"The importance of hybrid cloud and AI has accelerated. What has changed is the pace at which they're being adopted. Transformation journeys (of) last few years are now being compacted into months...They're looking for long lasting answers on what they can do with technology to address the key issues that COVID-19 has brought to light," he said.

Software services exporters including Infosys, Wipro, TCS and WNS have delayed pay increases and put promotions on hold, due to the uncertainty over business growth across their key markets in the wake of the Covid-19 virus outbreak. CSS Corp has also paid 100% of variable salary to the bulk of its employees.

In this environment, the delivery of platform-enabled solutions at speed across the entire technology stack becomes even more important, it said. From cloud to networking, data centre to security and more, breadth and depth of capability are essential to recover and restore operations and position organisations strongly for the coming years.

The $192 billion IT-BPM industry body has informed the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) about the critical talent from various member companies such as Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, Wipro, HCL Tech, Startek and many others being stranded and they should be considered for evacuation.

“Some clients are looking at consolidation. In this crisis, they have had mixed experience of work-from-home from different players. So, they feel, if this lasts 12-18 months, they would want to put their bets on larger players who have done well in transitioning to this new way of working,” Infosys Chief Operating Officer UB Pravin Rao told.

The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2020. This is Cognizant’s fourth acquisition of a cloud services related business.

Traditional services also have some very strong propositions, like digital workplace, engineering services. Some of the demand for that is intact and it is only getting accelerated.

While short-term projects are getting stalled, the managed services segment, which fetches significant revenue for service providers, has still not been impacted by the outbreak.

Infosys grew 9.8% with revenues of $ 12.78 billion in last fiscal , while Tata Consultancy Services, India’s largest IT firm grew 7.1% to $ 22.03 billion. Smaller rivals Wipro grew 3.8% to $ 8.6 billion and Tech Mahindra by 4.3% to $ 5.18 billion.

"Accenture has no professional relationship with Unacademy, and any implication or assertion otherwise is erroneous. Accenture has suffered no data breach or loss of any records or client information as a result of this incident," Accenture said in a statement.

NITES said this went against govt guidelines of not firing people or cutting salaries during the pandemic.

PeopleLink is the first, Indian Video Conference Company to disrupt the market by its approach of offering Secure, custom video applications for each Industr...

Manufacturers of appliances and consumer electronics are seeking lower taxes on eco-friendly and energy-efficient products, more incentives for domestic manufacturing and waiving of customs duty on inputs imported to make the components in the upcoming Union Budget.

The Budget doubled basic custom duty from 10% to 20% on whole lot of imported products such as food grinder, juicer, shaver, epilator, geyser, room heater, hair dryer, electric iron, oven, coffee and tea maker, toaster and ceiling fan. The custom duty on wall fan has been hiked from 7.5% to 20%.

Experts said it might take some more time before a wide spectrum of consumers, such as those in rural India, start spending.

The Japanese appliances giant plans to launch smart door bells, plugs and switches. This will be followed by side-by-side refrigerators, front-loading washing machines, fans, geysers amongst others covering the entire product portfolio in phases.

Prices of TVs, ACs and some phones are set to go up as manufacturers grapple with component shortages.

"By March 2020, TV prices will be increased by 10 per cent due to the current Coronavirus crisis of China, there is a major shortage of raw materials along with a sharp 20 per cent increase in open cell panel prices," Avneet Singh Marwah, CEO of SPPL said.

While presenting the budget, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had proposed to hike the basic customs duty to 12.5 per cent from 10 per cent on compressor of refrigerator and air conditioner. In a residential AC, compressor and motor, which account for around 30 per cent of the price are imported, while sheet metal, coils and other are sourced locally.

China supplies several components for air conditioners made in India. Shortage of these components could affect AC production in India. "We are well stocked till the first week of April. But unless the supply from China is restored in the next couple of weeks, we could face a challenge in the production front after that," said C P Mukundan Menon of Blue Star.

Appliances and consumer electronics makers are using social media platforms and other online tools to reach their customers, who are facing problems with products amid the lockdown.

Electronic items like the mobile phones, TVs, laptops will be available on the e-commerce platforms from April 20, the official said. However, the delivery vans of the e-commerce companies will need permission from authorities for plying on the roads. According to Wednesday's guidelines, commercial and private establishments were allowed to operate during the extended lockdown.

​​Individually, each brand is seeking more clarity and approval on the guidelines. The guidelines say that we would have to open in a phased manner. All brands are gearing up to open up, wherever, it will be permitted," CEAMA President Kamal Nandi said.

Companies like Panasonic India, Godrej Appliances, Dixon Technologies and Super Plastronics Pvt Ltd said with retail outlets shut there is no point to start production as there is existing unsold inventory of March at warehouses and dealers.

Summer sales of air-conditioners, refrigerators, soft drinks and ice creams will take a massive hit this year.

Production cuts will be most in premium portfolio as consumers curb discretionary spending.

