📦 Delhivery’s ₹1,407 Cr Power Play

☀️ Namaste from Masala Chai! Happy Sunday!!

It’s your Sunday serotonin shot—no alarms, no emails, just good ol’ chai and crisp, spicy headlines to wake you up right. Whether you're chilling in bed, stuck in traffic on the way to brunch, or just doomscrolling in peace—we’ve brewed the perfect mix of business, markets, tech, and a little drama. Let’s sip 👇

🫖 Chai Shots

• 💸 Delhivery Buys Out Ecom Express In a bold all-cash move, Delhivery is acquiring logistics rival Ecom Express for ₹1,407 crore. This deal ends Ecom’s IPO dreams and sets the stage for a logistics power play—more on this in the Big Brew👇

• 📞 Startup Hotline Incoming! The government is rolling out a toll-free four-digit helpline (in regional languages!) under the Startup India initiative. Founders across the country can now get real-time support, raise red flags, and even suggest regulatory tweaks—all with one call.

• 📦 India’s Export Report Card: Mixed Bag FY25 exports crossed the $800B mark, but the cheer is mostly thanks to services. Physical goods exports barely budged, showing that India's tech and consulting muscle continues to do the heavy lifting.

• 🛎️ Zomato COO Says Goodbye After 7 years of being at the core of Zomato's food delivery ops, Rinshul Chandra is stepping down. His exit follows a streak of top-level resignations and a visible slowdown in Zomato's order growth.

📊 Market Masala

• 📉 Markets Fumble on Global Worries Indian indices stumbled this week, reacting to global economic uncertainty, tariff tantrums, and persistent FII pullouts. Investors are treading cautiously.

• 🛢️ Oil Slips, Gold Shines Global oil prices dipped over demand concerns, while gold prices surged as investors ran to safer bets amid trade tensions and recession fears.

• 🛍️ Exporters in India Face Margin Mayhem U.S. buyers are asking Indian exporters to take 15–20% cuts on existing orders. The reason? New tariffs = new costs, and no one wants to foot the full bill.

• 🚗 Tata-owned Jaguar Land Rover hits the brakes on US shipments – Jaguar Land Rover, the UK-based luxury automaker under Tata Motors, has hit pause on sending vehicles to the US—at least for April. Why? The new 25% import tariff announced by President Trump is forcing the company to reassess its pricing and logistics strategy. With the US accounting for nearly a quarter of its global sales, this temporary halt could signal broader trade recalibrations ahead.

• 🌀 Volatility expected to linger as traders eye reversal signs – With another shortened trading week ahead (thanks to Mahavir Jayanti), markets are likely to stay choppy. Analysts suggest staying nimble — stagger your buys, watch for reversal signals, and don’t get too brave with leverage.

🌍 Global Masala

• 🌪️ Trump’s Tariffs Wreck Wall Street $5 trillion vanished from the U.S. markets in 48 hours after Trump’s tariff bombshell. With China firing back, economists are warning of a looming global slowdown—or worse, a recession.

• 🚗 Auto Industry Hits the Brakes Volkswagen is adding import fees, Stellantis is pausing production, and Infiniti halted Mexico-made SUV models for the U.S. All thanks to Trump’s new 25% auto import tariff.

• 🍕 Domino’s Expands While Turkey Slows Jubilant FoodWorks added 56 new stores in Q4, mostly in India where Domino’s clocked a 12.1% growth. But in Turkey, growth crawled to 0.9% post-inflation adjustments.

☕ The Big Brew: 📦 Delhivery Delivers a Power Move — Acquires Ecom Express for ₹1,407 Cr

India’s logistics game just leveled up. 🚛 Delhivery is snapping up its once-rival Ecom Express in a bold, all-cash deal worth ₹1,407 crore. The move marks one of the biggest consolidations in the country’s ecommerce delivery space.

• 🔍 What’s going on?

  • 📉 Ecom Express, once valued at ₹7,000+ crore, had shelved its IPO plans after losing key clients like Meesho and trimming operations.

  • 💬 Delhivery had earlier accused Ecom of fudging figures in its IPO draft by double-counting return shipments — basically, calling a return trip a whole new delivery. Hmm... 🤔

  • 💼 With this buyout, private equity biggies like Warburg Pincus and British International Investment are making a clean exit.

• 🚀 Why it matters:

  • 💰 Delhivery, sitting on ₹5,400 crore in cash, is going all-in on tech, automation, and dark store expansion to boost quick commerce.

  • 🏁 The deal still needs CCI’s nod but is expected to close in the next six months.

  • 🔗 Ecom Express will now operate as a Delhivery subsidiary — joining forces instead of fighting for market share.

• 🤔 What does this mean?

  • The delivery race is no longer about who’s faster — it’s about who’s smarter, leaner, and more scalable. With this move, Delhivery is gunning for deeper market reach and a stronger backbone in India’s booming ecommerce scene. 📦📈 One giant step for desi logistics.

🚀 Startup Scoop

• 🧬 Wellbeing Nutrition Banks on Growth Mumbai-based wellness brand Wellbeing Nutrition just raised ₹100 crore in Series B funding from a mix of local and global backers. The funds will help double down on R&D, boost its offline retail play, and expand across key international markets. Their smart supplements and science-backed health products are riding the D2C health wave hard.

• 💰 Tata Capital’s ₹15,000 Cr IPO Plans Tata Capital has secretly filed for one of India’s biggest financial IPOs. If all goes to plan, its shares could hit the markets by September 2025.

• 🥦 Bistro 57 Gets a Funding Boost Delhi’s fast-growing vegetarian café chain, Bistro 57, just secured seed funding to supercharge its growth. With 35 outlets already up and running, the founders plan to use the cash to expand to new cities, streamline their supply chain, and elevate the dining experience for their loyal veg-loving fanbase.

• 📲 ChatGPT’s India Love Story OpenAI’s chatbot is catching fire in India, now its fastest-growing market globally. But with no India-specific pricing, revenue’s still lukewarm. A Jio partnership might change that.

🧠 Chai Break Trivia

Did you know Delhivery once called out Ecom Express for possibly inflating shipment numbers in its IPO papers? 📈📦

The claim? That Ecom may have counted return-to-origin parcels twice — once when they went out, and once when they came back. Delhivery said this made Ecom’s volume look bigger than it actually was. The shipping showdown definitely got spicy! 🌶️👀

🔮 What’s Brewing Next?

• 📉 Short week, long caution – Markets will trade for just four days next week, and with tariff tremors still shaking global sentiment, analysts recommend going slow and steady with fresh buys

🫶 That’s a Wrap!

Thanks for spending your Sunday morning with Masala Chai!
If you laughed, learned, or spilled a little chai while reading—share it with a friend who should be starting their day the spicy way too. We'll be back with your next brew of business, tech, and desi drama—hot and fresh.

Until then, stay curious and stay caffeinated ☕
– Team Masala Chai