Communications of the Association for Information Systems

Volume 55 Paper in press

2024

Tata Neu: The Super-App Bet

K S. Manikandan
Indian Institute of Management Tiruchirappalli, [email protected]

N K. Kanna
Ramco Systems Limited

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Tata Neu: The Super-App Bet

K S Manikandan N Kishore Kanna

Strategy & Entrepreneurship Area Ramco Systems Limited
Indian Institute of Management Tiruchirappalli India
[email protected] 0009-0001-2614-9271
0000-0003-2438-0549

Please cite this article as: Manikandan, K. S., & Kanna, N. K. (in press). Tata Neu: The Super-App Bet.
Communications of the Association for Information Systems.

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Education Paper ISSN: 1529-3181

Tata Neu: The Super-App Bet

K S Manikandan N Kishore Kanna
Strategy & Entrepreneurship Area Ramco Systems Limited
Indian Institute of Management Tiruchirappalli India
[email protected] 0009-0001-2614-9271
0000-0003-2438-0549

Abstract:

The case study details Tata Group's efforts to develop their super-app, Tata Neu. Tata Group is a highly diversified
conglomerate in India, operating a wide range of industrial and consumer businesses. In 2019, the Group established
Tata Digital to incubate and build digital businesses. Tata Digital adopted an inorganic growth strategy and acquired
stakes in three digital businesses: Big Basket (egroceries), 1mg (epharmacy), and Curefit (efitness). In April 2022, the
company launched Tata Neu, its super-app, to stitch together its diverse businesses and build a strong digital
ecosystem. Tata Group sought to emulate the success of super-apps such as WeChat (China) and Gojek (South-East
Asia) in India with Tata Neu. Despite initial promise, Tata Neu faced numerous challenges and fell short of revenue
targets, casting doubts on its viability, as well as that of super-apps in general.

Keywords: Data network effects; Digital Diversification, Integrative Business Model, India.

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 Tata Neu: The Super-App Bet

1 Introduction
February 2024. Naveen Tahilyani assumed the role of CEO at Tata Digital. An alumnus of the prestigious
Indian Institute of Technology Madras and Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, and a former
McKinsey consultant, Tahilyani was credited with the turnaround of Tata AIA Life Insurance. At Tata
Digital, his mission was to transform the fortunes of Tata Group’s super-app, Tata Neu.
Tata Group is one of India’s oldest, reputed, and most internationalized business group operating diverse
businesses such as automobiles, steel manufacturing, power, software services, and a range of consumer
businesses such as lifestyle products, direct-to-home services, financial services, hospitality, and
packaged foods. However, the Group had limited presence in the fast-growing Indian ecommerce
industry. The launch of Tata Neu as a super-app, in April 2022, followed Tata Group’s acquisitions of
ecommerce companies such as BigBasket (egroceries), 1mg (epharmacy), and Curefit (efitness).
Super-apps are like Swiss-knives1—a single-app that provides a wide range of products and services
(such as messaging, ecommerce, financial services, ride sharing, etc.) to its users. Tata sought to
emulate the success of super-apps like WeChat (China) and Gojek (South-East Asia) in India with Tata
Neu. Despite initial enthusiasm from users, Tata Neu fell short of its first-year revenue goal, achieving only
50% of the $8 billion target (Economic Times, 2023).
Tata was not alone. No super-app had been successful in India, yet. Paytm was struggling to be
profitable. Reliance’s MyJio was successful in putting together a range of services together and raising
capital but was still in its early days. Hike, a messaging platform that sought to transform itself as a super-
app, failed to make progress and dropped its plans altogether. Can Tahilyani and his team help Tata
Group, which had many firsts to its credit in the history of corporate India, make Tata Neu India’s first
successful super-app?

2 Tata Group
The Tata Group traced its roots to the trading firm established by Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata in India in
1868. Jamsetji's ambition to pioneer new industries in the country led him to venture into the textile
manufacturing and hospitality industries. Sir Dorabji Tata, Jamsetji's son, founded India's first indigenous
steel, power, and insurance companies. Successive leaders of the Tata Group upheld the culture of
pioneering and led entry into various industries, such as branded soaps, software services, jewelry retail,
and passenger cars. As of 2023, the Tata Group comprised 29 listed and several unlisted companies
across ten business verticals operating worldwide (Table 1). The Group's combined revenue and market
capitalization of 28 listed companies stood at around $150 billion and $300 billion, respectively (Tata,
2023).
Each business in the Tata Group operated independently as a separate company under the guidance and
supervision of its own board of directors. Tata Sons, the group’s holding and investment company, held
controlling stakes in each of the Tata companies. The Chairperson of Tata Sons served as the de facto
Chairperson of the Tata Group. Until the 1990s, Tata Sons relied mainly on informal means to coordinate
across the group companies. A shared sense of Tata values and the charismatic leadership of JRD Tata
(Group Chairperson, 1938-1991) bound the group together. The onset of economic liberalization,
increasing competition, and strengthening corporate governance standards limited the effectiveness of
informal coordination mechanisms post-1990. Ratan Tata (Group Chairperson, 1991-2012) recognized
the need to formalize and institutionalize group coordination mechanisms. He increased Tata Sons' stakes
in the group companies, instituted a brand royalty program for the use of the Tata brand by group
companies, established a common code of conduct for all Tata employees, launched initiatives to improve
the competitiveness of companies, and created platforms to facilitate intra-group collaboration and
transfer of best practices. A formal group office (group centre) was established at Tata Sons and staffed
with professional managers. The group centre helped the group identify new business opportunities,
nurtured cross-business opportunities, and safeguarded and strengthened common group resources such
as brand, reputation, and goodwill (Ramachandran, Manikandan & Pant, 2013).

