During his interaction with the chief ministers, Prime Minister Narendra Modi assured that more economic activities would resume; he also said that zone identification may be left to the states.
Except for laws pertaining to the payment of minimum wages, following safety norms and adequate compensation for workers in case of industrial accidents, no other provisions of the labour law would apply to all new companies that wish to operate in the state for at least 1,200 days, and for those that have already been operational for that period.
Though exports to Hong Kong, a major destination for India's polished diamonds, have resumed, the industry is currently sitting on an inventory worth around $2.3 billion.
Diamond industry expects revenues to drop by 20-25% in the current financial year.
The one-time restructuring of loans will help every firm and prevent cost-cutting measures such as lay-offs.
With the government asking the companies to operate with only 50 per cent staff strength, and exports dipping to almost zero, the truck and bus drivers idling at the petrol pump say they hardly have any work now. At a petrol pump on the deserted Bavla-Changodar highway near Ahmedabad in Gujarat, several trucks and buses are neatly parked in a row.
RBI is expecting the rupee to stay close to Rs 75 to a dollar, as COVID-19 forces foreign funds to withdraw from emerging markets.
Though Kishore Biyani is selling stakes in group companies to pay off debt, a significant share price crash since January this year is making his task difficult.
What will happen to the job placement and summer internship plans of India's management and IIT students? Many campuses are stepping in to help students hang on to their placements, in spite of the lockdown.
Edtech brands are offering discounts, adding fresh content and engaging more frequently with users during the lockdown, reports Vinay Umarji.
In the past one week alone, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Andhra Pradesh have issued orders to take over private hospitals in some districts. Sohini Das, Vinay Umarji and Gireesh Babu report.
Many firms have asked those joining on April 1 to delay their on-boarding by 2-3 months. The outlook for the airline, tourism, hotel, and media industries is bleak too.
A joint venture of Synbiotics, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ambalal Sarabhai Enterprises (ASE), and CoDiagnostics, CoSara Diagnostics is the first and only Indian company so far to receive a licence from the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) to manufacture coronavirus diagnostic test kits.
Indian companies will have to repay overseas debt worth $7.5 billion in the June quarter.
To sell off L&T IDPL, Nabha Power; transfer Hyderabad Metro to an InvIT.
Apart from the Adani group, the Tata group, the Hinduja group, Indigo and a New York-based fund, Interups, are expected to submit EoIs.
Speculation is rife that Trump may skip Sabarmati Ashram to make time for a visit to Agra, Vinay Umarji reports.
Vodafone Idea, which reported a loss of Rs 6,439 crore in the December quarter, said it had received letters from the department of telecommunications (DoT) directing immediate payment of dues amounting to Rs 54,000 crores after the SC judgment. "The company is currently assessing the amount that it will be able to pay to DoT towards the dues calculated based on AGR, as interpreted by the Supreme Court in its order dated October 24, 2019. The company proposes to pay the amount so assessed in the next few days," it stated.
Vodafone Idea's net worth (or shareholders' equity) was down 73 per cent year-on-year to around Rs 17,600 crore at the end of the December 2019 quarter after the company reported a net loss of around Rs 6,400 crore during the quarter. Cumulatively, the company has lost nearly Rs 45,000 crore in the last four quarters, eroding its net worth to its lowest level in three-year. Analysts said a such a low level of net worth, coupled with continuing losses in operations, ruled out the possibility of the company getting fresh loans from lenders to fund its adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues of Rs 54,000 crore.
If the current situation prevails, exports to China could fall by 10-15 per cent. Meanwhile, even the prices of cotton, of which Gujarat is one of the leading producers, have taken a hit.