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Online classes short term answer, need to make schools resilient: Nandan Nilekani

15Jun By Press Trust of IndiaNo Comments

Entrepreneurs Talk

Online classes short term answer, need to make schools resilient: Nandan Nilekani

The rapid shift to teaching and learning activities online prompted by the closure of schools due to the Covid-19 pandemic is only a "short-term response" and we need to fundamentally reimagine schools as a resilient system which can function under continuous turbulence, according to Infosys Chairman Nandan Nilekani. Classroom should not be the only location, teacher the only facilitator and textbook not the only medium, is the roadmap laid by Nilekani for a "resilient" school system while delivering the keynote address at a virtual conference on 'Future of Schools: Overcoming Covid-19 challenge and beyond' organsied by Ashoka University. "The rapid shift to move everything online, zoom classes, teaching through smart phones, all of this is part of a short-term response which was ne...

8Jun By Press Trust of IndiaNo Comments

INDIA

No better time to bet on India than now, says Gautam Adani

NEW DELHI, 8th June 2020: The recent slump in economic growth notwithstanding, India will be one of the world's top consumption centers and a manufacturing and services hub for the next several decades, billionaire Gautam Adani has said, stressing there is no better time to bet on India than now. India's economic growth slipped to 4.2% in 2019-20 fiscal (April 2019 to March 2020) its slowest pace in more than a decade. International rating agencies as well as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) have forecast a contraction in GDP in the financial year that began in April 2020 on account of the coronavirus-induced slowdown. "What we must realize is that there are no absolute right or wrong ideas. What is required during an unprecedented, hard to model, a crisis like COVID-19, is a Governm...

Samsung Launched ‘Hand Wash’ App for Galaxy Watch, Will remind users to wash hands

4Jun By NitishNo Comments

Tech

Samsung Launched ‘Hand Wash’ App for Galaxy Watch, Will remind users to wash hands

In order to help people get into the habit of properly washing their hands, Samsung launched a Hand Wash application for Galaxy watch users. The app is available for download on the Galaxy Store for Gear S3, Gear Sports, Galaxy Watch, Galaxy Watch Active and Galaxy Watch Active 2 users. The World Health Organization has recommended frequent washing of hands among a slew of other measures to halt the spread of Covid-19. Hand wash is considered effective only when it lasts for full 20 seconds, according to healthcare professionals. To make things easy, a small group of designers and developers from Samsung Research Institute-Bangalore, or SRI-B’s UX and wearable teams, worked round-the-clock over the last two weeks to come up with a solution that helps you keep healthy and s...

Livspace Lays off 450 employees due to impact from COVID-19

26May By AdityaNo Comments

News

Livspace Lays off 450 employees due to impact from COVID-19

Bengaluru-based Livspace, which is into home design and renovation, has laid off 450 employees 15 percent of its total workforce due to an adverse impact of the coronavirus-induced lockdown. The decision to lay off was taken last week. Earlier this month, leading co-working operator WeWork India also announced laying off nearly 100 employees. Founded in 2015 by Ramakant Sharma and Anuj Srivastava, Livspace provides a three-sided marketplace and a design automation platform that connects homeowners, certified designers and vendors. Livspace uses data science-enabled algorithms to match homeowners with designers (based on style preferences, budget, scope of work and timelines). "Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, like every business in the discretionary purchase sector, Livspace als...

Foreign Investors pull out USD 26 billion from Asian economies

20May By PriyankaNo Comments

BUSINESS

Foreign Investors pull out USD 26 billion from Asian economies

Amidst global economic recession due to coronavirus, foreign investors have pulled out an estimated USD 26 billion from developing Asian economies. Foreign investors have pulled an estimated USD 26 billion out of developing Asian economies increasing concerns of a major economic recession in Asia, the latest report on global economic effects of COVID-19. In Europe, over 30 million people in Germany, France, the UK, Spain, and Italy have applied for state support, while first quarter 2020 data indicates that the eurozone economy contracted by 3.8 percent, the largest quarterly decline since the series started in 1995, it said. In the US, preliminary data indicated that the GDP fell by 4.8 per cent in the first quarter of 2020, the largest quarterly decline since the fourth quarter...

19May By AdityaNo Comments

INDIA

70% of Indian Startups are going to collapse says Nasscom Survey

70% of Indian startups have a cash runway of less than 3 months, with early stage and mid stage startups the worst affected, a report by Nasscom said. Revenues are squeezed for 90 per cent of over 250 startups surveyed by Nasscom in April this year. Over 250 startups with diverse profiles participated in the survey which included 45% mid-stage startups, 30% mature startups, and 25% early-stage startups. The Indian tech startup ecosystem is the third largest in the world with over 9,300 tech startups, providing direct employment to over 4 lakh people. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has come as a jolt and put the brakes on the flourishing growth story. As per the report, 28% of startups are hit by funding shortage which can affect long term sustainability, 21% startups are...

