Tata Group chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran on Thursday said the group’s recently launched super app Neu is on an open architecture and it will host non-group brands as well. The Tatas finally launched its super app Tata Neu on April 7, after piloting it for months, but the group chairman claimed there was no delay in the commercial launch.

Stating that the app has received an overwhelming response in the past seven days of going live, Chandrasekaran said the app is on an open architecture and will host products and services from non-Tata group companies.

Similarly, the Neu pass will also be available to non-group brands, he said.

The super app brings together grocery-to-hotel-to-airline ticket booking and medicine on a single platform, rivalling similar products from Amazon and Flipkart.

On the launch day, Chandrasekaran had said Neu combines the traditional consumer-first approach of the group with the modern ethos of technology. Neu is a platform that gathers all our brands into one powerful app. Combining our traditional consumer-first approach with the modern ethos of technology, it is an all-new way to discover the wonderful world of Tata.

Already Tata brands like Air Asia, BigBasket, Croma, IHCL, Qmin, Starbucks, Tata 1Mg, Tata Cliq, Tata Play, Westside on the Tata Neu platform already, and Vistara, Air India, Titan, Tanishq, Tata Motors will soon join.

The group has been testing the app since last year as it seeks to play a big role in the fast-growing e-commerce space. In the build-up, the group went on an acquisition spree in the e-commerce space.

Last May, Tata Digital acquired a majority stake in online grocery seller BigBasket, pitting it against the likes of billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance JioMart and Amazon.

This was followed up the next month, with an investment of USD 75 million by Tata Digital, in fitness-focused Curefit Healthcare for an undisclosed stake and the acquisition of a majority stake in 1MG, an online healthcare marketplace for an undisclosed sum.

Speaking from her experience at ShopClues, which was founded in 2011 and became one of the earliest unicorns in India, Ghai said that back then, e-commerce penetration was virtually negligible to 1-2 per cent. Organised retail in India was also less than 20 per cent and it was a very fragmented market…

Sellers have to pay delivery fees to third-party logistics firms or to Flipkart and Amazon India directly. Flipkart and Amazon are the biggest clients of companies like Delhivery and an increase in freight charges will impact the per order income of online vendors. The decision to increase freight charges comes at a time when petrol prices have crossed Rs 100 mark in several major cities…