April 2020

Ex-Flipkart founder Sachin Bansal invests Rs 3,000 crore in Navi Technologies Sachin Bansal has pumped in more money into Navi Technologies, a company he set up to fund ventures in the financial services sector. Bansal along with Navi Founder Ankit Agarwal along with founders of Chaitanya Rural Finance and other investors have invested a total of Rs 3,226 crore into the company, as per regulatory filings sourced from paper.vc. Bansal has invested Rs 253 crore in cash and Rs 2,675 crore in considerations other than cash, as per the filings. Paresh Sukthankar, who was formerly with HDFC Bank has also...

Investor Jim Rogers expects ‘worst bear market in my lifetime’ in coming years As global stocks attempt to recover from their biggest quarterly loss since the global financial crisis, veteran investor Jim Rogers says there’s worse to come. The current rebound in markets may continue for a while following a bout of extreme pessimism, but another rout is imminent, according to the chairman of Rogers Holdings Inc. That’s because of a triple whammy of coronavirus-fulled economic damage, high debt levels and interest rates that are low, which will hurt when they rise. Source: Livemint

Amazon-backed More Retail appoints Vinod Nambiar as MD MUMBAI: Supermarket store operator More Retail Ltd, owned by private equity firm Samara Capital and US e-commerce giant Amazon, has appointed FMCG industry veteran Vinod Nambiar as its managing director, as the company tackles business disruption caused by the covid-19 pandemic. More Retail operates around 645 retail stores across various states in the country. Samara Capital and Amazon had bought the retail chain from Aditya Birla Group in late 2018. Source: Livemint

PM Modi, French President Macron agree to share information on measures to deal with coronavirus COVID-19 crisis New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday (March 31) had a telephonic conversation with France President Emmanuel Macron. Both the leaders discussed the domestic and international aspects of the crisis and underlined the importance of global collaboration and solidarity in the present situation, said a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office.  They agreed that the expert teams of both countries would actively share information on measures to prevent the spread of the virus and research on treatment and vaccines.  Source: Zee News

COVID-19 worst crisis since World War II, says U.N. chief United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned that the world faces the most challenging crisis since World War II, confronting a pandemic threatening people in every country, one that will bring a recession “that probably has no parallel in the recent past.” There is also a risk that the combination of the disease and its economic impact will contribute to “enhanced instability, enhanced unrest, and enhanced conflict,” the U.N. chief said at the launch of a report on the socioeconomic impacts of COVID-19-on Tuesday. Source: The Hindu

Shutdowns, Increased Testing And Vaccine: Bill Gates Reveals 3-Step Plan to Fight Global Covid-19 Crisis New Delhi: With countries, including the US, reeling under the onslaught of the novel coronavirus outbreak, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has outlined three steps that the US government must take to contain the spread of coronavirus. In a column for The Washington Post, Gates said that the country needs a “consistent nationwide approach to shutting down.” He said that despite repeated calls for shutdown by global public health experts, some countries and states have ignored the warnings. “In some states, beaches are still open; in others,...

US has lost opportunity to lift Iran sanctions amid coronavirus: Hassan Rouhani Iran’s president said on Wednesday the United States had missed a historic opportunity to lift sanctions on his country during the coronavirus outbreak, though he said the penalties had not hampered Tehran’s fight against the infection. “It was a great opportunity for Americans to apologise … and to lift the unjust and unfair sanctions on Iran,” Hassan Rouhani said in a televised cabinet meeting. “The sanctions have failed to hamper our efforts to fight against the coronavirus outbreak.” Source: moneycontrol

PM Modi’s yoga video: ‘This is wonderful’, says Ivanka Trump Ivanka Trump, who is a senior advisor to her father and U.S. President Donald Trump, described as “wonderful” the video of a yoga asan tweeted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to encourage people to stay fit during the lockdown imposed in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Prime Minister Modi on Tuesday shared the video and said the yoga asan helped relieve stress. “Whenever I get time, I practice Yoga Nidra once or twice a week. It furthers overall well-being, relaxes the mind, reduces stress and anxiety. Source: The Hindu

Two Indias — one at home doing yoga, other fighting for survival: Sibal Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal on Wednesday took a dig at the government, saying there were two Indias with one at home doing yoga, watching Ramayan and playing antakshari, and the other trying to reach home and fighting for survival. A large number of migrant labourers have been leaving their work places in parts of the country and walking down to their native places, hundreds of kilometres away, due to the lockdown imposed to curb the COVID-19 outbreak. Source: The Hindu

‘It’s special’: PM Modi lauds young India for contributing to PM CARES fund Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been taking to Twitter and expressing gratitude toward those contributing to the PM CARES fund in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. In a touching post, the Prime Minister thanked children who have been coming forward and donating from their little savings. “Have been seeing thoughtful messages of young children contributing to PM-CARES,” PM Modi tweeted out on Tuesday.   He said it is very special to see children making their contribution from their piggy banks. Source: Hindustan Times