The $103 billion Tata Group has rolled out its long-awaited all-in-one e-commerce app, allowing users to buy everything from apparel to airline tickets, as the sprawling Indian conglomerate vies for a piece of the fiercely competitive sector currently dominated by Amazon, Walmart and Reliance Industries.
Mumbai-based Tata's digital services platform Tata Neu, which went live to consumers on Thursday, will have in-house brands including Croma, Westside, AirAsia India, the Taj chain of luxury hotels and BigBasket, according to the group’s website.
Described as a “super-app” and in the pipeline since at least mid-2020, the website calls it “a unified platform that connects several brands across the Tata universe like never before”.
The 154-year-old Tata Group, which makes luxury cars, lorries, air conditioners, smartwatches and tea, besides operating luxury hotels, airlines, utilities, departmental stores and the local Starbucks franchise, wants to leverage the diversity of its products and services to lure buyers in a country of almost 1.4 billion people, who are increasingly shopping online.
India’s e-retail segment is expected to be worth as much as $140 billion by March 2026, Bain & Co estimates, and is the only large consumer market still open to foreign companies, making it a prize fight for global and local retail firms.
“Tata Neu is an exciting platform that gathers all our brands into one powerful app,” Natarajan Chandrasekaran, chairman of the main holding company. Tata Sons, said in a statement on LinkedIn.
Airlines Vistara and the newly acquired Air India, watch maker Titan, jewellery brand Tanishq and car maker Tata Motors are some of the other Tata Group firms that are expected to join Neu soon, he said.
The all-in-one app also has a loyalty programme for retaining customers. Each brand on Tata Neu is “connected by a common reward called NeuCoins, which can be earned across all brands online and at physical locations and can be used similarly as well”, according to the website.
The e-commerce project was closely overseen by Mr Chandrasekaran who has been championing the group's digitisation drive.
Pratik Pal, chief executive at Tata Digital, which developed Tata Neu, has helped with digital transformation at some of the world’s largest retail chains, including Walmart, Tesco, Target, Best Buy and Marks & Spencer.
Tata Neu is expected to give more firepower to the Indian conglomerate against entrenched rivals such as Amazon, billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance and Walmart-owned Flipkart.
Tata Group, founded by Jamsetji Tata in 1868, has 29 listed companies across 10 sectors, including steel, cars, technology, consumer retail, infrastructure, financial services, trading, defence, travel and tourism.
EMERGENCY PHONE NUMBERS
Estijaba – 8001717 – number to call to request coronavirus testing
Ministry of Health and Prevention – 80011111
Dubai Health Authority – 800342 – The number to book a free video or voice consultation with a doctor or connect to a local health centre
Emirates airline – 600555555
Etihad Airways – 600555666
Ambulance – 998
Knowledge and Human Development Authority – 8005432 ext. 4 for Covid-19 queries
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
Key changes
Commission caps
For life insurance products with a savings component, Peter Hodgins of Clyde & Co said different caps apply to the saving and protection elements:
• For the saving component, a cap of 4.5 per cent of the annualised premium per year (which may not exceed 90 per cent of the annualised premium over the policy term).
• On the protection component, there is a cap of 10 per cent of the annualised premium per year (which may not exceed 160 per cent of the annualised premium over the policy term).
• Indemnity commission, the amount of commission that can be advanced to a product salesperson, can be 50 per cent of the annualised premium for the first year or 50 per cent of the total commissions on the policy calculated.
• The remaining commission after deduction of the indemnity commission is paid equally over the premium payment term.
• For pure protection products, which only offer a life insurance component, the maximum commission will be 10 per cent of the annualised premium multiplied by the length of the policy in years.
Disclosure
Customers must now be provided with a full illustration of the product they are buying to ensure they understand the potential returns on savings products as well as the effects of any charges. There is also a “free-look” period of 30 days, where insurers must provide a full refund if the buyer wishes to cancel the policy.
“The illustration should provide for at least two scenarios to illustrate the performance of the product,” said Mr Hodgins. “All illustrations are required to be signed by the customer.”
Another illustration must outline surrender charges to ensure they understand the costs of exiting a fixed-term product early.
Illustrations must also be kept updatedand insurers must provide information on the top five investment funds available annually, including at least five years' performance data.
“This may be segregated based on the risk appetite of the customer (in which case, the top five funds for each segment must be provided),” said Mr Hodgins.
Product providers must also disclose the ratio of protection benefit to savings benefits. If a protection benefit ratio is less than 10 per cent "the product must carry a warning stating that it has limited or no protection benefit" Mr Hodgins added.
Founders: Abdulmajeed Alsukhan, Turki Bin Zarah and Abdulmohsen Albabtain.
Based: Riyadh
Offices: UAE, Vietnam and Germany
Founded: September, 2020
Number of employees: 70
Sector: FinTech, online payment solutions
Funding to date: $116m in two funding rounds
Investors: Checkout.com, Impact46, Vision Ventures, Wealth Well, Seedra, Khwarizmi, Hala Ventures, Nama Ventures and family offices
What the law says
Micro-retirement is not a recognised concept or employment status under Federal Decree Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Labour Relations (as amended) (UAE Labour Law). As such, it reflects a voluntary work-life balance practice, rather than a recognised legal employment category, according to Dilini Loku, senior associate for law firm Gateley Middle East.
“Some companies may offer formal sabbatical policies or career break programmes; however, beyond such arrangements, there is no automatic right or statutory entitlement to extended breaks,” she explains.
“Any leave taken beyond statutory entitlements, such as annual leave, is typically regarded as unpaid leave in accordance with Article 33 of the UAE Labour Law. While employees may legally take unpaid leave, such requests are subject to the employer’s discretion and require approval.”
If an employee resigns to pursue micro-retirement, the employment contract is terminated, and the employer is under no legal obligation to rehire the employee in the future unless specific contractual agreements are in place (such as return-to-work arrangements), which are generally uncommon, Ms Loku adds.
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champioons League semi-final, first leg:
Liverpool 5
Salah (35', 45 1'), Mane (56'), Firmino (61', 68')
Roma 2
Dzeko (81'), Perotti (85' pen)
Second leg: May 2, Stadio Olimpico, Rome
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbocharged and three electric motors
Power: Combined output 920hp
Torque: 730Nm at 4,000-7,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch automatic
Fuel consumption: 11.2L/100km
On sale: Now, deliveries expected later in 2025
Price: expected to start at Dh1,432,000
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The view from The National
