2021 Year in Review | What was in ecommerce sector’s cart this year?

There is never a dull day in the Indian e-commerce sector.

For ecommerce, the main theme was centred around the sector’s recovery after the devastating second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. Unlike 2020’s sharp recovery in sales post the first wave, this time the bounce-back was gradual, and etailers were testing consumer appetite with select sale events.

Around this time in June, the government came out with a draft law for ecommerce with a wide-ranging impact triggering an immediate protest from industry players, barring the offline traders. The development did not go down well with the likes of Amazon India and Flipkart as well as the older conglomerates like the Tata group.

Along with the policy flux, there were big corporate battles being fought to clinch the growing market for online commerce, number of M&As, funding deals, and the emergence of new challenger platforms to challenge the existing ecommerce companies.


Here are the top stories that unfolded soon after the draft guidelines were published:

Clarification adds to confusion: While etailers were trying to figure what the new rules could possibly mean, the consumer affairs department came up with a ‘clarification’ saying its ban on flash was not a banket one but was for “only specific flash sales or back-to-back sales'.

The Big Resistance: It was clear that most of the industry did not like the proposed rules. They made sure they told the government the same in a closed-door meeting. Then, through industry associations, the same was submitted to the government.

Revised Draft Coming Soon? Throughout June and July, the draft law was talk of the town and the large-scale impact it could have on ecommerce platforms. The government seems to be close to finalising a new draft.

We will have to wait and see if it stirs up another storm.

CCI Vs Amazon and Flipkart: It is rare to see Walmart-owned Flipkart and Amazon India fight a battle with similar outcomes in mind. And that happened too in 2021. Both the etailers tried the antitrust regulator to stop restarting its probe They were denied such appeals. As expected, the matter landed in the Supreme Court but the apex court eventually cleared the way for CCI to probe ecomemrce companies and the allegations of deep discounting, favouring select sellers.

Top corporate stories in ecommerce

Tata Digital’s big deals: The salt-to-steel conglomerate has ambitious plans for ecommerce and it executed two big deals as part of the plan: First egrocer BigBasket and then epharamcy 1mg. We had the exclusive details on 1mg deal.

We also broke the news of Tata Digital being in talks with Curefit for investment and bringing Mukesh Bansal on-board.

BigBasket became the second vertical etailer to clock $1 billion in GMV in India and got new Tata cash too. We broke the news of BigBasket’s plans on express deliveries and its founders getting Msops after the Tata deal.

There’s non-stop action on Quick Commerce too and we have been on top of it.


Flipkart’s Big Billion Fundraise: Amid all the policy flux and wait-and-watch stance on sector recovery, Flipkart raised $3.6 billion with a significant jump in its valuation to over $37 billion.

Since then, the local etailer, now owned by US-based Walmart, has been busy with multiple things. Here are our other big newsbreaks on the company:

GMV Growth, Investments and IPO: Since the Walmart-Flipkart deal in 2018, we got the GMV estimates for the first time this year in the Flipkart Group, including Myntra. We broke the news on its investment in Ninjacart to boost its grocery play. Last month, we also gave you an exclusive glimpse of how Flipkart Group CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy is thinking about an IPO next year.

Festive Battle: Flipkart and Amazon India might have had a common cause fighting CCI but when it comes to business, there is no better time to witness the rivalry than the Diwali sales.

This level of intensity was seen after a couple of years and it all happened over a weekend.

But how did it go? The answer is here:

If we are talking about Flipkart, Amazon India can’t be far away. And what a year has it been for the local arm of the US etailer, founded by Jeff Bezos. This doesn’t necessarily mean everything was rosy.In fact, quite the opposite.

Amazon Vs Future Group (also Reliance Industries): The battle started last year but it got more tangled in 2021. It had its wins during the battle but it hasn’t been easy. And just this month, in a blow to Amazon, the CCI suspended the 2019 Future group deal and imposed a Rs 200 crore fine.

Cloudtail: Amidst all of this, Amazon said it will not renew its Cloudtail JV with Catamaran Ventures from May next year. Read the detailed analysis of how Cloudtail got here.

Hang on, but: Last week, Amazon said it wants to acquire Catamaran’s 76% stake in Cloudtail parent Prione and own it 100%. This has multiple implications and we tried answering some of them here but more will play out in 2022.

New challengers: Social commerce startup Meesho is looking to challenge incumbents and

Flipkart is also entering new areas like group buying, doubling down on groceries.

We are in the last two days of 2021 and one can’t be sure if all the action is done for this year. We will keep you posted, of course. With that, we will see you in the new year with a lot more stories to break and give you, the readers, an exclusive sneak peek into the ever-changing ecommerce universe.