Grasim revs up B2B e-commerce plans with a Rs 2000 crore investment

The investment into the B2B e-commerce platform will be to the tune of Rs 2000 crore to be undertaken over the next 5 years.

Grasim Industries, an Aditya Birla Group company, in its Board Meeting held on July 19 has approved, the plan to undertake trading and marketing of all types of Building Materials primarily through a B2B e-commerce platform.

This investment is expected to add a new high-growth within Grasim’s standalone businesses as also that of its subsidiaries and associate companies.

In India, the overall building materials procurement markets have grown at a CAGR of over 14% during the past three years. With only a 2% current digital penetration, this market is expected to be worth around USD 100 billion. The digital platform from Grasim will address several issues throughout the current supply chain.

The platform will primarily focus on MSMEs in the Building Materials segment with the potential to further extend to other relevant categories. The key value proposition would be an integrated procurement solution including on-time delivery and a superior product range at competitive pricing. This platform will be operated by a newly recruited leadership team from the digital ecosystem.

“The Building Materials segment presents a huge scalable business opportunity with a proven path to profitability. With this foray, Grasim would be able to leverage the large B2B ecosystem within the Aditya Birla Group. This move will also catalyze the growth of the MSME universe in India and provide an impetus to the Government’s vision of ‘Digital India,” commented Kumar Mangalam Birla, Chairman, Aditya Birla Group.

The shares of Grasim Industries have been gaining positive momentum amid improved market sentiment making a recovery of 4.5% in the last one week.

At 10.42, shares of Grasim Industries were quoting at Rs 1455 up 0.89% or Rs 12.85 over its previous close.