Oyo’s consolidated losses increased to $335 million in the year to March 2019 from $52 million in FY18 as expansion into international markets, including key market China entailed heavy costs.

The partnership between Reliance Retail Whatsapp - inked on Wednesda -and could mean more competition for the likes of BigBasket and Grofers and others like Amazon and Flipkart looking to get a share of the food and groceries pie.

As reported earlier, Vodafone Idea on Tuesday paid around Rs 1,367 crore to the department of telecommunications (DoT) towards its licence fee and spectrum usage charge for the January-March quarter.

In view of the mounting attacks amid the Coronavirus outbreak, the IMA had been demanding that the government formulate a law to protect health workers.

While the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has allowed borrowers a three-month repayment holiday for term loans, keeping insolvency proceedings in abeyance would be an additional breather for borrowers who may default on loan repayments thereafter.

Part of the explanation can be higher co-morbidity in certain cities and also a shortage of critical equipment like ventilators.

As retail prices of petroleum products are mapped with international rates, the steep fall of global crude prices in Q4FY20 meant that by the time refiners sold their products after processing crude, retail rates had fallen.

One reason for it could be that IndiGo, with its free cash of over Rs 9,400 crore as on December 31, is in a better position than most peers to tide over the crisis.

Unilever had expected demand to pick up across its markets in H2 of 2020 with a growth of 3%. The company had lowered its guidance for 2020 in December 2019 and now its long-term guidance band for the current year too stands suspended.

Currently there are about 48.34 lakh central government employees and 65.26 lakh pensioners. The DA/DR increases are in accordance with the accepted formula, which is based on the recommendations of the 7th Central Pay Commission.

Urging the top management to rise up to the challenge, Subrahmanyan said that once the lockdown is lifted, everyone’s efforts need to double up to try and bridge the revenue gap.

The stricter lockdown measures in select cities are in the wake of increasing number of Covid-19 cases in the state, especially in the urban areas.

Even some of the food processing companies have reported that they are not getting the raw material as village panchayats were not allowing anyone to enter to procure such raw materials.

Once the clinical trials are over and successful, SII will release its vaccine. If the clinical trials by Oxford are not successful then the loss will be of SII. Some limited clinical trials will be done by SII also.

Speaking at an Assocham webinar, the minister said the fund will be used to clear dues owed to small businesses by state-run entities as well as industries.

The regulator had also observed that mutual funds should not depend totally on credit rating agencies but should do their own assessments.

Dr Gallo and Dr Chumakov briefly talk about research showing non-specific protection from vaccines such as BCG, measles and other live attenuated (weakened) vaccines.

FTE workers/employees are entitled for all the benefits (except retrenchment compensation as termination of service as a result of completion of the tenure of FTE would not be considered as retrenchment) which are available to permanent employees.

In fact, the BJP-JDU government in Bihar has protested against students being allowed to move out of Rajasthan and wrote to the Centre recently calling it an “utter violation of guidelines issued by the MHA”.

A visit to any neighbourhood kirana shop will reveal piles of snacks, bakery goods, groceries, soaps and sanitisers that have been made in the immediate vicinity.

Meanwhile, domestic consumption of petroleum products in FY20 remained flat at 213.7 MT as sales of transportation fuels plummeted in March amid the country-wide lockdown.

Given the Indian economy could well contract in 2020-21,following the disruption to the pandemic, even bigger companies might enourage some employees to work from home. For small businesses there might be no other option.

The Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY) relief package, announced on March 27 to alleviate the distress of people most affected by the nationwide lockdown, may help whittle down some of the excess foodgrain stocks.

Among other measures, the report suggests that inheritance tax, which was abolished in 1985, should be brought back as this would reduce concentration of wealth, widen tax base and enhance revenue.

A finance ministry official said some other state governments have also shown interest in borrowing from their respective state CAMPA funds, but refused to name them.

Covid-19 is a new virus, whose behaviour is yet to be unravelled. Mutations cannot be ruled out. It is no one-stroke flattening of the curve.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat said businesses should start operations in a phased manner, after taking precautionary measures.

The concern is genuine as new hotspots are emerging in districts like Idukki and Kottayam that were earlier in the green zone and considered safe.

According to a recent industry estimate, as many as 4.58 lakh housing units were facing delayed delivery across 1,509 stalled projects.

Hospitals were not keen earlier and considered using UV lamps in the HVAC systems only because there was a 10-15% savings in the electricity bill and not because it improved air quality and killed microbes, Kulkarni said.

Speaking at the Indian Express e-Adda from the US, Subramanian said that distribution of food and cash are the two key tools India should be using to help people tide over the crisis.

Tax experts said that in case Vodafone Idea is dissatisfied with the final scrutiny it can challenge the order but it would have to go through all the regular channels by first appealing in the income tax tribunal and then upwards.

Industry executives say the slump in electronics could only deepen in the first quarter of this fiscal, mainly due to the lockdown, and further accelerate a slide in the overall merchandise exports.

Interestingly, foreign portfolio investors (FPI), who were big sellers in March pulling out more than $8 billion, and have offloaded shares for most of April, turned buyers picking up some $50 million worth of stocks.

“This is essential for maintaining the supply chain of goods and services across the country during the lockdown period,” Union home secretary Ajay Bhalla reiterated in a letter to state chief secretaries.

The company has also created an interesting new business vertical from this quarter - financial services - based on internal reorganisation of its business segments.

Many independent agencies have forecast that Indian economy may grow at less than 1% in FY21 from around 5% (advance estimate) in FY20.

States need to undertake to clear departmental dues, fast-track subsidy release to receive first tranche of Rs 45-k cr; show evidence of action to get the balance

The company’s net profits saw a slight fall to Rs 1,519 crore as the operating profit margin came in at 22.9%, down 160 basis points y-o-y leaving the operating profit lower by 15% y-o-y at Rs 2,065 crore.

Conglomerate hopes to become debt-free this year

To ensure safety, passengers would be screened by the sending states and only those found asymptomatic would be allowed to travel. Sending state governments will have to bring these persons in batches that can be accommodated in the train to the designated railway station in sanitised buses following social distancing norms and other precautions.

The myriad of options available means that users can choose their video calling platform according to their needs.

On Thursday, the expert committee set up by the state said 105 persons infected by the virus had died, but just 33 of these died due to the virus.

Social media use surges; average time spent on platforms like Facebook and Instagram up by over 60%.

Smartphone shipments set to decline 5-10% Y-o-Y in 2020; feature phones by 35-40%

The Indian Express will host its second online Express Adda with Dr Guleria, also internationally renowned pulmonologist, on Monday, May 4.

A state-wise comparison shows that the states with the highest cases like Delhi, Maharashtra and Gujarat still seem to be doubling every 10 days.

Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has constituted a high-level committee to probe into the gas leak and announced an ex-gratia of Rs 1 crore to each of the families of the nine who lost their lives.

While Maharashtra appears to be adequately equipped to handle the crisis, the report makes it clear the problem is that while the capacity is evenly spread across the state, the infection is mostly centred in Mumbai.

In an interview to India Today channel, the CEA said: “About $4 trillion of money tracks these (global) bond indices. India is expected to get a weight of around 1.5-3%. Even if you take 1.5%, that translates into $60 billion.”