce deliveries take a day or longer, quick commerce (or q-commerce)
enables customers to get small quantities of goods to customers in a shorter period of time.
According to a RedSeer report, the quick commerce sector in India is expected to grow to USD 5 billion by 2025 from the current USD 0.3 billion.
The report said quick commerce is growing in India on the back of trends like a shift in consumer behaviour, entry of big players like BigBasket and Blinkit , and rise of instant delivery platforms.
Last month, food delivery platform Swiggy announced an investment of USD 700 million (about Rs 5,250 crore) in its express grocery delivery service, Instamart.
Previously, Ola had also started piloting a quick delivery service for items like groceries in Bengaluru.
RRVL has been on an aggressive acquisition spree to consolidate its position in the Indian market, while bolstering its digital play to tap into the burgeoning demand for e-commerce services in the country.
In November last year, RRVL acquired the retail lingerie businesses under the amante' umbrella brand from MAS Brands, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sri Lanka-based MAS Holdings, for an undisclosed amount.
In October, RRVL had acquired a 52 per cent stake in veteran couturier Ritu Kumar's firm Ritika Pvt Ltd for an undisclosed amount, while Reliance Brands Ltd (RBL) has announced it would pick a 40 per cent minority stake in fashion designer Manish Malhotra's MM Styles Pvt Ltd.
In September, RRVL had acquired the control of search & discovery platform Just Dial for a consideration of Rs 3,497 crore.
Last month, RBL and Indian couturier Anamika Khanna agreed to a 60:40 joint venture for owning and developing fashion brand AK-OK.
It also bought a minority stake in Actoserba Active Wholesale, which owns and operates online lingerie store Zivame, last year.
RRVL, a subsidiary of RIL, is the holding company of all the retail companies of the Group. It reported a consolidated turnover of Rs 1,57,629 crore and a net profit of Rs 5,481 crore for the year ended March 31, 2021.
In 2020, Reliance Industries had raised Rs 47,265 crore by selling around 10 per cent stake in RRVL. It had raised funds from global private equity funds which included - Silver Lake Partners, KKR, GIC, TPG and General Atlantic, as well as sovereign wealth funds Mubadala, ADIA and PIF.
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41 lakh illicit liquor seized, 1.84 lakh arrested in major drive: K'taka Minister tells Assembly
Belagavi (Karnataka) (PTI): The Karnataka Excise Department has conducted a statewide crackdown on illegal liquor trade over the last two years, resulting in arrests and seizures of alcohol, Karnataka Excise Minister R B Timmapur said on Tuesday.
As many as 1,09,017 people were arrested, and seizures included 13.66 lakh litres of liquor and 27.19 lakh litres of beer, he said in a written reply to a starred question by Harihar BJP MLA B P Harish in the Karnataka Assembly.
The Minister said the enforcement drive covered the financial year 2023–24, 2024–25 up to June, and 2025–26 from July to October, targeting unauthorised liquor manufacture, storage, sale and transportation across the State.
"During this period, statewide enforcement drives resulted in a total of 1,84,570 raids against illegal liquor sales,” Timmapur said.
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He noted that 9,179 non-bailable cases and 91,968 bailable and compoundable cases under Section 15(A) of the Karnataka Excise Act, 1965, were registered during the same period.
According to him, there have been no reports indicating that students have become addicted to alcohol due to illegal liquor sales.
The sale of alcohol to minors is strictly prohibited under the Karnataka Excise Act, 1965, and the department has issued periodic instructions to initiate legal action against violators, with strict enforcement and investigation measures in place, the Minister said.
Excise officials are carrying out regular road and night patrols, collecting intelligence, monitoring habitual offenders and conducting raids to identify illicit distillation units, unauthorised liquor outlets and spurious liquor manufacturing centres, he said, adding the department is also enforcing the law to prevent the production, storage, sale and transport of spurious, non-duty-paid and unauthorised liquor.
Regular patrols are being conducted on national and state highways, with suspicious vehicles being subjected to checks.
At the district level, standing committee meetings are held under the chairmanship of Deputy Commissioners, and joint operations are carried out with the police and forest departments to curb excise-related offences.
The department is also conducting awareness programmes through Gram Sabhas and in schools and colleges to educate the public and students about the physical, mental and social health hazards associated with alcohol addiction and substance abuse, Timmapur added.