1
A Swiss army knife, also known as a Swiss knife, is a versatile pocketknife equipped with multiple tools, such as blades, scissors,
screwdrivers, tweezers and can openers, designed for a variety of tasks.

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Table 1. Key businesses of select Tata Group companies (Source: Company websites, company annual
reports)

Company Key businesses

Tata Consultancy Services Global Leader in IT services, digital and business solutions.
Global automobile company making passenger vehicles (mass market to luxury
Tata Motors
cars) and commercial vehicles (buses, trucks etc.).
Geographically diversified steel producer. Fully integrated from mining to
Tata Steel
manufacturing and marketing of finished products
Consumer products including beverages, coffee, foods, salt and tea. Some brand
Tata Consumer Products
like Tetley tea are international brands.
Integrated power companies spanning generation, transmission, and distribution of
Tata Power
electricity including conventional and renewable energy.
Hospitality company managing a portfolio of luxury and budget hotels, resorts,
Indian Hotels
restaurants, and in-flight catering service.
Lifestyle products such as watches, jewelry, sarees, prescription eyewear,
Titan Company Limited
fragrances, precision manufacturing.
Commercial cooling solutions. Home appliances including air conditioners (market
Voltas leader in India), air purifiers, dishwashers, microwave ovens, washing machines,
water dispensers.
Manufacturer of basic chemicals and specialty chemicals. Supplier to industries
Tata Chemicals such as glass, crop protection, detergents, pharma, biscuit manufacturing, bakery,
and so on.
Retail (including apparel, accessories, home furnishings, décor, supermarkets and
Trent
books).
Tata Communications Telecommunications.
Tata Coffee Coffee cultivation and processing.
Direct-to-home satellite television operator. Aggregator platform for OTT
Tata Play subscriptions and television channels through OTT.
Joint venture (~70% stake) with Walt Disney Entertainment Company (30%)
Tata AIA Life Insurance. Joint venture (76% stake) with AIA Group (30%).
General Insurance. Joint venture (76% stake) with American Insurance Group
Tata AIG
(30%).
Non-banking financial company, offering a wide range of financial products and
Tata Capital
services for individuals, SMEs and corporate clients. Unlisted company.

2.1 Simplify-Synergize-Scale
The professionalization and formalization of group centre received a boost in 2017 when N
Chandrasekaran became the first professional manager to assume the role of Group Chairperson. Prior to
this, Chandrasekaran was the CEO of the software services major Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). He
outlined three priorities for the Tata Group—simplify, synergize, and scale. He explained,
As a business, you can’t scale if you are not simple. Simplicity has multiple implications: the
number of entities you have, the levels of management, the footprint your company has in terms
of the markets, the number of products and services you offer. With the Tata companies, we’ve
been in business for a really long time, so every company has evolved. With time, you get
complexity. So, simplification is a priority. It is not limited to operational processes; it
encompasses everything. Simplicity across businesses fosters synergy within the Tata Group:
with the parent company and intercompany as well. (Kleiner, 2018)
Chandrasekaran also emphasized the need to adopt a “One Tata” approach. He said,
The ‘One Tata’ approach is focused on synergy: on bringing our best capabilities to bear for all
members of the group. Each of the companies operates individually, but we leverage their
strengths together in developing more comprehensive industrial ecosystems, particularly in
India. (Kleiner, 2018)

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Besides consolidating its existing businesses, Chandrasekaran accelerated the Group's foray into
ecommerce and spearheaded efforts to build a strong digital ecosystem.

3 Building a Digital Ecosystem

Before Chandrasekaran took charge, Tata Group had launched three significant digital initiatives. In 2015,
Tata Industries, the investment arm of Tata Group that incubates new businesses, established Tata Digital
Health. The platform offered teleconsultation services, e-pharmacy, diagnostic tests, and offline clinics in
its pilot phase, with the goal of becoming the go-to platform for healthcare in the country. Tata Industries
also incubated Tata iQ (Insights and Quants) to provide data analytics and engineering solutions to Tata
companies and external clients. Tata iQ was tasked with developing a customer loyalty program across
various group companies to help the group understand customer needs holistically. Deep Thomas, CEO
of Tata iQ said,
Our team has been entrusted with launching a loyalty programme for the Tata Group that aims
to recognise a lifetime of relationships with consumers through exclusive benefits and privileges
and provide a key enabler to customer centricity within the Tata Group. (Mandavia, 2017)
To do so, the plan was to extend Tata Shop Share Smile, an internal rewards program that allowed Tata
company employees to benefit from discounts at Tata outlets and the website hosted by Tata CliQ (Cliq,
2023).
Tata CliQ was the third major digital initiative. Individual Tata companies had been leveraging online
distribution channels with the emergence of ecommerce. In 2016, Tata Industries incubated Tata CliQ as
the group’s first dedicated broad-scope ecommerce venture. The established ecommerce players focused
primarily on online retail and offered a wide range of products and deep discounts. Tata CliQ aimed to
differentiate itself by providing a curated selection of top brands, avoiding significant discounts, and
delivering a "phygital" experience where customers could order, collect, return, and exchange products
either online or at partner stores. Tata Cliq hosted both Tata and external brands across categories such
as fashion, beauty, electronics, and jewelry. However, the venture did not do well (Mukherjee, 2022a).