The company has cut prices anywhere from Rs 2,000 on the smaller screen televisions going up to Rs two lakh on a flagship 85-inch model apart from rolling out long tenure no-cost EMI schemes and bundling offers. It has launched a new 85-inch model at Rs 5.9 lakh bringing down its earlier pricing structure of Rs 10 lakh in this screen size.

With just 73 confirmed cases of the virus and no deaths, India, a country of 1.3 billion people, has so far fared better than elsewhere in Asia, Europe and North America. But experts say India's already overstretched medical system would struggle to deal with a major rise in serious cases.

Tour operators estimate January-March quarter earnings could fall by more than 60 per cent.

The association also demanded six to nine months' moratorium on all principal and interest payments on loans and overdrafts, besides deferment of GST and advance tax payments. They also asked the minister for removal of fees for any upcoming licenses, permits renewal, excise exemption for liquor for the hospitality and travel industry across the country.

"We are closely working with all our airline and hotel partners on lenient customer policies for date change, cancellations and waivers in the face of evolving travel trends and are seamlessly passing the waiver benefits to our customers, as applicable," MakeMyTrip said in the letter.

India's biggest OTA MakeMyTrip has issued alerts to its customers stating there are attempts being made by fraudsters to seek bank account details and other personal information from customers who are seeking refunds for booking cancellations.

The ministry said the portal will help tourists get information on state tourism departments and regional offices of the ministry of tourism to help them stay safe and healthy while in India. It will also help them find information on ways of getting back to their home country, the ministry added.

IATO said it seeks a financial bailout package to defray the salaries of the employees and operational cost of offices based on the turnover of the company in last financial year. IATO also that said it also seeks a 9 to 12 months deferment (without any interest) on all principle and interest payments on bank loans.

Uber Essentials, for which approvals are being sought from state governments, will be extended to other cities early this week once approved, said Pradeep Parameswaran, President of Uber India, and South Asia.

The ministry said the webinar series will provide information on the many destinations and the 'depth' and 'expanse' of the culture and heritage of India. The first webinar on Tuesday touched upon the history of Delhi and was titled " City of Cities- Delhi's Personal Diary'.

According to senior member Rajiv Mehra, no international flights are operating till May 1, so international ticket booking would not have happened during the first phase of the lockdown. "When there is no booking, the question of refund does not arise. As regards the domestic sector, everything is in lockdown, so virtually no bookings have taken place, so no refund would be required," he said.

Sensing a long-term lull in overseas travel, the Ministry of Tourism launched ‘Dekho Apna Desh’, a webinar series hosted by experts who will share key nuggets and information on destinations like Varanasi, Pondicherry, Ladakh, Kolkata and Lucknow.

At least 40% of premium class foreign tourists visiting Nepal or Bhutan prefer touching Sikkim. Arrival of near 1.5 lakh foreign tourists and around 14 lakh domestic visitors in a year contributes a significant share to near Rs 400 crore worth annual tourism business of Sikkim-Darjeeling hills.

Mahindra Holidays & Resorts India Ltd (MHRIL) on Sunday said it plans to first reopen resorts that are at drivable distance from the metro cities once the coronavirus lockdown is lifted.

Federation of Associations in Indian Tourism & Hospitality, the policy federation of all the national associations representing the tourism, travel and hospitality industry of India has revised upwards its value estimates at risk to Indian tourism.

Lockdown has pushed hotel business in tourism hotspot Sikkim to the brink where investors from Bengal and other states are the first tire victims. Equal sufferer is over 70% of Sikkim's population dependent on hospitality industry that generates around Rs 1.5 k croer business there in a year.

Gross debt at Indian Oil, the nation’s largest refiner and fossil fuel retailer, has risen from ₹86,400 crore at the beginning of 2019-20 to ₹1,16,000 crore at the start of 2020-21. About 50% jump in debt in the January-March quarter came following the weakening of demand due to the Covid-19 pandemic, dividend outflow and delay in fuel subsidy transfer by the government.

Petrol in Delhi now costs Rs 71.26 a litre as against Rs 69.59 previously, oil industry sources said.

Managing Director of NRL S K Barua tweeted, “NRL is importing 21TMT crude oil from Petronas through Haldia port to be rail freighted to Numaligarh for future processing. A step towards ensuring energy security.”

The increase in excise comes amid crude oil prices still remaining at relatively lower levels of $23.86 a barrel, compared to peak level prices.

On Tuesday, Centre hiked excise duties on petrol by Rs 10 per litre and on diesel by Rs 13 per litre.

The move follows the Centre's decision on Tuesday to increase excise duty on petrol by a record Rs 10 per litre and Rs 13 per litre for diesel. The hike, however, did not push up fuel prices as global oil prices have dropped to a nearly two-decade low.

According to the company, thyssenkrupp will provide engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM) services for various units of the refinery located in Numaligarh

Vedanta plans to sell a minority stake in its Indian oil unit have stalled after a collapse in crude prices.