1. Demand for Remote Workers Sees an Uptick
Job sites are seeing an increase in work from home (WFH) postings by recruiters, as the COVID-19 crisis has balanced the demand-supply equation.
While candidates’ demand for WFH was always high, many employers were reluctant, creating a low supply of such jobs, according to industry executives.
Amid the ongoing challenges where people are unable to commute to work, India’s largest job search portal, Naukri.com, has seen a doubling of WFH job postings, and jobseekers are increasingly searching for WFH jobs.
(Source: Livemint)
2. Lockdown Effect: Micro ATM Transactions Double to 1.13 Crore Per Day
With the lockdown hampering bank visits and use of ATMs, the Aadhaar-enabled payment system (AEPS) has received a fillip. The finance ministry’s department of financial services (DFS) tweeted on Monday that the average daily AEPS transactions doubled to 1.13 crore in the last 40-days of lockdown. A total of 43 crore transactions worth Rs 16,101 crore were made during the lockdown period, the DFS said in a tweet.
The increasing use of AEPS represents reversal of a declining trend seen in FY20. The development also shows the government’s push for digital technology has enabled people to access banking services even when the pandemic spread its tentacles.
AePS typically allows basic interoperable banking transactions at the point of sale (PoS or MicroATM) through the business correspondent of any bank by using Aadhaar authentication. From the customer point, the things that are required to complete a transaction are the name of the customer’s bank, Aadhaar number and fingerprint captured during enrolment.
(Source: The Financial Express)
3. RBI May Extend Moratorium on Loans By Another 3 Months
With further extension of the nationwide lockdown, the RBI is considering a proposal for extending the moratorium on bank loans by another three months to help people and industry impacted by the ongoing lockdown to contain Covid-19.
Suggestions from various quarters, including from Indian Banks' Association, have come for the further extension of moratorium and the RBI is actively considering them, according to sources.
The government on Saturday extended the lockdown for further two weeks till 17 May with certain relaxations for red, orange and green zones.
(Source: Livemint)
4. India's Fuel Demand Shows Signs of Recovery, Improves in April H2
India's fuel demand is set to recover as authorities eased restrictions from Monday on industrial activity and transport in areas that have contained the spread of coronavirus, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on social media.
State companies' sale of gasoil and gasoline is also showing signs of demand revival. Sales of two fuel gasoil and gasoline in the later part of April recovered from the first half of the month, provisional industry data provided by two sources, who asked not to be named, shows.
"Sales of petrol, diesel and jet fuel have reduced by 70% in April from a year ago," Pradhan said in Hindi.
(Source: Livemint)
5. ITC, Workers' Unions Face-off Over Work, Pay Cuts During COVID-19: Report
Indian consumer goods giant ITC has warned some workers of disciplinary action and pay cuts for missing work during the coronavirus epidemic, leading to a showdown with at least two unions, according to letters from both sides seen by Reuters.
The workforce problems at two ITC food plants - one in Pune in Maharashtra and another in Karnataka - show how labour issues weigh on Indian firms after a nationwide coronavirus lockdown forced thousands of workers to go back to their villages.
ITC is one of India's top consumer goods company, earning $11 billion in annual sales and manufacturing staples such as flour, noodles and biscuits. It is also India's top cigarette maker.
(Source: The Business Standard)
6. Amazon Sees Demand for Electrical Devices, Clothes, Work-From-Home Enablers After Relaxation
Amazon on Monday said the company is seeing demand for various kinds of smart devices and other products like electrical appliances, clothes and work from home enablers in the orange and green zones. The firm started accepting orders for non-essential items from 4 May.
“Thousands of sellers have started receiving orders for the first time since the lockdown began in March and we are hopeful that this will help jumpstart the livelihood of many small sellers and their workforce,” Amazon said in a statement.
The ministry of home affairs (MHA) on Friday issued a notification allowing e-commerce firms to deliver shipments of non-essentials in areas apart from those designated as red zones even as the government extended the countrywide lockdown by two weeks. Online firms will continue to sell only essential items in red zones.
(Source: The Financial Express)
7. No Sign of Bailout From Govt Yet, GoAir Promoters Tell Employees
Wadia group promoters Nusli Wadia and son Jeh said there have been no signs of help from the Centre and banks to bail out the aviation sector. The Wadia group owns low-cost airline GoAir, which has sent 90 per cent of its employees on leave without pay till 4 May.
The group stated this in a letter to the airlines’ employees on May 3. In the past, the Wadias had pledged shares worth Rs 80 crore, held by a group company, to raise debt for GoAir. It has also provided a corporate guarantee of Rs 500 crore for working capital limits raised by the airline.
“We have been in touch with the government requesting for both structural changes and financial assistance but nothing has been forthcoming. Likewise, we have been requesting the banks but they haven’t also reached a conclusion on how to support the airlines,” the Wadias noted in the letter.
(Source: The Business Standard)
8. Spectrum Dues: No Corporate Guarantee, Need Bank Guarantee, DoT to Voda-Idea
The department of telecommunications (DoT) is understood to have turned down the offer of Vodafone Idea to furnish a corporate guarantee instead of a bank guarantee to cover its deferred spectrum installment for the current fiscal. Sources said that DoT is soon going to write to the company to furnish a bank guarantee of around Rs 15,000 crore.
Operators who have bought spectrum in the past auctions paid between 25-33% of the amount upfront and pay the remaining over 16 years as deferred payment installments. Last year, the government extended the tenure of payment by two years by giving a moratorium on such payments for the current fiscal and the next. However, since interest for the period will need to be paid, operators need to furnish bank guarantee of the amount.
(Source: The Financial Express)
9. Google Blocked 2.7 Bn 'Bad Ads' in 2019, Suspended Nearly 1 Mn Advertisers
Google on Monday said it blocked and removed 2.7 billion "bad ads" - more than 5,000 bad ads per minute - in 2019, and suspended nearly one million advertiser accounts for policy violations as part of its efforts to protect users from misleading ads.
The tech giant also noted that there has been a sharp spike in fraudulent ads for in-demand products like face masks amid the COVID-19 pandemic that has claimed lakhs of lives globally.
"Preserving the integrity of the ads on our platforms, as we're doing during the COVID-19 outbreak, is a continuation of the work we do every day to minimise content that violates our policies and stop malicious actors. We have thousands of people working across our teams to make sure we're protecting our users and enabling a safe ecosystem for advertisers and publishers..." Google said in a blogpost.
(Source: The Business Standard)
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