Ride-hailing platforms Uber and Ola temporarily suspended their services in India’s top cities including Delhi National Capital Region, Bengaluru, Mumbai and Hyderabad, complying with government directives in an effort to curb the spread of Covid-19. While Ola said it will “enable a minimal network of vehicles” to support essential services in cities, Uber said its […]
Oyo offers rooms for quarantine amid Covid-19 outbreak
Illustration: Rahul Awasthi Oyo Hotels & Homes has offered to partner with the Delhi government to offer its 1,000-plus hotels in the state for self-quarantining amid the Covid-19 pandemic, while also holding discussions with other state governments for the same. Under the terms of the proposed partnership, the SoftBank-backed hospitality chain will allow people to […]
NRAI writes to FM seeking deferment of dues, job cover for employees
India’s restaurant industry has sought deferment of all statutory dues, including goods and service tax, as the rising number of novel coronavirus cases forced several states across the country into lockdown. The National Restaurant Association of India in a letter to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman appealed for immediate relief on various state and central levies […]
Covid-19: As cities go for lockdown, Zoom has become the video calling app of choice
On Sunday afternoon, Eleanor Dolan celebrated her 17th birthday in Minnesota with 20 of her closest friends. They listened to pop music and traded jokes. When the group broke out into “Happy Birthday to You,” Eleanor pulled a slice of cookie cheesecake close in front of her and pretended to blow out the toothpick she […]
SoftBank to raise $41 billion to expand share buyback, cut debt
SoftBank Group said on Monday it is selling or monetising up to 4.5 trillion yen ($41 billion) in assets to buy back 2 trillion yen of its shares and reduce debt, sending its stock soaring to its biggest daily gain in nearly 12 years. The share buyback will be in addition to the up to […]
Coronavirus outbreak: Uber, Ola suspend services in Delhi till March 31
Services of Ola and Uber will not be available in Delhi till March 31 amid the lockdown announced by the Delhi government to contain the spread of coronavirus infection. The state government on Sunday said the city will be in lockdown from March 23 to 31, under which no public transport, including private buses, taxis […]
Telcos want streaming firms to cut load
Phone companies have sought the joint intervention of the telecom department and the home ministry to coax over-the-top (OTT) video streaming services to expedite steps to ease pressure on telco networks amid a surge in video consumption as vast swathes of the workforce work from home amid the Covid-19 outbreak. These services include Netflix, Amazon […]
SC to conduct hearings via video conferencing from today
The Supreme Court will formally begin on Monday tackling its work through video-conferencing in a bid to further limit human interface and the spread of Covid-19 in the court. A full court meeting has also been called by the CJI to discuss further measures to prevent the spread of the corona virus. In a first, […]
State curbs choke ecommerce supplies
Illustration: Rahul Awasthi Ecommerce operators were forced to cancel or reschedule lakhs of orders for essential goods such as food, groceries and medicines across several cities on Sunday as local authorities and the police ordered them to shut warehouses, blocked trucks carrying supplies and dissuaded delivery agents from moving around on the streets. The action […]
Edtech on an ad spree as schools and colleges shut
Illustration: Rahul Awasthi “India’s learning won’t stop. Every student will now have free access to our live online classes & premium content.” The full-page print advertisement dated March 19 from live tutoring platform Vedantu was one among many by education technology firms, which have been on advertising overdrive over the past few weeks. Several other […]