Brands
Askme to roll out hyper-local online grocery across 27 Indian cities
MUMBAI: Online SMB marketplace Askme is planning to launch its online grocery platform top 27 cities in India in the next four to six months. The company has kick-started this initiative with Delhi NCR.
With a promise that grocery is available below MRP and delivered at the doorstep, the team has brought together offline merchants to list their SKUs online.
Askme group CMO & head digital strategy Manav Sethi said, “Every feature, platform and strategic relationship that Askme enters into is driven by singular motivation of adding business value to offline merchants by leveraging online platforms. The platform Bestatlowest.com is a hyper-local model that enables offline grocery retailers in neighbourhoods to come online for incremental magnetisation and building consumer loyalty. Leveraging hyperlocal model of sourcing and zero costs on inventory or warehousing brings significant advantage of pricing and portfolio. This model is also extremely flexible and rapidly scalable in adding more merchants and SKU categories as demand grows both nationally and locally. Delhi NCR now boasts of 30 hyper-local hubs with 25000+ SKUs. Askme intends to leverage its brand and infrastructure to cross sell and upsell grocery online to all its existing and potential consumers.”
India is the sixth largest grocery market in the world and retail consultancy Technopak estimates that online grocery market is growing at the rate of 25-30 per cent annually in major cities of India. According to Research firm IGD predictions, India’s online grocery market, which is estimated to be less than $100 million at present, is expected to cross $25 billion by 2020 and by 2016, the Indian grocery market would overtake Japan to become the third largest market worldwide.
Teams lead by Ankit Jain and Amit Nigam, founders of Bestatlowest.com, scaled this business to Delhi NCR within 60 days of working with the Askme team.
Jain said, “Offline merchants were brought on board to list their SKUs and Askme team works with these merchants very closely whenever an order is executed. Functional teams and Askme brand gave us that huge fillip in covering this journey in 60 days which otherwise would have taken many more months.”
Brands
Safex Group appoints Richa Malhotra as group chief financial officer
Former Standard Chartered executive to steer finance
NEW DELHI: Safex Chemicals has appointed Richa Malhotra as group chief financial officer, strengthening its leadership team as the company prepares for the next phase of expansion in specialty chemicals and global agrochemicals.
In her new role, Malhotra will lead the group’s financial strategy, capital architecture and governance framework as Safex scales operations across multiple verticals including branded formulations, specialty chemicals and contract manufacturing.
A chartered accountant and graduate of Shri Ram College of Commerce, University of Delhi, Malhotra brings more than two decades of experience in business finance, strategic planning, corporate banking and client management.
Before joining Safex, she served as executive director, financial markets at Standard Chartered, where she led teams across India and Sri Lanka and worked closely with large corporates, global subsidiaries and commercial banking clients. Her expertise includes capital structuring, treasury operations, risk management and financial markets led financing solutions.
Safex Group promoter director and joint managing director Piyush Jindal, said the appointment comes at a pivotal time for the company. “Safex stands at an inflection point as we build an integrated platform across branded formulations, specialty chemicals and contract manufacturing. Richa’s experience across global financial institutions will strengthen our financial discipline and help unlock value across the group,” he said.
Malhotra said she was looking forward to contributing to the company’s next chapter of growth. “Safex has built a strong reputation over 35 years with its focus on integrity, innovation and agricultural insight. I am excited to be part of the organisation as it expands its footprint in India and global markets,” she said.
The appointment comes as Safex continues to strengthen its financial foundations and scale operations internationally, positioning itself for future growth milestones.