4 Tata Digital
In 2019, Tata Sons took another shot at ecommerce by setting up Tata Digital to incubate and build digital
businesses. Pratik Pal, a veteran of TCS with experience of working with global retail companies, was
appointed as CEO. The company adopted an inorganic growth approach, acquiring BigBasket
(egroceries), 1mg (epharmacy), and Curefit (efitness) successively.

4.1 Big Basket

Hari Menon and four others founded Big Basket (BB), India's first online grocery company, in 2011 with
the aim to be among the top three "grocery chain" companies in the country. From the outset, BB
identified itself as a “retail company” (Hari & Subramanian, 2019). The company operated only in
Bengaluru for its first year. It then expanded to Mumbai and Hyderabad over the next two years and
scaled to 25 cities in its fourth year. As of 2022, BB had presence in 55 cities (Balakrishnan & Mishra,
2022).
Initially, BB had partnerships with wholesalers and retailers for sourcing, but later switched to an
inventory-led approach. BB expanded its warehouses (the company expanded the first warehouse from
3000 sq. ft. to 80000 sq. ft.) to hold inventory and dispatched all orders from them. Even though venture
funds preferred asset-light retail models, BB’s founding team remained committed to the inventory-led
model. The industry also eventually moved towards this model.
BB set two key requirements to ensure customer satisfaction: near-100% "fill rate" (BB achieved a 99.5%
fill rate in 2021) and scheduled deliveries. To achieve these goals, the company made significant
investments in building a strong supply chain, logistics, and technology infrastructure. The entry into the
fruit and vegetable segment tested BB’s capabilities. However, by closely working with farmers and
investments in technology across the value chain, the company could scale consistent delivery of high-
quality fruits and vegetables. BB bought around 70% of its produce directly from farmers and delivered
farm-sourced vegetables to customers within 12-24 hours (Hari & Subramanian, 2019). Nearly one-fifth of
its gross sales came from fruits and vegetables (Gupta, 2016).

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Investments in building its analytics and machine learning capabilities aided BB’s growth. M.S.
Subramanian, who headed the analytics function at BB, explained:
While ensuring the supply of fresh products, there are bottlenecks such as managing the
availability of products, keeping an eye on business revenue, and ensuring lower wastage. We
have implemented ML to strike a balance between all of these factors. The system manages the
availability of perishable products vis-a-vis total customers in a city at a time. (Aggarwal, 2019)
He added:
We are an ecommerce business where data is the new driving fuel. We leverage data-driven
capabilities from several channels. Data is collected from transactions, customer preference,
shopping behavior, etc to build a variety of algorithms. All these algorithms are used for different
use cases. (Aggarwal, 2019)
BB leveraged its data to optimize inventory and logistics and drive deep personalization and targeted
digital marketing to improve its sales. Using past purchase data and shopping trends, BB's Smart Basket
feature curated a list of items that customers were expected to add to their shopping cart. All these
initiatives helped BB to grow its business.
Online groceries were only 2 – 3 percent of the overall groceries market in India, but the segment was
growing fast. In 2019, the egroceries market was $1.9 billion and it was estimated to grow to $18 billion in
the next five years. The growth of the segment attracted many competitors (Bhalla, 2020). In 2022, BB
held 37% of the egrocery market share, followed by Amazon (15%), Flipkart (12%), Blinkit (11%), and Jio
Mart (5%) (Economic Times, 2022a). The egrocery landscape witnessed the emergence of new business
models. BB kept pace by adding these new models as part of its portfolio. BB's same-day or next-day
delivery model catered to 70-75% of planned grocery purchases at the start of the month. The company
wanted to serve the remaining market, including mid-month or mid-week top-ups (20%), and local store
purchases (5%) (Hari & Subramanian, 2019). In 2015, BB acquired Delyver and introduced the BB
Express, which delivered a smaller range of products on the same day from nearby warehouses or dark
stores. Eventually, BB Express processed all orders. BB introduced a subscription business called BB
Daily in 2018, after acquiring RainCan and Morning Cart. The acquisition of Kwik24 led to the launch off
BB Instant, which allowed customers to collect orders from unmanned smart vending machines in offices
and apartment buildings.
New entrants like Zepto and Dunzo intensified the instant delivery market in the early 2020s. They offered
delivery of groceries, fruits, and vegetables in just 10 minutes. These companies set up smaller
warehouses near customer clusters and made deliveries by bikes and even on foot. In response, BB
launched its own quick-commerce format, BB Now, which promised 15-30 minutes delivery within a 2.5
km radius. By the end of 2022, BB could service 80% of its users through BB Now (Balakrishnan &
Mishra, 2022). Even though the new entrants had not shown a path to profits in the new model, BB
believed that its investments in supply chain, logistics, and technology over the past decade would help
BB Now turn profitable (Dey, 2023). BB Now quickly became the fastest-growing segment for BB, with a
monthly growth rate of 30-40% (Suresh, 2022). BB was fourth in quick-commerce segment, that was
expected to be 20-25% of the $21 billion online grocery market by 2025 (Nandy, 2022). Table 2 lists the
various business models operated by BB.
Table 2. BigBasket Business Models (Source: Company website, media reports.)
Model SKUs Delivery time Average order value (Rs.)
Same day or next
BigBasket 8000+ day 1300-1400
BB Express 7500-8000 1 hour to 90 minutes 700-800
BB Now 3000-3500 30 minutes 400
BB Daily Limiteda Daily subscription 150-160
BB Instant 40-50 Instant
BB launched private labels across many categories, offering high-quality products at moderate prices.
Private labels were produced through outsourcing and sold under BB’s brand names. About 30% of the
company’s revenues came from 2,000 private label SKUs which yielded higher margins than comparable
brands (Shashidhar, 2020). Additionally, the BB Accelerate program invested in direct-to-consumer
brands. These brands had monthly consultation meetings with BB executives, access to customer data
insights, and enjoyed express deliveries (Naik, 2019).

