Online food delivery platforms Zomato and Swiggy have been ordered to shut down in several states during the 21-day lockdown despite the union government’s guidelines categorizing food delivery under essential services. Tamil Nadu, Chattisgarh, Bihar, Assam and Pondicherry have directed Zomato and Swiggy to stop operations during the lockdown. “Only cooked food supply from Swiggy […]

Online grocers and marketplaces have started taking orders for essential goods in some cities but customers may need to wait a little longer than usual as e-commerce firms clear the backlog of orders. Delivery time for online orders has also increased to a week as online retailers engage with local administration in various states to […]

Amazon India has stopped accepting cash—the most popular mode of payment—for transactions to encourage contactless deliveries during the 21-day lockdown to curb the spread of Covid-19. “New ordering is available only on essential products through pre-paid payment methods,” the online retailer said on its website. The move helps delivery partners and customers stay safe by […]

Spotify said on Wednesday it had launched a COVID-19 music relief project to raise funds for musicians as the coronavirus pandemic grounds life to a halt in most countries, while taking a toll on the economy. The music streaming platform, which had about 124 million paid subscribers, also partnered with non-profit organizations such as MusiCares […]

By Eric Newcomer Isolated with his family at home in San Francisco, Uber Chief Executive Officer Dara Khosrowshahi has been making pleading phone calls to members of Congress. Khosrowshahi is asking for a bailout—not for his company, which has told investors it should have at least $4 billion in cash by the end of the […]

Softbank backed Oyo has written to its vendors and partners stating the COVID-19 outbreak and the resultant travel and social curbs have impacted its revenues, operations and cash flows ‘significantly’ and that owing to the situation there may be possible disruptions in its payment cycles. The letter written by Ankit Agarwal, head of Oyo’s procurement […]

Even as e-commerce companies failed to deliver essential goods on Tuesday, local authorities in states Karnataka and Gurugram have put in place processes to streamline the on-ground situation arising due to the nationwide lockdown. States and city authorities are talking to companies to ensure services are back online, but it could take up a few […]

Illustration: Rahul Awasthi E-commerce companies, including BigBasket, Grofers, Amazon and Flipkart, continue to run restricted services across cities as they work with local authorities to streamline operations. While several of these e-tailers expect to resume delivery of groceries and essentials in a few days, they face a challenge of getting frontline workers back to their […]

Food-delivery and restaurant discovery app Zomato is extending its subscription-based Gold memberships by two months in India and other countries like UAE, Australia, Indonesia, Philippines, Lebanon, Turkey, New Zealand, Portugal and Qatar in the wake of Covid-19 outbreak across the world. Zomato will also be facilitating working capital loans for its Gold partner restaurants and […]

Online restaurant reservation platform Dineout* has introduced “restaurant vouchers” that customers can purchase now and redeem later when the Covid-19 pandemic subsides. These restaurant vouchers can be redeemed in the next six months and Dineout will transfer the funds to the restaurants at no additional charges to ensure that restaurants continue to receive the crucial […]