NEWSROOM
Here’s your scoop of attention-grabbing headlines from around the Indian startup ecosystem.
THERE IS SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE
COVID-19 Impact: Companies urge govt to extend current financial year to June; relaxation in CSR spends
Sources said companies requested for a relaxation in Section 2 (41) of the Companies Act, which deals with financial year.
Lessons from China: What India can do to flatten the Covid-19 curve despite limited state capacity
India may not be able to replicate exactly what China achieved, but there are definitely steps that can be adapted.
Amid concerns that startups could be left out of COVID-19 bailout, investors step up lobbying
The massive bailout package that the U.S. government passed last week to stave off an economic collapse from measures put in place to mitigate the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic is giving out billions to American small businesses. But startups that received venture capital money could be left out.
Startups, corporates, and government must collaborate for coronavirus testing: Dr Velumani A, Thyrocare
Dr Velumani A, the Founder of Mumbai-based diagnostics company Thyrocare, in conversation with YourStory, talks about the key challenges India is facing when it comes to testing for coronavirus and how we can collectively work to overcome them.
NASSCOM CoE Incubated Startups Develop Solutions to Combat COVID-19
DronaMaps from CoE Gurugram has developed a Live Dashboard to track COVID19 patients &their activities; working with Haryana and Punjab Governments
Govt Turns To IITs For Tech Solutions To Combat Coronavirus
IIT will have to submit a tech-enabled solution within two days
Coronavirus pandemic | Indian VCs set up Rs 100 crore fund to support startups
The fund comprises marquee investors like Sequoia Capital, Accel, Matrix Partners and Kalaari Capital.
COVID-19 Innovation Challenge Launches Today for Student Innovators by T-Hub in Partnership with Q City and Emerging Technologies of Telangana Government
The COVID-19 Innovation program has been designed for students who are budding entrepreneurs who can come up with innovative and feasible solutions to combat the deadly virus.
T-Hub launches Covid-19 Innovation Challenge in partnership with Q City and Telangana government
As a part of this program, the most innovative projects/ideas will be shortlisted for advanced mentoring.
Indian healthcare companies see big boost with govt move on telemedicine
Practo said it had received requests from a large number of hospitals and clinics to make the online consultation services live for them, and that it was also reaching out to a lot of establishments so that they could continue providing consultations to their patients online.
World Coronavirus Dispatch: Iran sees Covid-19 scare lasting 1-2 years
From a prisoners’ riot in Thailand to Iran’s fears and China’s comfort – here’s a digest of international reports on Covid-19 to bring you up to speed with what’s happening around the world
DPIIT, Startup India seek innovative solutions from startups to fight COVID-19 crisis
The department for promotion of industry and internal trade and Startup India have launched a competition for budding entrepreneurs and companies to come out with innovative solutions to fight against COVID-19 crisis.
Jack Ma Foundation And Alibaba Foundation Donate To Seven More Countries In Asia To Fight COVID-19
The Jack Ma Foundation and the Alibaba Foundation today announced donations of essential medical supplies to seven more countries, namely Azerbaijan, Bhutan, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.
Telangana creates app to monitor Covid19 outbreak in the state
The IT department made a demo of the app to health department officials and other top brass of the government
Covid-19 offers lessons for climate crisis: Nature group
The coronavirus crisis is not a solution to climate change, but there are many parallels between the two crises which governments can learn from, said the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Singapore.
Coronavirus: 5000 entries received for MHRD's Fight Corona IDEAthon, winner to get 7 lakh prize money
The government of India has organised a 2-day online initiative to fight coronavirus related problems in India.
Coronavirus: KTR wants IT firms, industries to use CSR funds for pandemic fight
Telangana minister KT Rama Rao said IT firms and industries should use CSR funds for Covid-19 prevention activities, and asked officials to coordinate with companies in this regard.
Matrix Partners India Shares Survival Lessons From China For India’s Startups
The VC firm explains three possible scenarios that India’s startup ecosystem can expect
Modi Plans $20 Bn Coronavirus Relief Fund For Impacted Citizens, Businesses: Report
The INR 2.3 Tn ($20 Bn) stimulus package may be announced by the end of the week
Telangana Police to begin online monitoringof air passengers through TSCOP
22,000 international air passengers who had landed at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport from March 1 will be located and monitored
Start-ups step up to tackle nationwide lockdown amidst coronavirus outbreak
A group of start-up founders numbering over 200 from India have come together to develop solutions to battle the spread of the Covid-19 infection.
Covid-driven tax reliefs to cost government 2-3% of GDP
Experts say that Covid-driven tax relief may cost government 2 to 3 per cent of the GDP.
Shutdown India will follow Lockdown India, MSME’s across the country
All India Manufacturers Organisation, (AIMO) an Apex trade body focused on the interests of the MSME sector endorsed that the Lockdown announced due to the Corona Virus was absolutely essential.
