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Online pharmacies have seen a huge increase in demand for everything from drugs to medical devices and PPE kits since the start of the devastating second wave in India.
Also in this letter:
India’s online pharmacy sector is seeing a huge increase in orders amid the second wave of the pandemic in India.
Orders for medical devices, personal protective equipment (PPE) kits, health supplements and common drugs are all up, as regional lockdowns and a fear of stepping out push more consumers online.
Company executives and industry experts said this has increased online pharmacies’ sales by anywhere from 25% to 65%.
Online pharmacy 1mg said orders for medicines such as Fabiflu and Doxzee were 40 to 50 times higher in April than in March, and that demand for Covid-19-related products was 5 times higher. The company said sales would have been even higher if it weren’t for supply constraints.
Pharmacy chain Wellness Forever, which also has an app, said orders have risen by 25% since the onset of the second wave. “We are seeing a spike in orders over the app, calls and walk-ins,” said Gulshan Bhaktiani, co-founder, Wellness Forever Medicare.
Growth: According to industry trackers, India’s online pharmacy sector saw revenues increase around 35% last year and is in line for another year of strong growth.
Ernst & Young estimates the sector will grow to about $2.7 billion by 2023 from $360 million in 2019.
“We might not see 40-45% growth this year, but it will still be high given greater digital adoption,” said Ankur Pahwa, partner and national leader for the e-commerce and consumer internet sector at Ernst & Young India.
Paying it back: Online pharmacies and digital health companies are also looking to join India’s massive vaccination drive. Last week, Pharmeasy said it aimed to vaccinate 30 million people, working with corporates, resident welfare associations (RWAs) and healthcare providers.
Healthcare booking platform Practo has said it is looking to vaccinate 10 million people, by largely catering to corporations. About 500 companies that employ a million people have shown interest, it said.
Cryptocurrency exchanges have reported that payment gateways are blocking their transactions.
Citing overturned ban? On Tuesday, Nischal Shetty, the chief executive of cryptocurrency exchange Wazirx, took to Twitter to express concern over banks refusing crypto transactions. They were citing a 2018 RBI ban on banks dealing in crypto, which the Supreme Court had struck down in 2020, he said.
Pulling the plug: According to crypto executives who pleaded anonymity, ICICI Bank was among the last few big lenders providing services to crypto exchanges. However, it had discontinued the current accounts of these businesses two weeks ago, they said. Other large banks are expected to follow suit, they added.
You will soon be able to access your vaccination status on the Aarogya Setu contact tracing app.
Blue ticks: The government is working on a feature through which a single blue tick will appear against a person’s name once they get one dose of the vaccine, and two blue ticks once they have received both doses.
Why it matters: “It will help people while taking flights or during other travel; they can quickly show their vaccination status instead of having to pull out the vaccination certificate each time,” a government official told ET. It will also help in getting employees back to offices once things start normalising.
The new feature is expected to be rolled out in a week or two.
Twitter has permanently suspended the account of Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut for repeatedly violating its rules on hateful and abusive behaviour. In a tweet on Monday, the actor had urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to show his "Virat Roop" from "early 2000s" to "tame" Mamata Banerjee in Bengal.
What Twitter said: "The referenced account has been permanently suspended for repeated violations of Twitter Rules specifically our Hateful Conduct policy and Abusive Behaviour policy. We enforce the Twitter Rules judiciously and impartially for everyone on our service.” According to Twitter's abusive behaviour policy, users "may not engage in the targeted harassment of someone, or incite other people to do so”. Twitter considers abusive behavior "an attempt to harass, intimidate, or silence someone else’s voice”.
Meanwhile, the microblogging platform has bought news technology startupScroll, which it plans to use as part of an upcoming subscription offering. Scroll allows users to subscribe and read news articles from publishers including Insider, BuzzFeed and USA Today without ads.
This comes over three months after Twitter acquired newsletter publishing platform Revue.
The government has received proposals from 19 electronics manufacturers totalling up to production worth Rs 1,60,000 crore over the next four years under an incentive scheme to boost domestic production of personal computers, laptops, tablets and servers.
Why it matters: These proposals are expected to bring additional investments worth Rs 2,350 crore in electronics manufacturing. The government also expects it to increase exports significantly.
Edtech firm WhiteHat Jr and its founder Karan Bajaj have withdrawn the $2.6-million defamation suit filed against Pradeep Poonia, a vocal critic of the company, Poonia told ET.
The case had been filed in August 2020. The Delhi High Court had then granted an interim injunction against Poonia and ordered him to take down specific tweets in which he alleged, among other things, that WhiteHat Jr was a ponzi scheme. It also ordered him not to hack into the company’s personal communications on Slack and share chats between WhiteHat Jr and its employees on YouTube.
