Pushing Thepivot Button
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SNAPSHOTS OF LIFE IN QUARANTINE PRICE ` 200 JULY 3, 2020 How Covid-19 compelled Delhivery, along PUSHING with a clutch of PLUS other startups, to evolve the business HOW CSR THE PIVOT BECAME model, without CORPORATE abandoning COVID BUTTON the core RESPONSIBILITY THE COMING From left: DEFAULT Sandeep Barasia DELUGE Mohit Tandon Suraj Saharan Sahil Barua MUTUAL Ajith Pai FUNDS’ NEW Kapil Bharati PARADIGM www.forbesindia.com Welcome to the I N DI A Digital Edition A pivot during Covid-19 could well start out as survival gambit but end up as a huge opportunity Letter From The Editor Dribble and Dunk ook for the word ‘pivot’ in dictionaries, and good, and perhaps unique, example of this is Delhivery, you’ll find at least a couple of meanings. For which has over the past decade evolved into a logistics instance, Merriam-Webster’s first definition service provider. Now Covid-19 has opened an opportunity L is ‘a shaft or a pin on which something turns’. that it had begun with back in 2011: Hyperlocal delivery, Or, as the Cambridge Dictionary puts it: “A fixed point a pivot related to Delhivery’s core of transportation and supporting something that turns or balances.” Merriam- warehousing. In April, the company says it delivered over Webster also defines the action of ‘pivoting’: “The action 2.5 million orders of medicine and 10,000 tonnes of grain. in basketball of stepping with one foot while keeping Sahil Barua, one of Delhivery’s seven founders, tells Rajiv the other foot at its point of contact with the floor.” Singh who penned this fortnight’s cover story that, by Pivot, as a verb in the Cambridge Dictionary, also means June, Delhivery was doing “pre-lockdown volumes”. “to change your opinions, statements, decisions, etc so As Singh writes, pivots usually happen when startups that they are different to what they were before”. realise there’s no market for its product or service. It’s rare These various definitions have their similarities and that businesses have pivoted because of external factors. their nuances. The common factor to all is a ‘turn’ or a A pivot during Covid-19 could well start out as survival ‘change’. The subtle difference is that the former can gambit but end up as a huge opportunity that wouldn’t happen only as long there is fixed point of support, have been a gleam in the founders’ eyes pre-pandemic. which could be a shaft or, on the basketball court, one Nothing of course—and surely not a pandemic— foot on the floor. Pivot as a change, however, doesn’t can save a business that’s sucked in huge money, pay much attention to the core point of support, and belatedly realised it’s going nowhere. Covid-19 going in a direction different from the one before. then may be just an excuse to pivot, and not driven Startup pivots have been celebrated in case study books. by core competence and market dynamics. Also, the 3 YouTube, for instance, was never meant to be about video business needs to be viable long after the pandemic streaming; it actually started out as dating service, allowing has passed. For more such nuances, Singh’s cover users to upload short videos of themselves. The company story ‘Ready, Set, Pivot’ on page 28 is a must-read. that Google went on to acquire for $65 billion may have As India’s citizens set out to reclaim livelihoods, come a long way, but look back and you’d realise that movement across state and international borders YouTube hasn’t veered from its core—which is video. is inevitable. Which also means quarantine is here That’s what a clutch of Indian startups is counting on to stay till we bid adieu to the virus. So what is it during the disruption triggered by Covid-19. Disruption like to be locked up for a couple of weeks within may be a much overused and abused word, but it may be four walls? As Naini Thaker and Madhu Kapparath apt for the transformation many of these business models found out after capturing some vivid moments of the are undergoing—an evolution that takes the company in quarantined, life can go on and splendid isolation can a different direction but one that’s related to the core. A be a thing. Don’t miss the photo feature on page 58. STORIES TO LOOK OUT FOR Brian Carvalho Editor, Forbes India [email protected] Best, Akash Gupta and Rashi Agarwal of e-bike manufacturing startup Zypp have pivoted to hyperlocal grocery delivery; life under quarantine in photos JULY 3, 2020 • FORBES INDIA JULY 3, 2020 ☛ VOLUME 12 O N ISSUE 14 T H E Contents COVER PG. 28 4 Team Clover realised end consumers G et, Set, Pivot demanded a greater choice in the wake of the coronavirus. So, the portfolio of How Covid-19 has forced a clutch of startups produce handled by the startup is now to move away from its core, or to add to it nearly double compared to pre-Covid days FEATURES PG. 8 38 • THE NeW MF PARADIGM RS E TA TING INDIA Why the pandemic-induced volatility is a wake-up call to 22 • ‘TH E FUTURE LIES IN relook at portfolios BLENDED LEARNING’ HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal on building digital 44 • ‘ I DON’T EXPECT A classrooms during Covid-19 PROTRACTED RECESSION FOR INDIA’ 24 • SEEDING CHANGE CII President Uday Kotak says the country must get its A nationwide market for investment mindset back farmers is a far way off without infrastructure and storage support 48 • COrpOrate COVID RESPONSIBILITY 36 • TH E COMING Companies are channelising DEFAULT DeluGE much of their CSR money Covid-19 could trigger a 3x rise towards the pandemic, leaving in defaults, says credit scoring other social causes scrambling to stay afloat platform CreditVidya Kylie Jenner tops Forbes's Celebrity 100 List this year FORBES INDIA • JULY 3, 2020 PG. 24 PG. 44 Farmer Sambhaji Jaid latched on to an offer from Farmpal Veteran banker Uday Kotak warns that banks will see the most pain 52 • Da VIDS Vs GOLIATHS 73 • I NTELLIGENCE AGENTS Companies across sizes and PG. 58 ASAPP’s software trains sectors are tapping into the customer-service reps to demand for hand sanitisers, be better humans but survival won't be easy 76 • Opt IMISM Rules 55 • SW EETENED PILL? Scottish money manager Homeopathy medicines are Baillie Gifford didn’t see the being mass distributed as pandemic coming, but here’s ‘preventives’ for Covid-19 how he turned life perfect sans any evidence under lockdown 58 • S PLENDID LEIF ISOlatION 79 • ‘ I’M HappY I’M Snapshots of life in quarantine GOING DIGITAL; It’S THE 5 in the midst of a pandemic FUTURE’ Shoojit Sircar talks about Kamlesh Murjani is happy to meet his family after days in quarantine adapting to new situations ER NTE PRISE 65 • SEEP D-DIALLING CHANGE A flurry of investments in RIL’s Jio Platforms means PG. 48 PG. 79 the pace of evolution for all players will rise multi-fold 68 • AOM BLO BERG FOR GREEN Data Blue Sky Analytics processes data that can be used to help deal with situations arising out of climate change CR OSS BoRDER 70 • THE MaN GettING AMERIca BACK ON TRACK Private equity billionaire Wes Edens is betting $9 billion that America’s transportation future is passenger rail CSR money is being used for Covid-related causes Shoojit Sircar wants to move on to his next film re GULARS ● 8/LEADERBOARD ● 82/ THOUGHTS WE VALUE YOUR FEEDBACK: Subscriber Service: To subscribe, change address or enquire about other customer services, please contact: Write to us at: [email protected] FORBES INDIA, Subscription Cell, C/o Network18 Media & Investments Limited, Empire Complex, • Read us online at: www.forbesindia.com 414, Senapati Bapat Marg, Lower Parel, Mumbai - 400013. 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