Hi, Kardam, please see this: https://www.huffpost.com/archive/in/entry/how-india-eats_n_10434374

Seetharaman G

Thanks, Amith. These numbers are as of March 2021.

Seetharaman G

Hey, Aniket, as you well know, in businesses like this, the name of the game is market share. And when you are catering to a segment of the market–small, not-so-creditworthy kiranas–that is ususally shunned by distributors, figuring out a sustainable model is going to take some time. And Udaan has to convince FMCG companies that these stores are indeed serviceable.

Seetharaman G

I get your point, Rohit, but FMCG valuation multiples are so much more attractive. Adani Wilmar would certainly like that, hence the diversification narrative. And it also makes sense to leverage the distribution set-up you have built for edible oils, though creating strong FMCG brands requires a lot more than that.

Seetharaman G

Hi, Jigar, apologies and thanks for pointing out. We've fixed the summary.

Seetharaman G

Ritesh, the Ebitda margin for ITC is only for its retail business. Cigarettes are way more lucrative.

Seetharaman G

Given the kind of company DMart is, I would be surprised if they got into the kind of partnerships you're talking of. Even if such an arrangement brings down delivery costs, as long as pickups remain their focus, they may not mind handling delivery themselves.

Seetharaman G

Hi, Devansh, we have mentioned all of these in the piece.

Seetharaman G

Thanks, Subbarao. Another study also pointed out that JioMart is DMart's closest rival when it comes to prices. And that's not surprising since they target customers who are very different those who shop on BigBasket. I can't speak to the deterioration in the quality of JioMart's services. The last time I placed an order on JioMart–in May–it was delivered by Grab, which is a company Reliance bought in 2019. I'm not sure they use third-party logistics providers in some cities.

Seetharaman G

I get your point, Mithil. I agree that the government cannot afford for the IPO to not happen. But they have already presented a certain picture of LIC's valuation, so a number substantially lower than that becomes a lot harder to justify in public if not to investors. But given the EV range you're talking of, we are not looking at a substantially higher valuation than that of listed players, going by their market cap/EV multiple. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

Seetharaman G

Thank you so much for this detailed explanation, Mithil. Ours were just rough estimates, where instead of just using AUM to arrive at the valuation, we decided to look at listed players' EV as well. It's far from perfect, I agree. But the numbers we have arrived are not very different from the valuation the government has hinted at–Rs 13-15 lakh cr. If the valuation is in the range you have given, I doubt the government would even go ahead with the IPO. I would love to discuss this further with you.

Seetharaman G

Hi, Aditya, we will see the share of agents going down. LIC has been pushing bancassurance, but even if it's not banks, we will see their online channel taking more of the agents' business.

Seetharaman G