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Delhi Transport Department Penalises RedBus & Shuttl, Indian Gov Approves Amazon’s $500M Investment in Online Food Venture & More

Silicon Valley startup Stripe has partnered with digital payment providers Alipay and WeChat Pay to allow online merchants using Stripe to integrate the ability for Chinese users to pay with Alipay and WeChat Pay on their websites.

Delhi Transport Department Penalises RedBus & Shuttl, Indian Gov Approves Amazon’s $500M Investment in Online Food Venture & More
Delhi Transport Department Penalises RedBus & Shuttl, Indian Gov Approves Amazon’s $500M Investment in Online Food Venture & More
Delhi Transport Department Penalises RedBus & Shuttl, Indian Gov Approves Amazon’s $500M Investment in Online Food Venture & More

Here is a list of deals that happened in Indian Startup Ecosystem today. Read a brief description about all of them:

1. Delhi government transport department has panelised app-based bus aggregator Shuttl and online ticketing platform redBus, for allegedly plying on illegal routes in the capital.

The transport department has penalised 52 Shuttl buses in the last few weeks. The buses plied by Shuttl have contract carriage permits. They are not allowed to pick up passengers or issue tickets under provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act. This is only allowed on stage carriage buses.

Commenting on the same, a Shuttl spokesperson said, “We are fully compliant with the law and want to clarify that the action taken by the authorities is arbitrary and without any basis.” 

On the other hand, a case has been filed by transport department against redBus on the charges that the company is engaged as an agent for booking tickets by public service vehicles that do not have permission to run in the city. However, redBus said that it is only an intermediary and serves as a marketplace to connect bus operators and consumers through online ticketing.

“The firm does not operate or run any of the buses whose inventory is reflected on the website. The bus operators directly bill the customers and redBus only acts as a technology provider for both ends,” said a redBus spokesperson.

He further added, “While bus operators listed on redBus provide an undertaking that they have the requisite permits and licences to operate the vehicles, it is not in our jurisdiction to physically verify or enforce this. Also, Information Technology Act, 2000 affords us immunity from data posted on our website by third parties.”

2. Silicon Valley startup Stripe has partnered with digital payment providers Alipay and WeChat Pay to enable merchants using its platform globally to accept payments from hundreds of millions of Chinese consumers.

This partnership will help Stripe to boost its revenues by allowing clients to tap China's vast consumer market, where credit cards account for only a fraction of online spending, as reported by ET.

Alipay is the flagship payment service of Ant Financial, the financial affiliate of major Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba Group Holdings and has over 520 million users. WeChat Pay has more than 600 million users and is the payment app of entertainment and social network firm Tencent Holdings.

3. Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) has given the green signal to e-commerce major Amazon's proposed $500 million investment in retailing of food products in India. 

As per the proposal, Amazon will open a wholly-owned subsidiary in India to carry out the business. It will stock food products and sell online.

Currently, the government permits 100% foreign direct investment (FDI) in the food processing sector. As per norms, a foreign company can open a wholly-owned subsidiary in India to retail food products produced and or manufactured in the country by way of opening stores or online.

Indian government had received investment proposals from three companies - Amazon, Grofers and Big Basket - worth $695 million for retail of food products.

US-based retail giant Amazon is one of the major e-commerce players in India, while Grofers and Big Basket are into online grocery space. 



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