Poonia told ET, “This is a lesson that corporations like WhiteHat Jr and Byjus, and social media platforms like Twitter, LinkedIn, Quora, and Youtube can’t dictate terms.”
Teachmint raises $16.5 million in funding: Edtech startup Teachmint said it has raised $16.5 million in Series A funding led by Learn Capital. Existing investors Lightspeed and Better Capital also participated in the round, along with CM Ventures. The fresh infusion of capital is expected to be used for hiring talent, R&D on teaching technology, strategic acquisitions, and further market expansion.
Pine Labs appoints Marc Mathenz as CFO: Merchant commerce platform Pine Labs has announced the appointment of Marc Mathenz as its chief financial officer, said a statement issued today. The company is expanding to newer markets with its popular tech-first ‘pay later’ proposition, recently introduced a mass-use digital payments product like AllTap and acquired southeast Asia’s leading consumer fintech platform Fave.
Infosys to create 1,000 jobs in the UK: Infosys has announced its plans to hire 1,000 employees in the UK over the next three years, thereby reinforcing its commitment to supporting the country’s economic recovery and growth.
Accenture pledges $25 million for Covid-19 relief in India: Accenture has pledged $25 million towards pandemic relief efforts in India, chairperson and senior managing director Rekha Menon said on Tuesday. The fresh pledge includes efforts such as providing ventilators, oxygen concentrators and medical kits.
■ Ahead of Trump Facebook ruling, here's how social media sites handle world leaders (Reuters)
■ Uber taps SoftBank-backed GoPuff to expand grocery delivery (Bloomberg)
■ Epic Games CEO slams Apple’s fees as unfair on trial’s first day (WSJ)
Today’s ETtech Morning Dispatch was curated by Zaheer Merchant and Karan Dhar in Mumbai
Online pharmacies have seen a huge increase in demand for everything from drugs to medical devices and PPE kits since the start of the devastating second wave in India.
Also in this letter:
- Indian banks pulling the plug on crypto
- Aarogya Setu app to show vaccine status
- Govt gets proposals for PLI sops
‘Without supply constraints, sales would have been even higher’
India’s online pharmacy sector is seeing a huge increase in orders amid the second wave of the pandemic in India.
Orders for medical devices, personal protective equipment (PPE) kits, health supplements and common drugs are all up, as regional lockdowns and a fear of stepping out push more consumers online.
Company executives and industry experts said this has increased online pharmacies’ sales by anywhere from 25% to 65%.
Online pharmacy 1mg said orders for medicines such as Fabiflu and Doxzee were 40 to 50 times higher in April than in March, and that demand for Covid-19-related products was 5 times higher. The company said sales would have been even higher if it weren’t for supply constraints.
- “At present, there is almost unbounded consumer need. We are investing to ensure supply chains can cater to this demand,” said Prashant Tandon, co-founder and chief executive of 1mg.
Pharmacy chain Wellness Forever, which also has an app, said orders have risen by 25% since the onset of the second wave. “We are seeing a spike in orders over the app, calls and walk-ins,” said Gulshan Bhaktiani, co-founder, Wellness Forever Medicare.
Growth: According to industry trackers, India’s online pharmacy sector saw revenues increase around 35% last year and is in line for another year of strong growth.
Ernst & Young estimates the sector will grow to about $2.7 billion by 2023 from $360 million in 2019.
“We might not see 40-45% growth this year, but it will still be high given greater digital adoption,” said Ankur Pahwa, partner and national leader for the e-commerce and consumer internet sector at Ernst & Young India.
Paying it back: Online pharmacies and digital health companies are also looking to join India’s massive vaccination drive. Last week, Pharmeasy said it aimed to vaccinate 30 million people, working with corporates, resident welfare associations (RWAs) and healthcare providers.
Healthcare booking platform Practo has said it is looking to vaccinate 10 million people, by largely catering to corporations. About 500 companies that employ a million people have shown interest, it said.
Crypto exchanges say payment gateways blocking transactions
Cryptocurrency exchanges have reported that payment gateways are blocking their transactions.
- This comes just days after ET reported that ICICI Bank was distancing itself from bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. The bank had told some payment gateway operators last Thursday to shut its net banking services for merchants involved in buying or selling cryptocurrencies, either directly or indirectly.
Citing overturned ban? On Tuesday, Nischal Shetty, the chief executive of cryptocurrency exchange Wazirx, took to Twitter to express concern over banks refusing crypto transactions. They were citing a 2018 RBI ban on banks dealing in crypto, which the Supreme Court had struck down in 2020, he said.
Pulling the plug: According to crypto executives who pleaded anonymity, ICICI Bank was among the last few big lenders providing services to crypto exchanges. However, it had discontinued the current accounts of these businesses two weeks ago, they said. Other large banks are expected to follow suit, they added.
