Five things worth knowing from India’s consumer economy this morning.
Petrol lost its majority in car showrooms
On September 7, FADA’s August retail data showed cars running on CNG, hybrid or electric power outselling petrol cars for the first time. Alternative fuels took 41.95% of passenger vehicle sales against petrol’s 40.85%. Two years ago petrol led by 21 percentage points. It happened in the best August Indian showrooms have ever had, with 24,23,201 vehicles retailed across all categories, up 18% on the year. Buyers questioning the E20 blend on mileage are hedging with CNG rather than betting on charging. India’s move away from petrol is running through the gas pump first. (Business Standard, FADA)
Udaan buys Swiggy’s distribution arm in shares
On September 7, Udaan agreed to acquire Lynk Logistics, Swiggy’s wholly owned retail distribution platform, for Rs 500 crore. No cash moves. Udaan’s parent issues preference shares giving Swiggy about 2.8%, and Swiggy puts in Rs 75 crore more for another 0.4%. Lynk supplies branded goods to kirana stores, with Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai and Kolkata making up about 75% of revenue, which fits Udaan’s city-by-city path to profitability. Udaan says revenue has grown about 25% a year over ten quarters while EBITDA burn fell around 70%, ahead of a planned IPO. (Business Standard, Entrackr)
Ferrero’s festive bet is the cooler
On September 8, Ferrero India said it is targeting double-digit growth this festive season against a chocolate market growing 7 to 8%. The plan runs on premium gifting packs and wider distribution, and the tool is the branded cooler. Refrigeration is the real constraint in Indian chocolate, because a premium bar that melts on the shelf comes back as a return instead of ringing up as a sale. Every cooler placed in a general-trade store is a fixed cost to be earned back in gifting volume before Diwali, at this year’s higher prices. (Business Standard)
Nua raised $50 million and stayed profitable
On September 7, Mumbai-based Nua raised $50 million in a Series C led by Peak XV Partners and Filter Capital, with a secondary component giving partial exits to Kae Capital and Lightbox. Total raised is now about $71.5 million. The number that matters is the run rate: annualised revenue went from Rs 100 crore to Rs 500 crore in 24 months, and the company says it stayed profitable through it. This is the largest round yet in Indian women’s hygiene, a category still led offline by Whisper, Stayfree and Sofy. (Entrackr)
Gold loans are retail credit’s fastest line
On September 7, Reserve Bank of India data showed credit against gold jewellery at NBFCs grew 68.5% year on year in July, up from 43.9% a year earlier. That made it the fastest-growing line in retail credit, ahead of consumer durables at 51.5% and housing at 11.9%. NBFCs now hold a gold loan book of about Rs 3.54 trillion, banks about Rs 5.52 trillion. Households are borrowing against gold they already own to fund what they want to buy now, while the metal’s price has made every locker worth more. Gold fell 3% at the end of August. (Business Standard, RBI)
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