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
Jubilant FoodWorks faces Rs 47.5 crore GST demand, plans appeal
Tax authorities flag alleged misclassification of restaurant services
MUMBAI: Jubilant FoodWorks Limited has landed in a tax tussle after receiving a GST demand of Rs 47.5 crore from the office of the additional commissioner of CGST and central excise in Thane, Maharashtra.
The order, issued under the provisions of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, relates to an alleged incorrect classification of certain services under the category of restaurant services. According to the tax authorities, this classification resulted in a short payment of goods and services tax for the period between the financial years 2019-20 and 2021-22.
The demand includes Rs 47.5 crore in GST along with an equal amount as penalty, in addition to applicable interest. The order was received by the company on March 13, 2026.
In a regulatory filing to the BSE Limited and the National Stock Exchange of India Limited, the company said it disagrees with the order and believes its arguments were not adequately considered.
The company is preparing to challenge the decision and plans to file an appeal. It added that once the redressal process is complete, the demand is likely to be dropped.
Despite the sizeable figure attached to the notice, the company said it does not expect any material impact on its financials, operations or other activities.
The disclosure was signed by Suman Hegde, EVP and chief financial officer, who confirmed that the company received the order at 19:06 IST on March 13 and has already initiated steps to contest it.
The development places the quick service restaurant major in the middle of a tax debate that could hinge on how certain restaurant-linked services are classified under GST rules. For now, the company appears ready to take the matter from the tax office to the appeals desk.
