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.
'We are going to be overwhelmed by the need for hospital beds. There are simply not enough beds in government hospitals.' 'We will need a large number of medical professionals and without the private sector's involvement, the government won't be able to expand capacity.'
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.
Cancellation of at least Rs 3,000-crore worth of business has happened in the past few weeks.
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.
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.
Weak demand from the poultry sector has resulted in a sharp decline in feed prices too, with both soybean and maize prices falling by nearly 25 per cent in the past two months. The poultry market consumes around half of soybean and maize production in India.
'There is a clear business impact. People are avoiding crowded places and gatherings across cities. This is hitting business, both at traditional and modern trade outlets, during the Holi season, which kicked off from Saturday,' says Praveen Khandelwal, general secretary, Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT).
RIL's stake in Network18 would reduce to 64 per cent, from 75%, following the merger
The first to see price hikes will be soaps. In the past six months, domestic palm oil prices have increased by 46 per cent. Palm oil is a key input going into soaps.
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.
Experts feel that mall owners anticipate an increase in costs to the tune of 15-20 per cent annually, prompting a mixed response to the '24 hours' initiative. A mall owner said while the policy is good in spirit, implementing it would be a challenge as night shopping or eating out wasn't a habit in Mumbai yet.
'As long as people are eating we will be there,' Rebel Foods CEO Jaydeep Barman tells Viveat Susan Pinto and Niraj Bhatt.
The company, which rents cars by the hour, day, week and month, has Mahindra E2O Plus and Tata E Tigor available on the platform for which it charges a subscription fee of Rs 15,000-20,000 per month.
While Unilever has been aggressive, both organically and inorganically in the country, P&G's approach has been about achieving 'balanced growth' in terms of top line and bottom line.
With the attrition rate continuing well above 20 per cent, one of the highest in the segment, Infosys is on a drive to reimagine the way it engages with employees starting from the time of recruitment itself. The company is using digital technologies in order to simplify recruitment, provide faster career track to employees, and incentivise people with top skills. The company is looking at doubling the number of recruits from tier-I engineering colleges such as IITs and NITs to enrich its talent base. These candidates who are offered twice the salary as compared to regular campus recruits, join as 'power programmers', a term that has been internally coined by the company to recognise the top coders.
Sinha, who had both agency and client experience having worked at Coca-Cola in the 1970s and early 1980s, was the first woman to set up a national advertising agency. While Tara Sinha Associates was launched in 1985, Clarion was launched way back in 1955 at the start of her career.
With founder Subhash Chandra no longer in the driver's seat at Zee, the acid test for Punit Goenka would be to take the financial investors along with him even as he strives to weather the latest storm. The question, now, is how he will deal with the challenges of being a professional CEO rather than an owner-CEO in the aftermath of his family offloading most of its promoter stake to a clutch of financial investors. However, the silver lining is that Zee remains the most profitable of the top four broadcasters in India.
The store segmentation approach that Shoppers Stop is taking is intended to improve its hit rate at a time when local and international fashion retailers are crowding the market with new merchandise across price points.
The hotels in the pipeline will include a range of Marriott brand portfolios such as JW Marriott, Tribute Portfolio and Sheraton.
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