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In November 2021, BB launched its first physical store, named BB Fresho. These stores had self-billing
counters and AI video tools, enabling customers to make purchases without interacting with employees.
Customers could also order items through the BB app and pick them up at Fresho stores. BB expected to
generate sales of around $1.5 billion from 800 Fresho stores by 2026 (Phadnis, 2021). BB’s entry into
brick-and-mortar retail happened soon after Tata Digital had acquired a majority stake in the company.

4.1.1 Tata-BigBasket:
In early 2021, Tata Digital acquired a 64% stake in BB for $1.3 billion that included a case infusion of $200
million. Tata Digital bought Alibaba's 30% stake in BB. Alibaba was looking to exit the company because
of geopolitical tensions and regulatory issues and BB viewed Tata Digital as a suitable partner. The
founders continued to manage the company independently under Tata Digital, though their overall stake
had shrunk to 5% (Toms & Anand, 2021). A senior BB remarked that the merger was a good marriage:
"Tata and BigBasket are both very ethical but not ambitious... " (Seetharaman, 2021). Another industry
participant observed: "Tata is the best home for BigBasket. They are the only group that would not
mutilate BigBasket in their quest for experimentation." (Seetharaman, 2021).
Trent, Tata’s retail company, operated 60 Tata Star retail stores across India. Launched in 2004, the
venture remained a laggard despite the UK-based international grocer Tesco acquiring a 50% stake in
2014. As of 2020, Star had revenues of only around $140 million, and its ecommerce platform StarQuick,
launched in 2018, generated only $4 million (Seetharaman, 2020).
In March 2022, BB announced its plans for franchise-format stores in an "assisted shopping model." The
company had established 80 such stores and planned to expand to 1500 within a year. Customers could
order on the app and pick them up from 200 sq. ft. franchise-operated Tata-BigBasket stores. Hari Menon
said: "The Tata-BigBasket branding of the stores would be a pull for the customers under this model."
(Mishra & Balakrishnan, 2022)
Close on the heels of acquiring BB, Tata Digital acquired 1mg.

4.2 1mg:
1mg was founded as an e-pharmacy to sell medicines online, in 2015. The Indian pharma retail market
was large (worth around $22 billion in 2021), but only 10% of the market was organized (MedPlus, 2021).
The rise of e-pharmacies contributed significantly to the growth of organized pharma retail. In 2021, e-
pharmacies made up just $0.6 billion of pharma retail revenue but were expected to grow at 42% between
2021-2025 (MedPlus, 2021). Brick and mortar chains, such as Apollo and Medplus, also started selling
medicines online.
Despite strong investor support and growth potential, e-pharmacies faced several challenges. Regulations
required users to present a valid prescription for buying certain drugs and only licensed pharmacists could
verify and distribute medicines. Initially, 1mg adopted a marketplace model to avoid the regulatory
problem; e-marketplaces were governed by the IT Act of 2000. Later, the government came up with draft
rules to amend related legislations (such as the 1948 Pharmacy Act) to permit and monitor e-pharmacies
(Business Line, 2021a). However, as of 2023, the laws remained unamended, and e-pharmacies
continued to operate in a regulatory grey area. In February 2023, Drug Controller General of India issued
show-cause notices to e-pharmacies asking them to explain violations of regulations regarding sales and
distributions of drugs (Kumar, 2023).
E-pharmacies also faced challenges because of customers' reluctance to upload prescription copies and
marketing restrictions by Google and Facebook. However, 1mg had started as an information website
allowing users to get details of medicines and compare prices across generic alternatives. Prakash
Tandon, co-founder of 1mg said: “We are the Wikipedia of medicines for India – that brings people to the
platform for information as well as purchase. It’s a huge differentiator for us.” (Modgil, 2016)
E-pharmacies used different business models, such as the marketplace, inventory-led, and hyper-local
models. In the marketplace model, e-pharmacies acted as a platform connecting buyers and pharmacists.
The prescriptions received from the buyer were verified and shared with a licensed pharmacist who
verified the prescription once more and supplied the medicine to the buyer directly. In the inventory-led
model, the e-pharmacy carried inventory and employed licensed pharmacists to verified prescriptions.
Medicines were delivered directly to the buyer. In the hyper-local model, orders were fulfilled by local

