Three years after quitting online fashion, the $48 billion Aditya Birla Group realizes there is no future without it.
In 2017, barely two years into launch, the Aditya Birla Group decided to shutter apparel e-commerce site abof.com, unable to stand its ground in the face of heavy discounting giants like Flipkart and Amazon.
Ironically, however, ahead of the launch of Abof, short for Aditya Birla Online Fashion, in October 2015, Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman of the $48 billion group, told television channel CNBC-TV18 that he aimed to be among the top three players in the fashion market in five years.
Cut to the present. Birla has sold a stake in his branded apparel business to Walmart-owned Flipkart, one of …
Harveen is a co-founder at The Morning Context, and leads our Internet coverage, overseeing a team of reporters writing on startups and tech. She has previously worked as a media, consumer and tech reporter at The Ken and Mint. At The Morning Context, she writes on startups, venture capital, consumer and media businesses—from e-commerce to healthtech to streaming.
Editor, Internet
harveen@mailtmc.com
Mumbai
Surendar helps lead the newsroom at The Morning Context as executive editor. Over the years, Surendar has worked in industries from pharmaceuticals to diamonds, as well as a stint as an equity analyst. In his long career as a business journalist, he has led teams at The Times of India, India Today and Fortune India. He was part of the founding team at Forbes India and interned at and published in The Times, London.
Executive Editor
surendar@mailtmc.com
Mumbai