Oyo Hotels & Homes said it will place an undisclosed number of employees on furlough and temporary leaves, highlighting the struggles of the company amid the Covid-19 pandemic. The decision will largely affect employees working in the United States and “select other markets”, it said in an official statement. The company did not disclose the […]

Illustration: Rahul Awasthi E-grocer BigBasket is learnt to have picked up $50 million from its existing investor Alibaba as part of a bridge round, two people in the know said, at a time when the online grocery market is seeing unprecedented demand during a nationwide lockdown due the Covid-19 crisis. A bridge round is an […]

Many schools in the country have switched to online classes due to the lockdown, but one in four students is unable to connect because they don’t have a laptop, desktop or tablet, according to a survey. The sudden lockdown announced by the government did not give many parents time to prepare for online classes and […]

India along with South Africa has raised concerns over a proposal at the WTO seeking to expand the scope of global moratorium to include digitized and digitizable goods such as books, video games, software and music. New Delhi has maintained that the globally agreed ecommerce moratorium has led to loss of revenue besides restricting use […]

Illustration: Rahul Awasthi SoftBank-backed Oyo Hotels & Homes has laid off hundreds of employees in the US across divisions like sales, business development and HR since mid-March, recently sacked employees and company insiders told ET. As per some media reports, Oyo had previously laid off about 360 employees, a third of its then staff in […]

Confined to her home during the lockdown, Gwalior-based 37-year old Mansha Kasture is reliving childhood memories with her 8 year-old daughter, Mishika, watching Ramanand Sagar’s epic ‘Ramayana’ on DD National. Kasture is amongst the current generation of parents, who are introducing their kids to old iconic classics on Doordarshan channels during the lockdown period. If […]

Illustration: Rahul Awasthi Consumers are increasingly using digital payments to buy essential items and services such as food, grocery, medical supplies, telecom recharges and utility bills, amid the ongoing 21-day nationwide lockdown in the wake of the Covid-19 virus outbreak. Companies that are processing these digital payments have such transactions surge even as spend-heavy sectors […]

Video streaming major Netflix is rolling out a slew of new features to strengthen parental controls on its platform. Parents will now be able to set 4-digit pins for individual profiles that prevent kids from accessing them and also creating new profiles on the service. They will also have the option of removing specific series, […]

Illustration: Rahul Awasthi VCs want Sidbi to ease sops criteria The news A lobby representing private equity firms and venture capitalists has requested state-run Small Industries Development Bank of India (Sidbi) to ease the qualifying criteria for its recently announced Covid-19 Startup Assistance Scheme (CSAS). The purpose The was launched by Sidbi as an interim […]

Online pharmacies, including 1MG, Medlife and NetMeds, are operating at 50-70% of their capacity, as they continue to face issues related to intercity movement of goods and staff shortage, two weeks into the ongoing 21-day nationwide lockdown. Although warehouses are open and delivery staff moving freely, they are operating at sub-optimal capacity. Since there is […]