There was a worry that such a policy would hamper businesses, create resentment among the male staff and perhaps also discourage companies from employing women. However, this has proved to be misplaced.
Despite a 56 per cent fall in residential launches in the first half of the year compared to the second half of 2019, Anarock Property Consultants believes that consolidation in residential real estate is expected to gain ground, and that branded players may garner a market share of 75-80 per cent.
Retailers want rental waivers should be extended for a few more months, since business is not expected to pick up before the Dussehra-Diwali period, which falls in October-November.
Some of India's biggest employers are testing for antibodies to either comply with regulatory norms or gauge the effectiveness of precautionary measures.
However, both developers as well as analysts are hopeful that these business metrics will pick up once activity resumes.
In a curious move, Reliance Industries' (RIL) executive director and Mukesh Ambani's trusted aide PMS Prasad pledged 600,000 shares of the company last month, which is 93.75 per cent of the total shares he owns in RIL. Prasad owned a total of 640,000 RIL shares and his compensation stood at Rs 11.15 crore in FY20.
Since existing laws do not cover Covid-19, any compensation in this regard has to be left to the discretion of companies.
Chairman A M Naik said H2 of 2020-21 will herald better economic and business activity in terms of tendering, good liquidity, as well as revival of labour and supply chains.
Mumbai's property markets, where prices earlier crossed Rs 1 lakh per sq. ft in South Mumbai, are seeing a 20-25 per cent markdown from last year's levels.
India's sourcing from China may not necessarily be for cost-effectiveness alone but also for the lack of domestic qualified bidders, technology or other know-how.
Real estate development on Mumbai airport land and the work on Navi Mumbai airport have been inordinately delayed, which have prompted rating downgrades and raised questions on its financial capabilities. It is also trying to stave off Adani group's entry as a shareholder in the Mumbai airport project.
While seven companies bagged orders worth Rs 42,000 crore, industry experts said most of this new order activity was a spillover, and fresh project finalisation remains weak.
Brookfield Asset Management will pay around Rs 29,000 per square foot for the 170,000 square feet of space in Jet Airways' two-floor office in Bandra Kurla Complex.
The COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing lockdown may have put the best of funds on a backfoot of deal activity, RIL, however, has been an outlier. With 10 different investors brought in for its telecom venture Jio Platforms, RIL undertook 12 different transactions since April this year.
Among the options being weighed are discounts on existing rentals, short-term deferrals, and 50 per cent waivers.
With RIL's market capitalisation crossing the Rs 11-trillion mark on Friday, Ambani is ahead of Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the 10th and 11th richest, respectively, and behind Zara founder Amancio Ortega on the Forbes Real-time Billionaires List.
'India should take up defence manufacturing in a more serious manner and encourage greater private participation.'
Groceries, apparel, computers, phones and sporting accessories are among the most popular. There is also a growing trend of men visiting the store, rather than women.
Govt has already approached World Bank seeking termination of contract. The progress of the project was just 20 per cent though the contract was awarded in 2016.
The demand for black oils and specialty products like fuel oil, bitumen, petcoke and sulphur has also shown marked improvement, facilitating increase of refineries throughput.