Tata Neu sees 2.2 mn users so far; open to non-Tata brands: Chandrasekaran

Within a week of its launch the much awaited Tata Neu, the super app from the Tata Group, has already been downloaded by 2.2 million users and has seen a significant amount of transactions as well, said executives from Tata Digital.

N Chandrasekaran, chairman, Tata Sons also said that Tata Neu, over a period of time, will also go beyond Tata brands and offerings. “Our purpose with Tata Neu is to be a trusted partner bringing better life to India’s growing consumer base. We believe there is no solution or an app or an ecosystem, which fully addresses this holistically and which is specifically developed for the Indian context,” said Chandrasekaran at the press conference after the launch of Tata Neu.

He also added that the app, which is in its first version, will see changes and its evolution will be customer-driven. One such technological feature, which will come on the app is an AI-based personal assistant. Tata Neu app was launched on April 7.

Pratik Pal, CEO Tata Digital also said that though Tata Neu is now focused on getting Tata brands it will be open to get other brands as well. “The company will launch a new category and services every quarter,” said Pal.

Since the launch of the app, the platform has already seen consumers using single native apps of brands jump from 10 per cent and those using two native apps jump to 30 per cent. “During the pilot we saw that people using Tata Neu platform jumped from 10 per cent to 30 per cent and we see that this shift can go up to as much as 50 per cent,” said Mukesh Bansal, president Tata Digital.

Chandrasekaran was also confident that NeuPass, the multi-brand rewards programme, will work in India. “NeuPass is our strength and an offering which is unique to the Tata group. If we have to compete we have to bring out our differentiator and NeuPass is a unique offering from the Tata Digital in India ecosystem,” he added.

Bansal added that during the pilot stages 54 per cent transactions involved NeuCoins as loyalty programmes. “The hypothesis that we used to build the app on, was that Neupass will be the core asset and the hook that will draw customers, was fairly proven during the pilot,” added Bansal.

Bansal also defended the company’s strategy to use a loyalty programme as a hook to get in customers. “There is no clear definition of a super app. Our definition is that we want to cover the majority of consumer consumption patterns. Rather, the ARPUs that we witnessed during the pilot were three to four times when compared to other platforms,” he added.

Chandrasekaran elucidated that in the two years since the app was in the making the group has managed to bring all the brands on a single platform, which gives it a compelling value proposition.

“We have assembled one of the finest teams of people. We have successful entrepreneurs as well as accomplished executives who have successfully built and run business. We have to push a vision or an aspiration, you need to have all the financial models, but more importantly you need an empowered talent which will debate and make things happen,” said Chandrasekaran.

Chandrasekaran acknowledged that there will be investments that the group will have to make on the app, but sought to dispel fears saying financial metrices are on the radar.

“We will certainly drive a lot of strong financial outcomes, including profits and revenues,” said the chairman of the group, which is the only investor of the platform.

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