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pharmacy stores through logistic partners. Most e-pharmacies also evolved as a one-stop-shop offering
consultations, diagnostics, medicines, and wellness management services (Table 3).
The diagnostics market, much like the pharma retail market, remained fragmented; unorganized players
comprised 80% of the market. In 2015, 1mg launched an e-diagnostics service in partnership with
organized players like Thyrocare and Metropolis. Users could make appointments through the app and a
lab technician would collect test samples at their homes. The samples were tested at partner labs and the
results shared with the user (Economic Times, 2021a). The pandemic accelerated the growth of
organized diagnostics market including e-diagnostics. Industry experts predicted that the over 100,000
diagnostics labs in 2022 could consolidate to just 100 in 15-20 years (Sharma, 2022).

Table 3. E-pharmacy Business Model Diversification – 2023 (Source: Company websites)

Business activity Apollo Medplus Netmeds Pharmeasy Tata 1mg

Information blog ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

Physical stores ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

E-pharmacy ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

Diagnostic tests ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

Doctor consultation ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

Private labels ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

Hospitals ✓
Software/technology platforms enabling
✓
pharmacies and hospitals
The pandemic also provided a significant boost to e-consultation that held great promise for India, where
shortage of doctors (1 doctor per 1456 persons against the WHO recommendation of 1 doctor per 1000
persons) was acute in non-urban areas (Goel, 2020). Users who were hesitant became more open to
virtual consultations. Regulatory constraints were relaxed too.
Private labels of over-the-counter (OTC) medicines, health supplements and nutraceuticals were another
significant revenue opportunity for e-pharmacies. Private labels accounted for approximately 8% of Apollo
Pharmacy’s revenue. In 2018, Medlife.com announced its intention to introduce private labels for 30
generic medicines and 40 OTC drugs (Chingakham, 2018). 1mg also launched its private labels for OTC
and Ayurvedic medicines. Additionally, 1mg established a separate subsidiary for B2B distribution,
enabling hospital and standalone pharmacies to order directly from manufacturers through its platform.
The company also provided solutions for inventory management and the management of hospital
pharmacies (Business Line, 2021b).

4.2.1 Tata-1mg:
2021 was a year of action for the e-pharmacy industry. Reliance Group acquired Netmeds while
Pharmeasy acquired and merged Medlife with it. Prior to this, Pharmeasy had acquired a majority stake in
Thyrocare, the market leader in diagnostics. In 2022, Pharmeasy had 50% market share in e-pharmacy,
1mg 16% and Netmeds 15% (Mishra, 2022).
Tata Digital bought around 60% stake in 1mg for approximately $240-250 million, out of which $120-150
million was fresh capital infusion (Mishra, 2021). In July 2022, 1mg launched six integrated pharmacy and
diagnostic stores under the brand name Tata 1mg stores. The company planned to expand its
omnichannel presence by setting up 200 to 300 stores, typically between 400 sq. ft. to 500 sq. ft., by end
of 2023 (Goenka, 2023). Tanmay Saksena, company’s chief operating officer, explained: “Ours will be
fully holistic stores, with diagnostic services, digital consultations, care plans, disease management plans
and other offerings under one roof, which will help create an integrated healthcare ecosystem” (Goenka,
2023).
The third digital platform that Tata Digital added to its stable was Curefit.

