Illustration: Rahul Awasthi A one litre jar of hand sanitiser for Re 1; a personal protection equipment (PPE) set for free. Hundreds of pocket hand sanitisers for Re 1 too. It sounds too good to be true, but on Facebook‘s marketplace, these unbelievable rates are up for grabs. But naturally, there’s a catch: Hundreds, maybe […]

Indians can soon go vocal on a local version of Zoom. In line with the push towards greater self-reliance, the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DoT) is developing a secure videoconferencing platform for use by the government and the courts. One version will be made available for the public. India’s own videoconferencing software will come […]

A lobby of over 850,000 chemist outlets across India has asked the government to delink the Aarogya Setu Mitr portal from the government’s Covid tracker Aarogya Setu app, saying several “foreign-funded and illegally operating” e-pharmacies were using the portal to advance their business interests in India. The portal lists several e-pharmacies and telemedicine services. “We […]

Internet search giant Google is going to roll out a slew of initiatives to help brick-and-mortar stores in India connect with consumers online to adapt to the change in shopping behaviour in the post Covid-19 lockdown scenario. Two senior industry executives said Google has started a pilot where offline stores in India can list products […]

Kotak Mahindra Bank on Monday has introduced video-KYC facility for customers opening savings account on Kotak 811 – the banks digital banking platform. The private lender is the first Indian bank to offer video based “zero-contact” onboarding service. The initiative is presently being launched on a pilot basis for savings accounts, Kotak Mahindra said in […]

Co-working major WeWork India, owned by realty firm Embassy Group, will lay off around 20% of its total 500 employees with effect from June to cut its operational costs after its business hit by the coronavirus outbreak, sources said. Karan Virwani, the CEO of WeWork India, informed this decision through internal communication to company employees. […]

Flipkart’s limited operations during the nationwide lockdown “negatively affected” growth in its international e-commerce business, US retail giant Walmart told investors on Tuesday, counteracting higher online sales in China, Canada, United Kingdom and Mexico. Walmart’s chief rival Amazon, too, said earlier this month that India was its most impacted geography due to the lockdowns brought […]

Illustration: Rahul Awasthi India’s top online marketplaces have begun accepting orders to deliver both essential and non-essential products across the country except within containment zones, even as some companies demurred while they wait for states to draw up regional guidelines for ecommerce. Amazon, baby products retailer Firstcry and beauty portal Nykaa were among those which […]

Uber will cut about 3,000 jobs, in addition to the 3,700 it had announced earlier this month, as coronavirus-led restrictions sap demand for ride-hailing services, Chief Executive Officer Dara Khosrowshahi said in an email to employees on Monday. The ride-hailing business has suffered a near-total collapse as large parts of the United States and the […]

SoftBank Group Corp reported losses of nearly $18 billion at its much-vaunted Vision Fund, the heaviest in the Japanese conglomerate’s history, after it wrote down the valuations of quite a few of its most prominent portfolio companies. It also warned of the likelihood of 15 of its portfolio firms going bankrupt in the wake of […]