In Brief: Govt to hire a consultancy firm to assess Startup India initiative

The government of India plans to hire a consulting firm to assess the progress of the Startup India programme and improve the visibility of local startups in the international market, The Economic Times reported. The DPIIT (Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade)  wants the consultancy to develop measurable indicators such as investments in startups, and employment generation. The consultancy will design programmes to attract investments and will act as a single point of contact for startups. Since its inception, the department has recognised 28,979 startups as of March 1, 2020.

Grocery e-tailer Bigbasket in talks to acquire Milkbasket, DailyNinja

Online grocery store Bigbasket is in discussions to acquire hyper-local delivery platforms Milkbasket and DailyNinja, The Economic Times reported. Citing undisclosed sources, the report said both the deals are distress and majority stock acquisitions. The transaction will see BigBasket commanding a higher valuation than its previous funding round last year when it was valued $1.2 billion, the report said.  Milkbasket is currently clocking about 40,000-50,000 deliveries per day, it added. While talks are progressing with Milkbasket, DailyNinja acquisition is nearly complete, with some of its teams already working out of BigBasket’s offices. 

Read: Milkbasket widens losses more than four-fold as expenses shoot up

PayU Assist brings merchant queries down 70% 

Online payment solutions provider PayU witnessed a 70% reduction in merchant queries since rolling out PayU Assist feature,  an automated self-service feature for customers. It also saw a 95% reduction in retail buyer queries, according to a statement. Since its rollout last year, merchant queries came down to 650 a week from 2,300 a week. Merchants have access to support and are able to solve queries on their own, reducing delays and leading to a faster resolution, the statement added.