Happy Tuesday!
From tracking entry of people inside an elevator to keeping an eye on those who aren’t wearing masks, Indian startups are not letting the Covid-19 crisis go to waste. As offices and malls reopen across the country, many startups have come up with technology-based solutions to handle crowding and maintain physical distancing.
Social-distancing fixes
Startups like Staqu, Park+ and Magneto CleanTech have launched services that are aiding businesses to implement health and safety measures to contain the coronavirus outbreak.
Staqu, an Artificial Intelligence-based firm that earlier catered to the e-commerce industry, is now using its video analytics platform Jarvis to let organizations check if government directives are being followed, based on CCTV-based analytics in real-time.
Park+ has tied up with malls to enable them to control the entry of customers at any given point in time through what is known as a mall ‘pass’ on their phones after checking their temperatures. Read more.
Job market woes
Hiring activity nosedived 61% year-on-year in May, hit hard by several extensions of the nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of Covid-19, according to a survey.
Why it matters
This is the second straight month where the hiring activity has registered a dip of more than 60%. There was an across-the-board decline in hiring at varied experience levels with the entry-level experience band (0-3 years) recording the sharpest decline of 66%.
The survey further found that more than 50% of jobseekers are utilizing the time at hand due to the lockdown for self-development and career advancement. Read more.
Labour shortage
Companies across industries are facing a huge shortage of blue-collar workers as they gradually resume operations after the lockdown, and many are lining up incentives to woo workers from near and far.
Triggered mostly by the mass exodus of migrant labourers from urban centres across the country during the two months-plus lockdown when most of them lost their livelihoods, the overall shortfall is estimated at 40-50% over the next few months, according to a survey conducted exclusively for ET by staffing firm TeamLease Services.
By the numbers
Construction and real estate are staring at a worker shortage of 52%
Manufacturing labour shortfall is estimated at 44%
Labour shortage in healthcare and pharmaceuticals is at 42%. Read more
Esops relief
Startups can now issue stock options to employees for up to 10 years from their incorporation instead of five. The Ministry of Corporate Affairs notified changes to the definition of a startup in line with the one issued by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade in February last year.
As per the notification, startups can issue sweat equity of up to 15% of their paid-up share capital. The ministry also removed a provision that required a listed company that has privately placed debentures to invest or deposit a sum equivalent to at least 15% of the amount maturing during the financial year by April 30 each year. Read more.
Canada trumps US
Fewer Indian science and technology students have been going to the US for graduation courses even before the Covid-19 outbreak put a question mark on whether international students in American universities will be able to make it for the September semester. The number of Indian students enrolled in graduate-level computer science and engineering courses at US universities declined by over 25% between academic years 2016-17 and 2018-19, an analysis by National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP) has found.
On the other hand, the number of Indians who became permanent residents in Canada increased from 39,340 in 2016 to 85,585 in 2019, a rise of more than 117%, according to data from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. Read more.
(Illustrations and graphics by Rahul Awasthi)
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