Tweet of the day
Aarogya Setu app to display vax status soon
You will soon be able to access your vaccination status on the Aarogya Setu contact tracing app.
Blue ticks: The government is working on a feature through which a single blue tick will appear against a person’s name once they get one dose of the vaccine, and two blue ticks once they have received both doses.
Why it matters: “It will help people while taking flights or during other travel; they can quickly show their vaccination status instead of having to pull out the vaccination certificate each time,” a government official told ET. It will also help in getting employees back to offices once things start normalising.
The new feature is expected to be rolled out in a week or two.
Kangana Ranaut's Twitter account banned forever
Twitter has permanently suspended the account of Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut for repeatedly violating its rules on hateful and abusive behaviour. In a tweet on Monday, the actor had urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to show his "Virat Roop" from "early 2000s" to "tame" Mamata Banerjee in Bengal.
What Twitter said: "The referenced account has been permanently suspended for repeated violations of Twitter Rules specifically our Hateful Conduct policy and Abusive Behaviour policy. We enforce the Twitter Rules judiciously and impartially for everyone on our service.” According to Twitter's abusive behaviour policy, users "may not engage in the targeted harassment of someone, or incite other people to do so”. Twitter considers abusive behavior "an attempt to harass, intimidate, or silence someone else’s voice”.
Meanwhile, the microblogging platform has bought news technology startupScroll, which it plans to use as part of an upcoming subscription offering. Scroll allows users to subscribe and read news articles from publishers including Insider, BuzzFeed and USA Today without ads.
This comes over three months after Twitter acquired newsletter publishing platform Revue.
Infographic Insight
Dell and others respond to govt’s incentive scheme
The government has received proposals from 19 electronics manufacturers totalling up to production worth Rs 1,60,000 crore over the next four years under an incentive scheme to boost domestic production of personal computers, laptops, tablets and servers.
- Top companies that have submitted applications under the Production-linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for IT hardware launched in March include Dell, the subsidiaries of key Apple Inc suppliers Wistron and Foxconn, along with homegrown phone maker Lava.
Why it matters: These proposals are expected to bring additional investments worth Rs 2,350 crore in electronics manufacturing. The government also expects it to increase exports significantly.
WhiteHat Jr withdraws defamation suit
Edtech firm WhiteHat Jr and its founder Karan Bajaj have withdrawn the $2.6-million defamation suit filed against Pradeep Poonia, a vocal critic of the company, Poonia told ET.
The case had been filed in August 2020. The Delhi High Court had then granted an interim injunction against Poonia and ordered him to take down specific tweets in which he alleged, among other things, that WhiteHat Jr was a ponzi scheme. It also ordered him not to hack into the company’s personal communications on Slack and share chats between WhiteHat Jr and its employees on YouTube.
Poonia told ET, “This is a lesson that corporations like WhiteHat Jr and Byjus, and social media platforms like Twitter, LinkedIn, Quora, and Youtube can’t dictate terms.”
Top Stories We Are Covering
Teachmint raises $16.5 million in funding: Edtech startup Teachmint said it has raised $16.5 million in Series A funding led by Learn Capital. Existing investors Lightspeed and Better Capital also participated in the round, along with CM Ventures. The fresh infusion of capital is expected to be used for hiring talent, R&D on teaching technology, strategic acquisitions, and further market expansion.
Pine Labs appoints Marc Mathenz as CFO: Merchant commerce platform Pine Labs has announced the appointment of Marc Mathenz as its chief financial officer, said a statement issued today. The company is expanding to newer markets with its popular tech-first ‘pay later’ proposition, recently introduced a mass-use digital payments product like AllTap and acquired southeast Asia’s leading consumer fintech platform Fave.
Infosys to create 1,000 jobs in the UK: Infosys has announced its plans to hire 1,000 employees in the UK over the next three years, thereby reinforcing its commitment to supporting the country’s economic recovery and growth.
Accenture pledges $25 million for Covid-19 relief in India: Accenture has pledged $25 million towards pandemic relief efforts in India, chairperson and senior managing director Rekha Menon said on Tuesday. The fresh pledge includes efforts such as providing ventilators, oxygen concentrators and medical kits.
Global Picks We Are Reading
■ Ahead of Trump Facebook ruling, here's how social media sites handle world leaders (Reuters)
■ Uber taps SoftBank-backed GoPuff to expand grocery delivery (Bloomberg)
■ Epic Games CEO slams Apple’s fees as unfair on trial’s first day (WSJ)
Today’s ETtech Morning Dispatch was curated by Zaheer Merchant and Karan Dhar in Mumbai
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