18May By PriyankaNo Comments

BUSINESS

Thai Airways will file for bankruptcy

Thailand's flag carrier Thai Airways International will file a plan for restructuring its business with the Central Bankruptcy Court, a government spokeswoman said on Monday. Narumon Pinyosinwat said the plan submitted by the State Enterprise Policy Office to salvage the airline will be submitted Tuesday to for Cabinet approval. She said she had no details of the plan. Thai Airways had been suffering financially even before the coronavirus crisis brought travel and tourism in the country to a near standstill. The airline initially sought a 54 billion baht ($1.7 billion) bailout loan from the government. There is speculation that its reorganization under bankruptcy could take the government's ownership share below 50%, effecting a form of privatisation. All rescue options were lik...

Softbank Puts $9 Billion Losses as Vision Fund Investments Plunge

18May By AnkitaNo Comments

BUSINESS

Softbank Puts $9 Billion Losses as Vision Fund Investments Plunge

Japanese tech company SoftBank Group racked up a loss of 961.6 billion yen (USD 9 billion) for the fiscal year through March, on red ink related to its Vision Fund investments including troubled office space-sharing venture WeWork. SoftBank, founded in 1981, said the drop in share prices around the world from the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic had slammed the value of its sprawling investments. Tokyo-based SoftBank had reported a profit of 1.4 trillion yen the previous fiscal year. Its sales for the fiscal year inched up 1 per cent to 6.2 trillion yen (USD 58 billion). It did not immediately break down quarterly results or give a forecast for the fiscal year through March 2021. On top of WeWork's poor performance, the company suffered damage to the value of Uber and other ho...

Swiggy to Lay off 1,100 employees, will give 3 months salary

18May By PriyankaNo Comments

News

Swiggy to Lay off 1,100 employees, will give 3 months salary

Food ordering and delivery platform Swiggy said it is laying off 1,100 employees across grades and functions in cities and the head office over the next few days due to the impact of coronavirus pandemic on its business, including cloud kitchens. In an email to all employees, SwiggyCo-founder & CEO Sriharsha Majety said, "Today is one of the saddest days for Swiggy as we have to go through an unfortunate downsizing exercise."COVID-19 has hit the company with a huge blow of uncertainty, forcing it to look even harder at its cost base and preparedness for the road ahead, he added. Giving the reasons for the laying off of 1,100 employees, Majety shared the management outlook and key business decisions that were reasons for this decision. The core food delivery business has been ...

14May By PriyankaNo Comments

ANALYSIS

How Coronavirus Hit Jobs Globally

Since the pandemic hit, claims for unemployment benefits have soared in some countries notably the US and by far less in others, for example, Japan. According to the UN’s International Labour Organization, as job losses escalate, nearly half of the global workforce at risk of losing livelihoods. As a result of the economic crisis created by the pandemic, almost 1.6 billion informal economy workers (representing the most vulnerable in the labour market), out of a worldwide total of two billion and a global workforce of 3.3 billion, have suffered massive damage to their capacity to earn a living. This is due to lockdown measures and/or because they work in the hardest-hit sectors. The first month of the crisis is estimated to have resulted in a drop of 60 per cent in the income of ...

US government sees record monthly deficit of $737.9 billion

13May By AnkitaNo Comments

USA

US government sees record monthly deficit of $737.9 billion

The federal government piled up a record deficit in April, traditionally a month of big budget surpluses. The sea of red ink is being created by a drop in revenue and a massive increase in spending to fund efforts to deal with the coronavirus pandemic. The Treasury Department said Tuesday that the government racked up a shortfall of $737.9 billion last month. That was more than three times larger than the previous record monthly deficit of $235 billion set in February. The deficit so far for the fiscal year that began Sept. 1 climbed to $1.48 trillion. Treasury normally runs surpluses in April as the government revenues swell because of the annual April filing deadline for tax payments. But this year, among the many measures the government has taken to try to cushion the blow ...

Saudi Arabia triples taxes, Cuts $26B in costs amid pandemic

11May By AnkitaNo Comments

MIDDLE EAST

Saudi Arabia triples taxes, Cuts $26B in costs amid pandemic

Saudi Arabia announced today that it was tripling taxes on basic goods, raising them to 15%, and cutting spending on major projects by around $26 billion as it grapples with blows from the coronavirus pandemic and low oil prices on its economy. Saudi citizens will also lose a bonus cost-of-living allowance that had been in place since 2018, according to the country's finance minister. Despite efforts to diversify the economy, the kingdom continues to rely heavily on oil for revenue. Brent crude now hovers around $30 a barrel, far below the range Saudi Arabia needs to balance its budget. The kingdom has also lost revenue from the suspension of Muslim pilgrimages to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, which were closed to visitors due to the virus. The new measures are the most dr...