Mumbai, April 10 -- It took less than a year for everything to unravel.

In August 2024, India's second largest business-to-consumer (B2C) logistics firm, Ecom Express, filed for an initial public offering. Valuation: nearly Rs.7,500 crore.

This month, the company was sold to its biggest competitor, Delhivery, for less than half that amount.

In between, both the companies had an awkward spat via stock exchange filings. Ecom Express had claimed in its draft prospectus that it performed better than the much bigger Delhivery on some key metrics, including cost per parcel. Delhivery countered it by saying Ecom Express may be lying about its numbers.

None of it matters now. Earlier in the year, Ecom Express put its public offering plans on ...