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4.3 Curefit
Mukesh Bansal and Ankit Nagori co-founded Cure.fit (Curefit) in 2016. Nagori was an early employee of
Flipkart, India’s leading ecommerce company. Flipkart had earlier acquired Bansal’s ecommerce fashion
company, Myntra. They focused on health and fitness category, which was under-penetrated (0.4% of the
population in India's top 7 cities having a gym membership in 2010) and unorganized (Talwalkars, 2010).
Bansal and Nagori targeted individuals who wanted to be fit, rather than those who joined gyms for
bodybuilding. Curefit gyms branded as Cult.fit did not have specialized equipment. Instead, they offered
various types of group workouts, including boxing, dancing, kettleball, strength and conditioning, yoga,
and Zumba to make working out enjoyable. The company believed the social experience of its offerings
coupled with a dense network of studios in the city improved customer retention. The company reported
high customer retention rates and a category-leading net promoter score of 65% (Soni, 2020).
Curefit integrated its offline studios with a digital platform, launching a website and app for customers to
onboard and book sessions by selecting their preferred location, time, and workout format (YourStory,
2017). If a session was full, the app wait-listed the customers and allocated a slot if someone dropped out.
The company used data-driven machine learning to plan workout routines, down to the level of sub-
routines, ensuring a consistent experience across all its studios (Haritas, 2020). The platform grouped
customers based on their expertise and tracked trainer performance through ratings and feedback.
According to Bansal and Nagori, maintaining good health required physical activity, healthy meals,
sufficient sleep, and regular health check-ups. They believed technology could help customers approach
health holistically (Vaidhyanathan, 2018). Bansal said:
If I look Cure.fit, as a big picture, 1000 feet level, we have two core ideas: one is where we
could have a platform where we could effectively marry preventive and curative healthcare.
Today, if you look at all the providers, very quickly, they segment themselves. Someone selling
healthy foods, someone selling fitness, someone is selling meditation apps, or hospitals selling
health-checkups. When you fall sick and go to the doctor, he or she gets information about the
symptom in the short consultation time without any information about the lifestyle...ticl the
second idea is focused on fulfilling a healthy lifestyle. We can conceptualize a system where
both are tightly integrated. (YouTube, 2017)
The founders envisioned Cure.fit as an all-encompassing app. The company launched its food vertical,
Eat.fit, in 2017. Eat.fit started as a subscription service for healthy foods using an aggregator model.
Later, it pivoted to run its own cloud kitchens and offered food cooked to strict calorific values through both
on-demand and subscription service. The app used data collected from Cult.fit customers to suggest
healthy food alternatives. The company introduced a private label named Whole.fit to sell packaged health
foods. Eat.fit also experimented with quick-service-restaurant format in Bengaluru. The app also sold
athletic clothing, footwear, and other fitness accessories under the Cultgear brand.
Cure.fit expanded its offerings by acquiring the yoga studio 1000yoga and rebranding it as Mind.fit (DNA,
2017). In 2018, it launched Care.fit, its first healthcare clinic in Bengaluru. Care.fit offered basic diagnostic
facilities, a pharmacy and used telemedicine, big data and analytics to provide lifestyle recommendations
and preventive healthcare solutions (Upadhyay, 2018). The clinic referred patients for secondary and
tertiary services to other hospitals and diagnostic centers. Cure.fit aimed to open fifty Care.fit clinics by
2023 (Upadhyay, 2018).
As of March 2020, Curefit operated 250 Cult.fit studios, 85 Eat.fit cloud kitchens, 30 Mind.fit studios and
10 Care.fit centres across the country (Kashyaap, 2020). Cult.fit accounted for 90% of the app users and
60% of the company’s revenue. Eat.fit contributed 30% of the revenue (Kandhari, 2020).
The pandemic was a mixed bag for Curefit. The lockdowns forced the closure of Cult.fit and Mind.fit
studios, and suspension of Eat.fit operations. However, it also sparked renewed interest in fitness as
people focused on boosting their immunity. With gyms closed, people turned to online sources to meet
their fitness needs. Curefit started offering on-demand and live sessions through its app, incorporating
personalization and socialization features that were part of Curefit’s unique value proposition. Initially,
these sessions were free, but the company charged for some of them later. By July 2020, Curefit's digital
platform had over 1.5 million users, including 50,000 paid subscribers, and was hosting 500,000 online
sessions daily (Agarwal, 2020).

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However, Eat.fit was hit hard. The company launched ready-to-eat foods and partnered with FMCG
companies to deliver staples and groceries under Whole.fit to make up for the losses (Putrevu, 2020).
Despite these efforts, the vertical struggled. In October 2023, Eat.fit was spun-off as a separate company.
Nagori swapped his equity in Curefit for a larger stake in the foods business while Bansal continued to
lead Curefit (Srivastava & Bailay, 2020).

4.3.1 Curefit stake acquisition

In June 2021, Tata Digital invested $75 million in Curefit for a 10% stake (Economic Times, 2021b).
Bansal became President of Tata Digital and joined the boards of 1mg and BB (Table 4). Experts
expected this move to speed up the development of the super-app that Tata Digital had been working on.
Table 4. Director Interlocks Across Select Companies (Source: CMIE Prowess, company
reports)
Tata Sons Tata Digital BigBasket 1mg Curefit
N Chandrasekaran ✓ ✓
Saurabh Agrawal ✓ ✓
Modan Saha ✓ ✓
Pratik Pal ✓ ✓
Mukesh Bansal ✓ ✓ ✓

