The Customs clearance required for moving equipment like laptops, desktops, etc out of SEZ units was delaying things as the clearance had to be taken in person after a first level of approval online.
However, many of these firms were facing an uphill task of convincing the people on the ground to return to work, as many are apprehensive of their safety.
There is a lot of police action on the ground and even inter-state movement has been stopped, because of which deliveries of essential items via platforms, such as Flipkart, Amazon, Grofers, and Milkbasket, aren't happening. Food-delivery firms -- Swiggy and Zomato -- are facing similar challenges, according to the sources.
According to a survey by community platform LocalCircles, early-stage start-ups, funding dependent start-ups and many small businesses will soon be fighting for survival as the spurt in coronavirus cases hits them hard.
According to experts in human resources, even joining of new graduates is likely to be staggered as companies are expected to onboard staffers after gauging the demand scenario.
Bengaluru-based Healthtech start-up Mfine has rolled out a coronavirus assessment feature which enables virtual medical consultation to assess patients who have flu-like symptoms. Portea and Haptik habe developed chatbots, which will disseminate information related to coronavirus.
The issues include not getting refunds on airline and hotel bookings, getting charged a service fee even if airlines have waived cancellation charges and so on. Complaints are piling up on Twitter, Facebook and other social media channels as more and more people cancel their travel plans due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
E-commerce companies are seeing an increase in demand for products such as fresh fruits and vegetables, milk, flour, rice, and lentils, and personal hygiene items like sanitisers and soaps and household cleaning products. Other products include instant noodles, baby food and Ayurvedic items. "There is even a huge spike in pet food," said a person.
Apart from such advisory, IT biggies such as TCS, Infosys and HCL Tech among others have been pursuing 'remote working' model to overcome the situation.
After a gruelling 24 hours, the PhonePe team has fully restored UPI on the payment platform. The app is up and running again with ICICI Bank as its new partner with all payment instruments enabled.
The Bengaluru-based firm competes with US rival Uber whose lukewarm IPO last year has contributed to the lag in valuation trend among the unicorns across the Indian start-up ecosystem.
The Hyderabad-born Nadella says it's not the AI engine, but the teams that build it as well as the algorithms to make it intelligent have to be diverse and inclusive, so that the solutions they build do not show up any sort of 'unconscious bias' that they may have.
Google had started the Station as a five-year partnership with the Indian Railways and RailTel in 2015 to provide fast, free WiFi in over 400 stations by mid-2020.
The case may drag for a few years, experts say, as CAIT and DVM have said they will appeal against the interim relief granted to Amazon.
Major shareholder Kinnevik, a Swedish investment firm, devalued Quikr by 45%, referring to the exaggerated revenue resulting from fraudulent transactions that rocked the company. Quikr is now valued at about $577 million.
44 per cent Indian respondents say that bundling media services with their telecom plan was the main reason they were willing to spend more on their mobile and fixed broadband bills.
While many are getting stranded because of lack of clarity regarding the visa rules following the novel coronavirus outbreak, others are stranded in transit as even OCI cardholders are being turned away
Facebook-owned messaging service WhatsApp has secured regulatory approval for launching its digital payment platform -- WhatApp Pay -- in a phased manner, close to two years after the US-based company's pilot run.
Apart from making your purchases on these platforms expensive, it will also mean sellers will have to face the brunt of reduced cash flows amid already low margins for some. Experts said the proposal, which will take effect on April 1, 2020, and will be inserted as a new section in the Income Tax Act, is expected to affect the working capital of e-commerce companies and reduce cash flows for e-sellers.
Having grown swiftly since the acquisition of Flipkart by Walmart in 2018, it was looking at a valuation of $10 billion. However, factors such as lack of diversification, new e-commerce and data policies, as well as the overall investment environment, have slowed the process.
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