NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India’s cabinet has approved a 480 billion rupees ($6.37 billion) plan to boost electronics manufacturing and woo large investment to a country which, following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Make-in-India drive, has become the world’s second-biggest mobile phone manufacturer. New Delhi will provide companies a production-linked incentive of 4% to 6% on […]
Archives for 2020
IRS provides guidance for April 15 filing delay
Late on Friday, the IRS officially announced that, because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, tax returns due April 15 will not have to be filed until July 15 this year. Notice 2020-18 was released hours after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin had broken the news in a tweet (see prior coverage here). The AICPA expressed its […]
Facebook has moved fast during coronavirus outbreak, and it could restore the company’s reputation
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg at the F8 Developer Conference in 2017. David Paul Morris | Bloomberg via Getty Images Over the past few weeks, Facebook has been quick to launch a number of efforts to help combat the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus, creating some much needed goodwill for the often embattled social media company. […]
Gin to disinfectant: Belgian distillery joins fight against coronavirus
WICHELEN (REUTERS) – A Belgian distillery has switched from producing gin to disinfectants after medical authorities sought additional supplies to cope with coronavirus spreading in the country. The Belgian government said on Friday it would provide 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) urgently to help hospitals face the crisis, with 2,257 cases confirmed so far and […]
Our commitment to customers and Microsoft cloud services continuity
Over the past several weeks, all of us have come together to battle the global health pandemic. During this time, organizations around the world are adjusting the way they manage their daily work and how their workforce continues in the face of extraordinary changes to their professional and personal lives. With this blog we wanted […]
India Inc pulls out all stops to make it work
Illustration: Rahul Awasthi Companies across sectors are scrambling to enforce ‘work from home‘ practices, as the government has ‘strongly advised’ India Inc to implement this policy and limit the spread of coronavirus. The companies are also trying to ensure that their operations are disrupted to a minimum. “We have asked our companies in India to […]
Living in the golden age of social distancing
I’ve been described – well, accused of– being a professional homebody, preferring to work from home, rather than working from a place where there are urinals instead of just a commode, and more elbows in the vicinity than I would care for. It turns out that because of my experience, I have become somewhat of […]
New listing rules to aid founders of startups, PEs
In a major change of rule, the government has allowed superior voting shares to list on exchanges in the same way as other shares, helping promoters and early-stage investors and private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) funds retain some advantages. The new norms were put in place on Thursday, through an amendment to the […]
Bulk packs in demand as buyers stock up like crazy
Illustration: Rahul Awasthi Companies and retailers are reporting higher sales of large packs of biscuits, noodles, rice, edible oils and hygiene products such as handwash and floor cleaners compared to individual or smaller packs, as consumers stock up grocery amidst apprehensions of a lockdown following the Covid-19 outbreak. This bucks the trend of the past […]
Covid-Asana: Indians go big on yoga from home
Illustration: Rahul Awasthi After the namaste, another traditional practice gaining ground on account of Covid-19 is yoga, according to fitness startups such as FITTR, Cult.Fit, Sarva and Get A Life Fitness (GALF). The need to maintain social distance is pushing people to log on to online workouts where yoga tops the list in terms of […]