India today has become a hub of activity in terms of new and fresh companies emerging every day. Each one of them comes up with a new idea and vies for the top position. But, only a few make it through with their ideas manifesting into reality and leading them towards success. As a part of this very competition only 800 startups were launched in 2017 in contrast to 6000 in 2016. Though the troughs and peaks are all part of the business, the ones who make it through it all are the ones that rise to the top.
For Some Retail Therapy
Through this race of overtaking one another, the company that remained on top is the e-commerce giant Flipkart. Founded in the year 2007, it was mainly an online bookstore before multiplying its base into electronics, clothing, home décor etc. People were impressed and attracted to this new concept of having anything and everything delivered to their doorstep. This popularity led to its current revenue standing at 201 billion USD. The company recently joined hands with the US retail counterpart, Walmart, solidifying their top position even further.
Snapdeal is also a e-commerce counterpart which has its own place in the online market. Founded by Rohit Bansal and Kunal Bahl in 2010 this company was initially an online deals place. A year later in 2011, they broadened their reach into online retail. It slowly picked up pace and sealed its positions in people’s phones after a revamped look. Snapdeal has some of the best in the industry as investors, like E-bay, Alibaba Group, Kalaari Group, Ratan Tata etc. The company currently has revenue 903.8 crore rupees.
For Easy Payments
One of the initial entrants into the digital wallet market was MobiKwik. It was founded by Bipinpreet Singh on April 2009 and allowed people to pay the basic bills such as electricity, water, phone recharge etc using their own mobile phones. People found this effortless, especially since there was no need to stand in long queues anymore. It has a current user base of 55 million people and the revenue in the year 2017 stood at an estimated 29.6 crore.
PayTM stands at the next level with revenue of 120 million USD. The e-commerce payment system and online wallet was founded in the year 2010. It came as a convenience to the common man, who may want to make bill payments and is facing a cash crunch. The fact that the application is available on majority of the phones whether it’s a vegetable vendor, pharmacies or movie theatres makes it popular amongst the people.
Easing Travel Woes One Cab at a Time
In a country like India, public transport is majorly relied upon to get from one destination to the other. Auto – rickshaws, buses, metro rails, trains and taxis are the frequently used modes of transport. One of the earliest cab services was introduced in the year 2007 called Meru Cabs. These cabs could be booked using their number and would arrive at the pick-up spot provided. By 2015, Meru had expanded to 23 cities.
In the year 2010, Ola was launched as a private cab service website. It aimed at making transport convenient for people within the comforts of their homes or wherever they were. All they needed to do was to log onto the website and pick their location, where they want to go and let the app find a cab closest to their location. As of today, they have a fleet of over 600,000 vehicles ranging from hatchbacks, SUV’s to sedans. They also have rickshaw facilities for the budget friendly people. In the year 2015, in a very humanitarian move, Ola launched boats during the Chennai floods. Not long ago, Ola also launched its overseas operation in Australia, helping the revenue rise to a 110 million USD. Hence, the organization coming into the big league doesn’t come as a surprise.
Solving Comestible Requisites
Moving on, for all the foodies of the nation, the latest entry into the food delivery market is Swiggy. It was initially started in a popular neighborhood of the Silicon City, Bengaluru. With just 25 restaurants in their list in 2015, the business has now expanded to every metro city in the nation such as Delhi, Hyderabad, Pune, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore etc. Swiggy, also has its own exclusive delivery executives that work round the clock to make sure the order reaches the person in a short span of time. One of the most popular features of the app is where people can track the delivery executive on the map. This is possible due to the delivery executives having their own smartphones on which they update the status of the order. With this, the company had revenue of 133.1 crores in the year 2017, putting them into the big league.
The demand for food just can’t be satiated with a single app, where is where Zomato comes into the picture. Founded by Dipinder Goyal and Pankaj Chaddah, it initially started as a restaurant review website, it expanded its reach into food delivery as well. The website and the recently launched app, has reviews and menus of restaurants that don’t even have their own websites, thus helping them gain profits from Zomato. In September 2012, the website was launched overseas in U.A.E, Sri Lanks, and United Kingdom etc. As of 2017, its revenue stood at 650 crore rupees. The company has made it’s presence felt globally and continues to grow into various regions of the world.
For a Happy Holiday
Apart from food, the people of the nation are extremely fond of travelling. But, accommodation issues in an entirely alien land make people hesitant about the whole thing. When rooms are normally booked straight upon arrival at the reception, there is no guarantee of availability of rooms, the way the rooms are kept, the provision of food etc. And besides all this, they are mostly expensive. This is where Oyo rooms come into the picture. This popular hotel booking site was founded in the year 2013. The concept is simple where hotels are listed under the Oyo app in a partnership with the company. With this, people can book rooms at affordable prices with added advantages such as Wi-Fi, television and even complimentary breakfast. The user friendly interface is also a bonus for the company as everything is customizable according to ones requirements. Oyo was recently launched internationally in April 2018, the destination being Dubai. All this has resulted in revenue of 2400 crores in the year 2016 and its still rising.
Prior to this, in the year 2000, Make My Trip was launched to help people plan their vacation through this website. Formerly, it was used for the Indian community in the US so that they could travel to India easily. Make My Trip was launched in India in 2005 while adding onto their features with hotel bookings as well as holiday packages. With extreme discounts and high quality of bookings, MMT rose to popularity and raked in revenue of 447.6 million USD.
Servitors of Furniture
Another unique concept that was launched in India is a furniture rental site. When people move homes, it always carries extraordinary expenses, especially when it comes to movers and packers. Additionally, when youngsters move to other cities for educational or career purposes, they cannot afford new commodities. Furniture is specifically a task to set up for people who are just starting off their careers. It is also difficult for those who are temporarily or constantly on the move. For cases like these, Furlenco came up with a solution. Founded in 2012, the platform serves as an online furniture rental platform. There are various subscription offers based on the requirements of buyers. They provide furnishings either for the entire house or specific rooms. This makes it convenient for everyone to choose whatever plan is suitable for them. At present their revenue stands at 26 million USD.
A similar website RentMojo was founded in 2014 by Geetansh Bamania. Him and a college batchmate experienced firsthand what it was like to try and find a proper piece of furniture and how expensive it was. This inspiration led to the creation of RentMojo. People can use the app to subscribe to any piece of furniture or appliance on a monthly basis. They currently operate in Bangalore, Pune, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Delhi, Gurgaon, Chennai and Noida.
Apart from rentals, people can also buy furniture and other home requirements second hand online. Websites like OLX and Quikr are examples where the required items are placed on sale by other people and the individual can buy it from them.
India is slowly emerging in terms of making the convenience of the common man a priority and these companies are striving to keep things simpler and easier. The top spots are thus proven worthy for the above unique ideas and concepts.
– Urvasi. S. Talekar
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