WFH, school shutdowns, increased social welfare spending are helping a few companies log better growth numbers. These are some of India’s ‘Covid-proof’ companies. Several technology-backed businesses in education, agriculture, health, content and essential retail trade are getting tailwinds that may help them post better growth numbers.
Covid-19, undoubtedly, is bad for business. But for some companies, the outbreak has opened a window of opportunity. Take the case of ‘WhiteHat Jr’, an online platform teaching ‘coding’ to kids: the company has doubled its growth in the past two months.
That’s not all. A few weeks before the epidemic turned into a pandemic, WhiteHat Jr had launched its coding tutorial services in the US. The lockdown that followed (in America) helped the company log a bumper 200 – 250% growth in enroll ..
“Prior to the outbreak, we were growing 40 – 50% every month… But once the lockdown was in place, our growth skyrocketed. School shutdowns and work-from-home arrangements have helped us,” admits Karan Bajaj, founder-CEO of WhiteHat Jr, which has booked over 2.5 lakh student trials, 5 lakh-plus student projects (created) and over 1,000 tuitors on-boarded in the last few months.
Several technology-backed businesses in education, agriculture, health, content and essential retail trade are getting tailwinds that may help them post better growth numbers. That apart, several pro-welfare measures adopted by government in the past few weeks would benefit companies serving the rural economy, experts believe.
Interestingly a large chunk of these businesses – mostly start-ups – have received funding from social impact investors. Impact investors are those who fund small businesses or projects to derive positive social gains alongside financial returns.
In the immediate wake of Covid, some sectors such as ed-tech, digital health and digital content have seen a perceptible increase in demand,” says Roopa Kudva, MD of Omidyar Network India, a large impact investor.
“Fintech start-ups (especially lending companies) have been adversely impacted. In other sectors like mobility and retail, operations have been halted because of the lockdown. For us, companies like Vedantu, Doubtnut, Pratilipi, 1mg, MyUpchaar and DealShare, among a few more, have seen positive traction over the last month,” she adds.
There are broadly two sets of “growth drivers” to businesses that are doing well in times of Covid. The first grouping comprises companies that are reaping benefits on account of lockdown and the work-from-home milieu.
This would include OTT live streaming platforms, online education portals, digital content providers, online gaming stacks and such other businesses. The second set of companies witnessing growth are those that are working closest to the point of government spending; start-ups focused on agriculture and rural economy are likely to indirectly benefit from the Rs 1.7 lakh crore mega relief package announced by the government. Read more