Representative Image (Reuters)

Online grocery sales for the largest online and offline retailers grew by a combined 65 percent to Rs 6,820 crore in FY20, while collective losses measured Rs 1,175 crore.

The biggest winner in terms of sales was BigBasket, which accounted for 50 percent of the sales growth, followed by DMart, Grofers, Spencer’s Retail and StarQuick (Tata), a report by The Economic Times said.

Moneycontrol could not independently verify the report.

BigBasket owner Innovative Retail Concepts clocked a net sales growth of 43 percent, or Rs 3,418 crore, while losses rose to Rs 424 crore, as per data with the Registrar of Companies and business intelligence platform Tofler, the report said.

Most executives and experts credit the growth jump to the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns, which pushed consumers towards online options for grocery and other purchases, it added.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

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Online grocery sales surged 65% to Rs 6,820 crore in FY20: Report

The biggest winner in terms of sales was BigBasket, which accounted for 50 percent of the sales growth followed by DMart, Grofers, Spencer’s Retail and StarQuick (Tata)

Representative Image (Reuters)

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