5 Tata Neu: A New Super-app

The rise in the number of apps catering to various user needs, intense competition, and the pursuit of
customer satisfaction led to the emergence of super-apps. Instead of being limited to a specific category,
these apps aim to fulfil all customer requirements by offering a diverse range of services. WeChat, a
successful super-app in China, started as an online messaging app, but leveraged its customer base to
quickly add services such as social media, an ecommerce marketplace, and financial services. Gojek, an
Indonesian startup, began as a two-wheeler ride-hailing app and then grew into a super-app by adding
multiple delivery services, using their fleet of drivers. Sidu Ponnappa, Gojek's Senior Vice President,
explained:
A super-app is a platform play where the underlying, core shared asset is not a software product
asset in a traditional sense, it’s something less obvious like, in our case, our fleet. (Ponnappa,
2019)
Tata Digital unveiled its new super-app, Tata Neu, to the public in April 2022, after testing with Tata Group
employees for a brief period. Tata Neu included BB, 1mg, Curefit and other Tata brands such as Indian
Hotels, Croma, Air Asia, Starbucks, Tata CliQ, and Tata Play. Tata Digital announced that they will
subsequently onboard other Tata companies and did not rule out the addition of non-Tata brands too.
Users could continue to access individual apps such as BB, 1mg, Curefit independently. However, they
could also access these services through the Tata Neu app and complete the purchase and payments
from within itself. Bansal expected that at least 50% of users who used one of the group apps would
migrate to the super-app (Economic Times, 2022b). The super-app included NeuPass, a loyalty and
rewards program designed to increase user retention and promote cross-category consumption. Users
earned NeuCoins on every purchase through Tata Neu, which could be redeemed for future purchases
across categories. Additionally, Tata Neu bundled Tata Pay, a payment service that was expected to be
linked to the NeuCoins program in the future. Chandrasekaran said: “We have lots of thoughts on how
powerful NeuPass can be given our entire ecosystem.” (Economic Times, 2022b)

5.1 Tata Neu: After the Launch

The response to Tata Neu was mixed. Although the advertising campaign generated significant traction,
app downloads dropped from 6.6 million in the first month to 2.2 million in the third month; the number of
monthly active users also declined (Variar, 2022). Industry observers and users highlighted several
challenges, such as lags while using several features of the app, poor design, failed transactions, lack of a
unified cart or order page and app crashes. One report dubbed the super-app as a “glorified browser”, as
the individual apps such as Croma and 1mg opened within the Tata Neu app offering a browser-like
experience (Mathi, 2022). Some users were also shocked to realize that their details were shared across

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 Tata Neu: The Super-App Bet

the group apps without prior notice (Bansal, 2022), especially since the Tata Group was amongst the most
reputed corporations in the country. The Tata brand was the only Indian brand amongst Brand Finance’s
top 100 most valued brands globally (Shinde, 2022a). The venture also witnessed an attrition of talent—
it’s chief technology officer and chief product officer left in quick succession. Bansal stepped back from
day-to-day operations though he continued to serve on the board of some Tata companies. Despite these
challenges, Chandrasekaran remained committed to Tata Neu and stated that its evolution would be
driven by customer feedback (Shinde, 2022b).

6 Tata Neu: A Super Future?

India had not yet witnessed the success of a super-app. Paytm, a payments service that built a super-app
with a marketplace and financial services, struggled to be profitable. Hike, a messaging platform tried
building a super-app but abandoned the plan and focused on building individual apps. When asked about
super-apps, in December 2021, Kavin Mittal, founder of Hike, said,
I can tell you that this is not going to work. For a market that has such good smartphones at low
price points, data that is practically unlimited, customers can download 80-90 apps on their
phones. The super-app is not what customers want, customers want the best user experience.
… And you see a market like India what is the big super app that exists? China is the exception,
by the way, where most apps look like super apps. It’s not a customer first strategy. So far, we
have not seen a super app model sustain itself here in India. Could that change in 4-5 years
from now? Let us see. (Thomas & Kar, 2021)
Other experts too questioned the viability of super-apps. One industry expert observed,
India is largely a value-seeking market where people tend to migrate as soon as someone else
comes along with a better deal. NeuCoins are fundamentally a form of cashback. What happens
when eventually a business decision is made to make them less attractive? Will users stay or
go? … We are used to having different apps for different needs. A user’s mindset when they
need to order an everyday essential like dal or diapers is completely different from when they’re
booking a luxury holiday. Can a single app cater to these diverse needs contextually and
effectively? (Kishore, 2023)
Pal disagreed. He said,
There is no particular definition of a super-app. If an app helps a consumer with UPI
transactions, pays bills, buy electronics or grocery, it is a super-app. If an app takes care of 50%
of consumer needs and addresses daily needs, monthly needs or annual needs, it is a-super
app. We are now focused on widening consumer choices ordered under this app.
(Vijayaraghavan, 2023)
The user interface of the app got a facelift. To strengthen the Tata Neu ecosystem, in 2022, the Group
consolidated its digital businesses by merging Tata CliQ and Tata Health with Tata Neu (Mukherjee,
2022b). Cliq exited electronics category (catered to by Croma, a Tata company already) and focused on
beauty and fashion categories. Tata Neu added popular Tata consumer brands Titan and Tanishq. The
company signed up with HDFC Bank, the market leader, to offer co-branded credit cards which allowed
users to use NeuCoins outside the app as well. The company was also planning to combine the offerings
of 1mg along with fitness and insurance in a subscription model into the app.
According to Pal, Tata Group was uniquely positioned to build a successful super-app. He said,
We have these assets which we stitch together for the consumer. Take weddings for example—
70-80% of wedding needs are taken care of under Tata brands Tanishq, Indian Hotels, flights
(Air India, Vistara), apparel (Westside), which the super-app stitches together as a one-stop
solution. End-to-end consumer experiences matter and that is a big roadmap for us. Our
omnichannel experience has to be the best in class because of our assets and consumer
touchpoints. (Vijayaraghavan, 2023)
Reportedly, around 80% of Tata Neu sales were driven by grocery and pharmaceuticals. Tata Neu
contributed only about 10% of BB and 1mg sales; the rest of BB and 1mg sales continued to be driven by
the individual apps (Mishra, 2023). However, the company’s efforts to revamp the app were yielding fruits.
Pal said:

