Online grocery delivery company Grofers has applied for clearing a Foreign Direct Investment opportunity, reports The Hindu. Filings with Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) shows that Grofers India Pvt Ltd has sought approval “to undertake trading including through e-commerce in food products manufactured and/or produced in India”. The application from Grofers comes after the government allowed 100% FDI in single brand retailing for the ecommerce sector in June, giving a boost to sub industry sectors including online grocery startups. However this was applicable only in food retail. Most startups in the grocery delivery segment also sell other household items such as soap, shampoos, cleaning agents etc. Grofers will most likely have to separate its food business from the rest of its operations to attract investment. More here. Grofers layoffs and service shutdown In June Grofers had reportedly fired 10% of its work-force while retracting 67 job offers given to fresh graduates. The company cited “general slowdown in activity” within the grocery delivery business as one of the reason behind the lay-offs, in an email circulated among the employees. In January, the company had shut down services in 9 cities including Ludhiana, Bhopal, Kochi, Coimbatore and Visakhapatnam in September 2015. Grofers now operates in 17 cities. Funding: In November, Grofers raised $120 million in a round of funding from SoftBank, Russian entrepreneur Yuri Milner, with participation from existing investors Tiger Global and Sequoia Capital. Note that the company raised funding worth $35 million from Tiger Global Management and Sequoia Capital India in…
