March 2020

Every battered stock will not deliver, look for guaranteed survivors: Arora NEW DELHI: Dalal Street veteran Samir Arora says one should look for guaranteed survivors, and not niche players, to sail through the ongoing coronavirus crisis in the market. In an interview with ET NOW, Arora said he does not subscribe to the idea that the ongoing pandemic has brought in a life-time opportunity for investors to buy stocks. “Every crisis is not an opportunity on Day 1 or Week 1 of the crisis,” said Arora, Founder and Fund Manager of Singapore-based Helios Capital. Source: The Economic Times

E-commerce, Grocery Stores Will Operate: Amitabh Kant After Flipkart, Grofers and Big Basket Halt Work New Delhi: Amid concerns over availability of essential supplies and services after Prime Minister Narendra Modi decreed a 21-day nationwide lockdown to slow the spread of coronavirus, NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant on Tuesday said the government has taken all steps to ensure that supply chain of basic need goods is not broken. Speaking to CNN-News18, Kant said the home ministry guidelines on what all essential services will remain operational during the lockdown were absolutely clear in an appeal to people not to panic. “I have...

Remain optimistic about future despite uncertainty due to virus: TCS CEO India’s largest IT services firm Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) on Tuesday said it is actively engaging with customers to overcome the current crisis in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, and that it remains “positive and optimistic about the future” despite the “uncertainty in the next few weeks and months”. In a blogpost, TCS CEO Rajesh Gopinathan highlighted that the company’s priority has been to safeguard the health and well-being of its associates while continuing to support critical IT backbones globally. Source: Business Standard

Walmart India elevates Sameer Aggarwal as CEO Walmart India on Wednesday said it has elevated Sameer Aggarwal as its CEO and the appointment will be effective from April 1. Aggarwal succeeds Krish Iyer who is set to retire on March 31. Iyer, would get into advisory role from full-time management of Walmart India after leading the retail major for eight years. Aggarwal, who was elevated as Deputy CEO earlier in January this year, has now been promoted to Chief Executive Officer of Best Price, Walmart India, effective from April 1, Walmart said in a statement. Aggarwal will directly report to...

Flipkart to Resume Shipping and Deliveries from Later Today, Confirms CEO Flipkart, one of the two largest e-commerce companies in India, has confirmed that normal services on its platform will resume by the end of the day. The e-commerce platform had suspended operations since morning today, March 25, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced yesterday the commencement of a 21-day lockdown period pan India, to curb the community spread of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. After some confusion among authorities that led to services of many e-commerce and delivery-based services to be suspended, Flipkart has officially confirmed that its shipping and deliveries of groceries and essential services will resume...

Ivanka Trump lauds Ritesh Agarwal’s OYO for offering free stays to doctors in US amid COVID-19 crisis Ivanka Trump, the senior advisor to President Donald Trump, has lauded an initiative by Ritesh Agarwal-founded Indian start-up OYO Hotels to offer free stays to doctors, nurses in the US helping in the fight against the novel coronavirus, describing the gesture as “impactful acts of benevolence”. She made her comment as she retweeted a press release by the OYO, which said that the start-up is “opening the doors to its hotels” and offering free stays to doctors, nurses and other medical first responders who...

Amitabh Bachchan Shares Pics of Empty Landmarks of Kolkata, Says Impossible to Imagine the Sight Bollywood veteran Amitabh Bachchan is shocked to see streets and landmarks of his favourite city Kolkata deserted, in the wake of the complete lockdown owing to the coronavirus pandemic. Reacting to photographs of a completely vacated Howrah Bridge, Red Road and other parts of Kolkata shared by a fan on Twitter, Bachchan could not believe his eyes. Retweeting the pictures, he wrote: “This is incredible .. especially for those that have lived and do live in Kolkata .. this is Howrah Bridge, Red Road (?)...

Coronavirus Pandemic Accelerating, Warns WHO Chief, Calls for Plan of Attack Using Football Analogy Geneva: The new coronavirus pandemic is clearly “accelerating”, the World Health Organization warned Monday, but said it was still possible to “change the trajectory” of the outbreak. The remarks came as the number of deaths soared past 15,000, with more than 341,000 people infected worldwide, according to a tally compiled by AFP from official sources. “The pandemic is accelerating,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told journalists in a virtual news briefing. He said it took 67 days from the beginning of the outbreak in China in late...

Manchester United should not even think about signing Harry Kane this summer When it comes to transfer rumors, it’s crucial to abide by the old phrase “believe half of what you see and none of what you hear.” That was certainly my reaction earlier this month when Harry Kane started being linked to Manchester United. Matt Law wrote a piece in the telegraph about how Kane may be considering his future at Tottenham if they didn’t finish in the top four or win any trophies. I was especially skeptical because literally 367 days earlier Law wrote the exact same articlelinking Kane with a move away from White...

IPL 2020: BCCI President Sourav Ganguly provides update on tournament’s future BCCI president Sourav Ganguly on Tuesday said he “doesn’t have an answer” on the fate of this year’s Indian Premier League (IPL) amid a nationwide lockdown to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. The BCCI suspended the IPL, originally scheduled from March 29, to April 15 after government suspended all visas, barring few categories like diplomatic and employment, making it impossible for foreign players to participate. Amid the ongoing complete lockdown, it is becoming increasingly difficult for all the stakeholders to work out an alternate plan. COVID-19 has so far claimed 11 lives...