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Communications of the Association for Information Systems

Almost 60% of our customers are repeat customers, while multi-category customers have
increased from less than 10% a year ago, to over 25%. (Vijayaraghavan, 2023)
By June 2023, the app had garnered 75 million NeuPass members. The app’s rating on Google Play store
had improved from 3.8 to 4.2. While revenues increased, losses continued to mount both at Tata Neu and
individual Tata Digital businesses (Table 5). The group had invested around $2.25 billion already into its
ecommerce business (Mukherjee, 2022b). In October 2023, it was reported that the Tata Group is looking
for profitable growth with plans to invest an additional $1 billion in Tata Digital (Mint, 2023).
Table 5. Financial Performance of Select Tata Companies (Source: Manchanda, 2023; Moneycontrol,
2023)
Company Name /
(in $ million) FY22 - Revenue FY 22 - Profit/Loss FY23 - Revenue FY 23 - Profit/Loss
Tata Digital 1.9 -135.3 24.6 -165.1
Big Basket 899.1 -108.0 1168.2 -210.8
1mg 65.5 -58.7 203.0 -152.0
Croma 988.8 -53.6 1909.8 -115.3
Curefit 26.0 -82.9 83.6 -66.4
Cliq N.A. N.A. 9.5 -21.1

6.1 A New CEO – A New Approach?

In February 2024, Naveen Tahilyani was appointed as the CEO of Tata Digital to lead the turnaround of
Tata Neu. Pal returned to Tata Sons. One senior executive said:
Naveen [Tahilyani] comes in from Tata AIA Life Insurance and he has a deep understanding of
data and consumer behaviour. Especially, given that insurance is a push product, he has a
better nuance of B2C. (Variar & Toms, 2024)
The move was expected to accelerate Tata Neu's plans to integrate fintech services like stock trading and
mutual fund investments, aiming to develop a high-frequency use case for its users (Malik, 2024).
Additionally, the company began experimenting with food delivery services in select cities (Choudhury,
2024). Reports also indicated that the company was in discussions with Uber, the taxi ride-hailing app, for
a potential strategic partnership (Sharma, 2024).
Developing a successful high-frequency use case was crucial for Tata Neu's success as a super-app.
However, Tahilyani also recognized a range of other challenges that needed attention. He outlined these
challenges in his communication to the employees:
We will have to work on a few aspects to win the hearts and minds of our customers — finetune
the loyalty programme, invest in and leverage data for offers, find a better way to convey our
proposition to the customers, improve customer experience while creating new value
propositions, and use financial services smartly to enhance customer stickiness. We will have to
be razor sharp about our priorities and execute our strategic initiatives with rigor and discipline.
(Mishra, 2024)
What immediate priorities should Tata Neu focus on? Given these priorities, what strategic initiatives
should the company pursue? How should these initiatives be effectively executed? Alternatively, should
the Tata Group consider the investments made thus far as sunk costs and abandon its efforts to build a
super-app altogether? The fate of Tata Neu will have implications for the future of super-apps in India and
the future of the Tata Group as well.

Acknowledgments
We thank the Associate Editor for their constructive suggestions to improve the case study and teaching
note during the review process. We also thank Professors K Gopinath, Jang Bahadur Singh, Priya
Seetharaman, and Rishikesan Parthiban for their helpful comments on earlier drafts of this case study and
teaching note.

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 Tata Neu: The Super-App Bet

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About the Authors

K. S. Manikandan is a Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship at IIM Tiruchirappalli. He holds a
doctorate in management from IIM Bangalore. His research on organizational growth and governance has
been published in top journals such as the Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Journal of Management
Studies, Harvard Business Review, and Strategic Management Journal. His case studies are available in
reputed repositories and have won awards such as the AIS Learning Action Award (2020) and the EFMD
Best Case Award (2017). At IIM Tiruchirappalli, he teaches courses on Design Thinking, Strategies for
Growth, and Strategic Leadership. Before joining academia, Manikandan worked at Hindustan
Aeronautics Limited, an aerospace company, and TVS Motors Limited, an automotive firm. He holds a
degree in Mechanical Engineering from the College of Engineering, Guindy.
N Kishore Kanna is the Vice President & Business Head – Logistics & SRP at Ramco Systems Ltd. He
holds a management degree from IIM Tiruchirappalli and a postgraduate degree in technology from IIT
Madras. With over two decades in the information technology industry, he has delivered large-scale ICT
and digital transformation programs across ERP, insurance, e-governance, and logistics domains. Kishore
has a keen interest in academia and research and is currently pursuing his doctoral program in
management at IIT Madras. He also holds a degree in Instrumentation Engineering from Madurai Kamaraj
University.

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