Corporate

Mutual Fund Sahi Hai


So FY22 has turned out to be a great year for the mutual fund industry in India.
And not because the returns were exceptional, but because of the number of people that have invested in MFs in the last financial year.

Over 3 crore investor accounts were added thanks to the ease of transactions through digitisation and also the great run the stock market has had after the pandemic.

This is almost 4x the number of 'folios' (the industry word for accounts) that were added in 2020-21, and people working in the space say they're expecting this trend to continue this year as well.

It's important to note here that Folios are numbers designated to individual investor accounts. One investor can have multiple folios.

There are a total of 12.95 crores registered portfolios with the 43 fund houses in India. And considering the fact that 1 person can have more than 1 folio, there def seems to be a lot of room for growth.

A top exec at Nippon India Mutual Fund believes the ongoing 'Mutual Fund Sahi Hai' ad campaign has been a big factor in attracting more retail investors. Also, with digitisation investing is becoming easier and easier, thus attracting younger people too.

For the older generation (and this is just our thought) the low-interest rate environment has also provided a push toward mutual funds for better returns.

 

Tech

Swiggy Dhoom Machale

 

We aren't just saying this because of Swiggy's 10-minute grocery delivery initiative, Swiggy has also just invested in Rapido.

Swiggy has led a $180 million round in the bike taxi startup Rapido. There were other investors also btw but Swiggy led the round and also gets a strategic partner in this case.

Rapido has made quite the name as a motorbike-taxi startup. The concept is simple - considering all the traffic on our city roads in India it makes a lot more sense to use bikes, they can quickly get from one point to another. Frankly, we think we need flying taxis but that's a topic for another day.

Rapido saw the congestion issues and has offered its 2-wheeler bike-taxi service in 100 Indian cities. Like Uber/Ola they run a marketplace with customers and drivers on either side. 
Along with this bike taxi service, they also offer a Dunzo-like on-demand delivery service and autorickshaw hailing as well. They also have a B2B vertical where they cater to the likes of Swiggy fulfilling their orders using its riders, imagine that.

Zomato also apparently was considering investing but didn't end up going through with it.

You can see how Swiggy would benefit from being a strategic investor in Rapido. They are already getting better access to Rapido's fleet and the 2 companies plan on incorporating even more.

Also, with this round of funding Rapido is at the gates of the India Unicorn club with them valued at over $800 million. We wonder whether they can actually make it into the club this year.

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