Amid the quick commerce boom, Tata Sons has expressed disappointment over the sluggish growth of its grocery-delivering arm BigBasket.
According to a report by the Economic Times, Tata Sons has indicated that BigBasket should seek external investors to raise around $1 billion of capital to stage a comeback. BigBasket is owned by Tata Digital which is a subsidiary of Tata Sons.
While bankers have reportedly held meetings to plan a funding round for the company, Tata Sons is not eager to lead.
ET report cited a source saying that they have sought to onboard a large financial investor for BigBasket and at the Tata Neu level. Only then, Tatas and other existing investors would pump in the rest of the capital.
To compete with big quick commerce players like Zepto, Blinkit, and Swiggy Instamart, BigBasket launched BBNow.
While BigBasket’s quick delivery division has been operational for approximately 2.5 years, the company shifted its focus from slotted deliveries to quick delivery as part of a major overhaul of the brand.
In September 2024, BigBasket pivoted to a 10-minute delivery segment by tying up with Croma Electronics (Tata Group’s gadgets brand) to deliver the iPhone 16 models to customers within 10 minutes.
Despite collaborating with a plethora of brands, BigBasket’s 10-minute delivery service, BB Now, has trailed behind.
According to a report by Motilal Oswal, in the quick commerce sector, Zomato-owned Blinkit commands a 46 percent market share, followed by Zepto at 29 percent and Swiggy Instamart at 25 percent in Q1FY25.