TS Lockdown: Travel passes to IT, pharma employees
Critical support staff for IT includes employees who work on data-specific projects for healthcare, banking, insurance clients or workers working in highly secure work premises or employees who are termed as support staff that work in the security, facilities and housekeeping wings of the company
#StartupsVsCovid19: An Initiative To Help Indian Startups Navigate The Coronavirus Impact
There’s no playbook for businesses to tackle the economic fallout from the quarantine
Healthtech Startups Seek Larger Role As Coronavirus Grips Indian Healthcare
Government is looking to take help from healthtech startups to ramp up coronavirus diagnosis
Flipkart suspends services, Amazon to deliver only essential orders
Flipkart’s app and the website now carries a message conveying the same to customers, but has not specified when services will resume.
Facebook, Microsoft, TikTok partner with WHO for coronavirus hackathon
The goal is to build tech solutions for challenges related to the COVID-19 outbreak.
First set of economic steps: FM Nirmala Sitharaman allays insolvency fears, eases compliance burden
An estimate is the Centre could net Rs 1 lakh crore (post-devolution to states) via the scheme, which could have reduced the estimated net tax revenue shortfall of Rs 2.15 lakh crore in the current fiscal.
[Funding alert] Waste management startup Blue Planet raises $25M from Nomura
This strategic engagement is a reflection of the growth of impact investing and opportunities in sustainable waste management in Asia
Oyo in talks with Delhi govt to offer quarantine rooms
The Delhi government had last week asked hotels in Aero City, near the city’s international airport, to manage and accommodate incoming travellers who were asymptomatic of Covid-19 but required to be isolated as a precautionary measure.
Introduction of community transmission of Covid-19 likely in India: ICMR study
‘In a closed setting of similar nature as that on the cruise ship ‘Diamond Princess,’ one in 450 infected individuals to die,’ reveals ICMR mathematical modelling study
COVID-19: WHO expects India to take aggressive action
“India is a hugely populous country. The future of this pandemic to a great extent will be determined to what happens to densely populated countries.”
‘9Unicorns’ Helps Startups Build Sustainable Business Models Within 13 weeks
Under such uncertain circumstances, most startups based out of India have been driving themselves into a deep pandemonium. However, with VC firms like ‘Venture Catalysts’, there’s some respite…
Indian govt asks banks to provide liquidity support to corporates
Banks have been asked to make available an additional 10% in funds over and above sanctioned working capital loans, but not exceeding 2 billion rupees per loan account as part of the emergency measures, a senior government official, who did not want to be named, said. India’s largest lender, State Bank of India, has already rolled out this emergency credit line.
Coronavirus crisis may fast-forward IT’s work-from-home adoption
Nearly half of India’s technology workers – estimated at 3 million – have already begun to work from home as social distancing becomes key to contain the spread of the outbreak. If employees continue to work from home for a few more months, IT companies are likely to conclude that 20-30% of their workforce can operate remotely, said Sridhar Mitta, founder of NextWealth Entrepreneurs.
Coronavirus: No layoffs, no salary cuts, Modi government’s advisory to companies
However, the Narendra Modi government is yet to announce any fiscal or monetary stimulus, in the wake of the COVID-19 or novel coronavirus crisis.
Univariety Gets Fresh Funding From Info Edge To Scale Up Higher Education Services
It offers 75K courses at up to 14K universities across ten countries
We At NASSCOM Are Building An Innovation Ecosystem For AI & IoT Startups In India: Sanjeev Malhotra
ccording to Sanjeev Malhotra, CEO of NASSCOM- CoE For IoT & AI, he is currently building an innovation ecosystem for IoT & AI startups in India, working with large enterprises, SMEs, government and VCs.
Telangana announces lock-down till March 31
It directed all the public and private entities to pay full salaries for contract and other employees that they employed for the entire duration of the lockdown period. The Secretariat staff would work in turns, in smaller chunks.
India to become electronic manufacturing hub, Cabinet approves scheme
According to the Electronic Industries Association of India (ELCINA), the electronic components market in India has increased from Rs 68,342 crore in 2015-16 to Rs 1,31,832 crore in 2018-19
A look at Indian government response to coronavirus, so far, shows some quick reactions but not enough foresight
The spread of coronavirus in India as of March 19. India has tested some 14,175 people from 13,285 individuals as of March 19, a very small number compared to the possible threat of contagion in a country of 1.3 billion people.
Vivriti Capital Bags $50 Mn From LGT Lightstone To Facilitate Startup Investments
The registered NBFC invests in startups and helps them raise funds
Facebook To Help Small Businesses Hit By Coronavirus With $100 Mln Programme
The social networking company said the grants will be for up to 30,000 small businesses in over 30 countries that it operates in.
PM Modi’s Standup India scheme: Loans to micro entrepreneurs increase 60% in two years
Credit and Finance for MSMEs: The stand-up India scheme facilitates loans from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 1 crore to at least one SC/ST borrower and at least one woman borrower per bank branch of scheduled commercial banks for setting up their businesses
Google appoints Karan Bajwa to lead India Cloud business
Google Cloud’s field sales, partner and customer engineering organisations in India will also report to Bajwa.
Coronavirus And Startups: Contingency And Business Continuity Plans Come Into Focus
With stock markets crashing, startups need to have a contingency plan to deal with coronavirus
MS Dhoni bets on SME-focussed fintech Khatabook
Kyte Tehcnologies Inc., which operates the small- and medium-enterprise-focussed financial technology firm Khatabook, has raised funding from former India cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
