In a renewed push to make the state of Bihar an attractive investor destination, the second edition of Bihar Business Connect 2024 registered commitments of Rs 1.8 lakh crore from various industry segments. The two-day event concluded on December 20 with 423 Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) between various industries across sectors and the state government.

The annual event, which was attended by national and global investors, also focused on encouraging MSMEs and startups in the state to set up a base for employment generation and encouraging entrepreneurship.

The event saw presentations from MSMEs and startups which have availed of government schemes including the plug-and-play facility to set up production units, a seed fund under the Bihar Startup Policy, and other benefits.

“Today we (state of Bihar) are ready to reclaim our place. With a population of 14 crore and a wealth of skilled youth excelling in exams like the UPSC, our potential is immense. It is time to harness this talent, uplift every section of the society and drive Bihar forward,” said Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar, Samrat Chaudhary, at the event.

Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Kumar Sinha added that the state has maintained double-digit growth for the past fifteen years and is charting its way to progress in different industrial sectors.

At the conclusion of the event, the state saw commitments of nearly Rs 90,734 crore from the renewable energy sector, the highest among all investments. Sun Petro Chemicals committed to an investment of Rs 36,700 crore. Dilip Shanghvi, Managing Director of Sun Petrochemicals, said that the company will make the investment in Bihar to set up solar projects and pumped hydro projects in the state. The renewable sector also saw commitments from Adani Group and NHPC.

Other sectors contributing significantly to the investments included general manufacturing, with commitments to the tune of Rs 55,888 crore, and the food processing industry, with commitments of Rs 13,663 crore. In the latter, SLMG Beverages, which is a leading bottler and distributor of Coca Cola beverages, committed to an investment of Rs 3,000 crore in the state.

Nitish Mishra, Industries and Tourism Minister in the Government of Bihar said, “Over the past 19 years, Bihar has risen from a negative growth rate to achieving historic milestones, now contributing significantly to the country’s growth.” He added that the MoUs signed in the current edition of the Bihar Business Connect were threefold of the previous year.

The event also saw the announcement of upcoming policies as part of a presentation by Bandana Preyashi, Secretary, Department of Industries at Government of Bihar. These included the Bihar Food Processing Policy 2024, Bihar Pharmaceuticals Promotion Policy 2024, Bihar Plastic Manufacturing Promotion Policy 2024, Biofuel Production Promotion Policy 2024 and the Bihar Wood Based Industries Policy 2024. She further added that new land parcels were being selected to meet sectoral needs, in addition to 1,800 acres of land made available.

SaaS fintech platform ZagglePrepaid Ocean Services Ltd plans to acquire at least two companies in the next financial year to drive growth, a top company official said on Friday.

The new-age fintech this week raised Rs 595 crore through a qualified institutional placement.

“We are evaluating 5 to 6 potential targets in the SaaS FinTech space, including areas like merchant card software, accounts receivables, and FASTag solutions with plans to acquire at least two companies in the upcoming financial year,” Zaggle founder and Executive Chairman Raj Narayanam said.

“We are aiming for a billion-dollar revenue target within the next 5 to 6 years,” Raj noted.

The company is looking to strategically accelerate its growth trajectory through strategic acquisitions, he added.

Zaggle recently invested about Rs 48 crore to acquire stakes in two companies. It picked up a 98.32% controlling stake in Span Across IT Solutions (TaxSpanner) by infusing Rs 32.07 crore, and another Rs 15.60 crore was invested to secure a 26% stake in Mobileware Technologies.

Zaggle this week raised Rs 595 crore from investors, including Bank of India ELSS tax saver, Societe Generale – ODI ICICI Prudential Technology Fund and Nuvama Enhanced Dynamic Growth Equity (Edge) Fund  through a qualified institutional placement.

A board committee approved the allotment of 1.13 crore equity shares at Rs 523.20 per share to eligible qualified institutional buyers on Monday.

Zaggle had reported a three-fold jump in consolidated net profit to Rs 20.3 crore for the July-September quarter. Revenue from operations for the September quarter was Rs 302.5 crore, up 64.22% over the year-ago period.

What defines success in the logistics industry? Is it creating smooth delivery experiences for customers, forging strong relationships with clients, or building partnerships with key stakeholders? Fship, a logistics tech company founded in 2021, has emerged as a leading logistics and fulfilment platform in the Indian D2C sector. In three years, the brand has onboarded hundreds of homegrown brands, built vital partnerships with the government-operated India Post, has experienced meteoric growth by leveraging AI-powered solutions, and is creating an ambitious roadmap for the future. 

Mukuund Hari, Chief Operating Officer (COO), Fship, traced the extraordinary journey of the organisation at a keynote speech at Brands of India’s D2C Carwaan – Jaipur. The event, powered by Fship, was held on December 13, 2024, at Radisson Hotel, Jaipur City Center, and highlighted the unique blend of age-old artistry and digital-age innovation that characterises many D2C brands in Jaipur. The evening was packed with fireside chats, panel discussions, a product showcase, and ended with a networking session. 

Building D2C partnerships, one business at a time

Hari began his keynote speech by talking about one of Fship’s greatest achievements: onboarding more 100 D2C brands in the last 2 years. He cited one brand, CarryPro, whose journey symbolises how Fship has built its relationship with D2C businesses. CarryPro, a Delhi-based bag brand, was working with a lacklustre delivery partner. Shipments were delayed, there was a breakdown in communication, notifications were not delivered, and customers were frantically trying to reach the brand on their website. When Fship came into the picture, its first order of business was finding out whether the brand was using the right courier partner or not. 

“The biggest challenge in D2C is that you should choose a partner who can deliver efficiently. You should determine the correct partner for each location. If it is a metro city, which partner do you want to use? If it is to other parts of India, which partner would be appropriate. We suggest the brand partner based on our AI-driven courier allocation system,” Hari said. 

Once the right courier partner was chosen, Carry Pro was able to increase its shipments from 1,000 to 3,000 each month, in just one year. This is symbolic of how Fship has grown its D2C partnerships, be it with big or small brands, Hari said. 

A challenging road to 100+ clients

Fship was able to onboard over 100 clients by studying the D2C landscape and identifying specific logistical challenges businesses were facing. One critical challenge that Fship helped unravel was the problem of tracking pages on D2C websites.

Hari said customers today are increasingly demanding, and require notifications for whether their order has been picked up, packed and shipped. While many logistics partners charge for these tracking notifications, Fship made the strategic decision to offer this service for free. 

Additionally, many D2C brands were using external tracking pages that did not open on the brand page, but on the aggregator’s website. Fship, wanting to preserve the brand experience, started offering D2C brands their very own tracking page. As a result, brands were able to deliver a greater experience, bringing about higher sales and lower calls to customer services. 

Another challenge that Fship spotted was a lack of a support system when it came to platform integration. Very often, aggregators cannot help D2C brands with their integration queries. Fship, on the other hand, has made integration simple and offers backup solutions in case they cannot offer a speedy resolution to a client’s problem. 

“This is how we are changing the experience for D2C brands. Our motive is not to build a client-aggregator relationship. We want to partner with brands. Create a family-like experience, where we grow alongside our D2C partners”, he said.

Hari ended the keynote by revealing that D2C has surpassed its own expectations, onboarding 500 D2C brands in 2024. The road doesn’t end here though, as Fship plans to onboard another 1,000 D2C brands in the near future.