Tata Neu is a multi-purpose

super-app A super-app, also known as an everything-app, is a mobile or web application that can provide multiple services including payment and instant messaging services, effectively becoming an all-encompassing self-contained commerce and communication ...

, developed in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

by Tata Digital of the

Tata Group The Tata Group () is an Indian multinational conglomerate group of companies headquartered in Mumbai. Established in 1868, it is India's largest business conglomerate, with products and services in over 160 countries, and operations in 100 c ...

. It is the country's first super-app.

History

The Tata Neu app was launched on 7 April 2022. The launch coincided with the start of a 2022

Indian Premier League The Indian Premier League (IPL) is a professional Twenty20 (T20) cricket league in India, organised by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Founded in 2007, it features ten city-based Professional sports league organization, fr ...

league stage match between the

Delhi Capitals The Delhi Capitals, formerly the Delhi Daredevils, also known as DC, are a professional Twenty20 cricket team based in Delhi that competes in the Indian Premier League (IPL). The franchise is owned by GMR Group and JSW Sports. Its home groun ...

and

Lucknow Super Giants The Lucknow Super Giants, also known as LSG, are a professional Twenty20 cricket team based in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, that competes in the Indian Premier League (IPL). The franchise is owned by Sanjiv Goenka of the RPSG Group. Ekana Cricket ...

. Shortly after the launch, the app's servers were overloaded. Sales numbers missed the

million 1,000,000 (one million), or one thousand thousand, is the natural number following 999,999 and preceding 1,000,001. The word is derived from the early Italian ''millione'' (''milione'' in modern Italian), from ''mille'', "thousand", plus the ...

target set by Tata Digital. Reports stated that Tata Digital received as much as

billion Billion is a word for a large number, and it has two distinct definitions: * 1,000,000,000, i.e. one thousand million, or (ten to the ninth power), as defined on the short scale. This is now the most common sense of the word in all varieties of ...

in funding from the Tata Group for the Tata Neu app and additional investments. By May end, the app had nearly 11 million downloads but suffered constant glitches and had slow response time leading to a reduction in customer usage. As the reports of high number of bugs and sluggish user experience continued, reports emerged that the Tata Neu CTO had resigned within 4 months. The app faced backlash over sharing of customer information between group companies. In January 2023,

Mukesh Bansal Mukesh Bansal (born September, 1975) is an Indian entrepreneur and podcaster known for his contributions to the e-commerce, health-tech, and startup ecosystems. He is the co-founder of Myntra, Cult.Fit, and Meraki Labs, and has played a significa ...

, then President of Tata Digital and head of operations for Tata Neu, stepped down, with Pratik Pal, then CEO of Tata Digital, looking after the business decisions at the firm. Soon, reports emerged that Tata Neu was set to miss the first year GMV target by as much as 50%. Internal projections showed the company revising the GMV target by March 2023 to billion from billion (which was scaled down from billion). The app, which was revamped in time for the 2023 Indian Premier League (IPL) season, saw a significant increase in downloads and membership following the tournament. The Tata Group's sponsorship of the IPL and the heavy promotion of the app during the matches likely played a role in this growth. Post the revamp, Neu’s Google Play store rating improved from 3.8 to 4.2.

References

{{FinTech in India E-commerce in India Mobile payments in India Indian brands Online payments Payment service providers Super-apps Mobile payments Tata Group