#9: Another week, another update to keep you ahead of the population curve

Life's a race; giving you a head start with today's update

Sabse aage honge Hindustani… We have surpassed China to become the most populous country now. Of all the negatives around that, we also hear the demographic dividend that it may add to, but there’s a catch: while India is experiencing an increase in absolute numbers, due to lower fertility rates, the proportion of young people in the population is likely to decrease in the coming years.

Before we move to the weekly updates please enjoy some evergreen pictures from our Founder Lunch series in Bangalore.

Growth of Indian Fintech Lending Market

1. Consumer lending fintech companies in India make up to 17% of total fintech enterprises. 

2. India’s digital lending market has grown from $9 billion in 2012 to more than $270 billion in 2022.

3. Future projections indicate that the sector will expand by 4.75x to $1.3 trillion in 2030.

4. Unsecured (personal) loans are leading the growth in lending, and much of this is due to New to Credit (NTC) consumers.

5. Personal Loans has the highest share of such loans and much of these are small ticket loans

6. Fintech’s share of these loans is growing as they are driven largely through digital channels. From less than 1% in FY18 to 39% in FY20.

7. Fintech lending companies in India - Lendingkart, InCred, Mobikwik, Aye Finance etc.

The rise and rise of House of Brands:

-Metro brands recently partnered with Footlocker and ECCO

-Invested in Thaely (Sustainable FW brand)

-Acquired Cravatex for exclusive FILA license

-Launched Biofoot, a health focused FW brand

-ASP rose to INR 1450+

-Already owns multiple premium brands in PF

-Plans to add 260 stores in coming three FY

-Indian FW industry expected to grow @21% CAGR by FY25

-Mass segment market share decreased from 62% in FY15 to 56% in FY20

-Per capita consumption of FW in FY19 was 1.9 expected to reach 3.2 by FY25

Logistics & Warehousing...ever-evolving space in India

>India's ranking improved from 44 to 38 in World Logistics Index due to investment in infra.

>One of the reasons for improvement is cargo tracking.

>Rise in micro fulfillment centers+Dark stores(in city warehousing);FMCG and D2C brands driving growth.

>Dark stores cater to a 1-3kms radius and Micro Fulfillment centers cater to 20Kms area.

> In-city warehousing to grow from 8M sq ft in FY22 to 17M sq ft by FY26.

>Increase in cross border deliveries helping logistics companies grow.

>DPIIT has formulated a task force to determine components of logistics cost in india.

>E-Comm logistics to reach 10 billion parcels by FY28.

Three 'eras' of digital growth hacking

Viral digital era: Started with SEO, social optimization, notifications, and contact importers tools - got tons of engagement, but no sustainable monetization. Goodreads got a lot of users but ultimately sold for a dime.

Marketer era: Social retargeting, remarketing. This led to commerce companies selling millions of dollars of products online via user retargeting but no long-term enterprise value. 

Social influencers era: Growth hacking and marketing tools are now all part of platforms (Insta, Youtube) for anyone to leverage. And so rather than viral apps, or D2C brands, we now are building individual influencers with millions of follower and little mini-cults of vertical personality.

Indian Railways :

>>Indian Railways has 128,305 km of total tracks over a 68,043-km route and 7,308 stations. 

>>It is the 4th largest in the world after the US, China, and Russia.

>>It runs ~13,200 passenger trains and ~8,500 freight trains daily; practically covering the entire nation.

>>Freight remains the key revenue earning segment for the Indian Railways, accounting for ~73% of the total revenue of Rs 191,206crs (FY22).

>>In FY22, freight traffic stood at 1,413 million tons, coal forming the major commodity (~46%). Revenue from the freight segment was Rs 139,290crs.

>>In FY22, passenger traffic stood at 3.54 billion, with revenue of Rs 39,214 crs.

Funding Winter Continues: 

1) The first quarter of 2023 saw a meager $2 billion raised by Indian startups, registering a drastic decline of 75% compared to the same period last year

2) Venture Intelligence's data shows that the Seed- and Series-A investment rounds garnered only $712 million during January-March, a reduction of over 50% compared to last year's $1.92 billion.

3) This period also recorded a significant reduction in the number of deals, dropping from 248 to 115.

4) Global factors, such as high inflation and interest rates, have adversely affected the investment climate not only in India but also in other regions.

5) Investors in India continue to favor climate-tech, fintech, and SaaS, which are their top three preferences for investment.

6) In March 2023, several Indian tech startups secured funding in various rounds, including SigTuple ($4.3M - Series C), Probus ($3.0M - Series A), Betterhalf ($8.5M - Series A), and SpotDraft ($26.0M - Series A), among others.

KSM: The Root of All Drugs

•Key Starting Material (KSM) are the raw materials used in the production of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) and impact the safety, and efficacy of the final drug. 

•The cost of KSMs make up a significant portion of the total cost of drug; disruptions can lead to shortages and price hikes of critical pharmaceuticals drugs.

•China is the largest supplier of KSMs globally due to its low manufacturing cost. India *imports ~80% of KSMs from China*

•Indian Govt has launched PLI scheme for KSM / Intermediates and promoter bulk drug parks to reduce dependence on China and its subsequent impact like in 2020.

•Key players in India include Laurus Labs, Neuland Labs, Divis Labs, etc.

•Key Global Players include Dow, Merck, Lonza, etc.

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Compiled by Hanu Bansal & Tushar Khandelwal

Contributions by Arnim Dhakad, Amay Solanki, Ashish Purohit, Anand Vadia, Mukund Maheshwari, Parin Detroja, Prachi Malpani, Tanay Lohia, Shlok Sanghi, Harshil Shah.

Member of the week: Vinod Kenguva (#most helpful)

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