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 […]

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 […]

India could make public next week the draft e-commerce policy proposing a dedicated regulator for the sector. The draft, focussing on special measures for rural e-commerce, job creation and infrastructure, could be made public next week after a group of secretaries reviews it on Monday. The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) […]

Illustration: Rahul Awasthi Unable to handle the sudden surge in demand, India’s two largest grocery players, BigBasket and Grofers, have started delaying orders by days and in some cases cancelling those, while also selectively shutting down certain delivery pin codes. On Friday, raging consumers took to microblogging site Twitter to complain as more people opted […]

The Indian government has written to top social media companies including Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, ShareChat and Twitter, to control the spread of misinformation on Covid-19. In an advisory sent on Friday, the government asked social media platforms to start awareness campaigns, remove misinformation from the platform and promote authentic information on the virus. ET has […]

Netflix and YouTube will reduce the default image quality of streaming video in Europe to ease pressure on the internet, the firms said Friday, as demand soars with millions confined to their homes over coronavirus fears. EU commissioner for the digital economy Thierry Breton urged internet giants to switch from high definition to the former […]

Disney’s streaming platform Disney Plus has delayed its India launch via Hotstar owing to the postponement of the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket season amid the spread of Coronavirus. Earlier this month, Hotstar had rolled out an update, which not only changed the app’s name to Disney+ Hotstar, but also added Disney+ shows to the […]

India wants to set up an e-commerce regulator and force companies such as Amazon to swiftly turn over information sought by authorities as part of a new policy being drafted, two sources familiar with the plan told Reuters. The new policy will be India’s latest effort to tighten control over e-commerce and is likely to […]

By Giles Turner, Gillian Tan and Peter Elstrom SoftBank Group is seeking to raise an additional $10 billion so its first Vision Fund can support portfolio companies battered by the coronavirus pandemic, according to people with knowledge of the matter. SoftBank is in talks with outside investors to provide $5 billion, which will be matched […]

Image Credit: Kathy Willens Amazon said on Thursday it has halted its Prime Pantry delivery service in the United States to restock groceries, following a surge in online orders by shoppers worried about the coronavirus pandemic. “Amazon Pantry is not accepting new orders at this time while we work to fulfill open orders and restock […]