Category: National

The company, however, said that the sales during March 2020 are not comparable with sales in March 2019 “due to the suspension of operations with effect from March 22, 2020, in line with national policy”.

Amid the nationwide lockdown, market leader Maruti Suzuki on Wednesday posted a 47.4% decline in sales of passenger vehicles in the domestic market to 76,240 units. The company has sold over 1.45 lakh passenger vehicles in March 2019.

The company, however, said that the sales during March 2020 are not comparable with sales in March 2019 “due to the suspension of operations with effect from March 22, 2020, in line with national policy”.

As per the data shared by the company, sales of mini segment vehicles — Alto, S-Presso2, were down 5% to 15,988 units as against 16,826 units in the year-ago month, while sales of compact segment vehicles — WagonR, Swift, Celerio, Ignis, Baleno, Dzire, Tour S, fell nearly 51% to 40,519 units from 82,532 units in March 2019. Sales of mid-size Ciaz was down 49.3% to 1,863 units as against 3,672 units in the year-ago month.

Sales of Utility vehicles — Gypsy, Ertiga, S-Cross, Vitara Brezza, XL6, was also hit during the month, falling 53.4% to 11,904 units as compared to 25,563 units in March 2019, while sales of Vans — Omni, Eeco, was down 63.7% to 5,966 units from 16,438 units in the year-ago month.

The company sold 736 units of its Light Commercial Vehicle Super Carry during the month, down 71.5% from 2,582 units. With this total domestic vehicle sales for Maruti Suzuki stood at 76,976 units during March 2020, as against over 1.47 lakh units in March 2019, a decline of 47.9%.

The exports during the month also fell 55% to 4,712 units as against 10,463 units in March 2019.

For the full financial year (2019-20), the company’s domestic vehicles sales stood at over 14.36 lakh units compared to sales of over 17.53 lakh units in the previous year, a decline of about 18%.

“Maruti Suzuki remains committed to the safety and well-being of its employees, business partners and customers. The Company will continue to support Government at the Centre and State levels and follow all advisories in combating COVID-19,” the company added.

Just three months after capping what was the best year for Indian startups, having raised a record $14.5 billion in 2019, they are beginning to struggle to raise new capital as prominent investors urge them to “prepare for the worst”, cut spending and warn that it could be challenging to secure additional money for the next few months.

Manish Singh | TechCrunch

In an open letter to startup founders in India, ten global and local private equity and venture capitalist firms including Accel, Lightspeed, Sequoia Capital, and Matrix Partners cautioned that the current changes to the macro environment could make it difficult for a startup to close their next fundraising deal.

The firms, which included Kalaari Capital, SAIF Partners, and Nexus Venture Partners — some of the prominent names in India to back early-stage startups — asked founders to be prepared to not see their startups’ jump in the coming rounds and have a 12-18 month runway with what they raise.

“Assumptions from bull market financings or even from a few weeks ago do not apply. Many investors will move away from thinking about ‘growth at all costs’ to ‘reasonable growth with a path to profitability.’ Adjust your business plan and messaging accordingly,” they added.

Signs are beginning to emerge that investors are losing appetite to invest in the current scenario.

Indian startups participated in 79 deals to raise $496 million in March, down from $2.86 billion that they raised across 104 deals in February and $1.24 billion they raised from 93 deals in January this year, research firm Tracxn told TechCrunch. In March last year, Indian startups had raised $2.1 billion across 153 deals, the firm said.

New Delhi ordered a complete nation-wide lockdown for its 1.3 billion people for three weeks earlier this month in a bid to curtail the spread of COVID-19.

The lockdown, as you can imagine, has severely disrupted businesses of many startups, several founders told TechCrunch.

Vivekananda Hallekere, co-founder and chief executive of mobility firm Bounce, said he is prepared for a 90-day slowdown in the business.

Founder of a Bangalore-based startup, which was in advanced stages to raise more than $100 million, said investors have called off the deal for now. He requested anonymity.

Food delivery firm Zomato, which raised $150 million in January, said it would secure an additional $450 million by the end of the month. Two months later, that money is yet to arrive.

Many startups are already beginning to cut salaries of their employees and let go of some people to survive an environment that aforementioned VC firms have described as “uncharted territory.”

Travel and hotel booking service Ixigo said it had cut the pay of its top management team by 60% and rest of the employees by up to 30%. MakeMyTrip, the giant in this category, also cut salaries of its top management team.

Beauty products and cosmetics retailer Nykaa on Tuesday suspended operations and informed its partners that it would not be able to pay their dues on time.

Investors cautioned startup founders to not take a “wait and watch” approach and assume that there will be a delay in their “receivables,” customers would likely ask for price cuts for services, and contracts would not close at the last minute.

“Through the lockdown most businesses could see revenues going down to almost zero and even post that the recovery curve may be a ‘U’ shaped one vs a ‘V’ shaped one,” they said.

(This story has not been edited by Kashmir Today staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

The World Health Organization warns that while attention has shifted to epicenters in Western Europe and North America, COVID-19 epidemics are far from over in Asia and the Pacific.

AP

Urging governments at all levels in the region to stay engaged in efforts to combat the virus, WHO Regional Director for the Western Pacific, Dr. Takeshi Kasai says, “This is going to be a long-term battle and we cannot let down our guard. We need every country to keep responding according to their local situation.”

He said the WHO realizes there is no one-size-fits-all approach but there are common tactics.

Those are: finding, isolating and testing case early, tracing and quarantining contact quickly, and putting in place multiple public health interventions to place physical distance between people to slow and stop transmission. Takeshi also cautioned that countries still need to prepare for large-scale community transmission.

We need to be clear that even with all of these measures, the risk will not go away as long as the pandemic continues. Rather, these measures can buy us valuable time to prepare, he said.

New Delhi: The government has decided not to issue tourist visa to any foreigner who wish to visit India and take part in Tablighi activities, officials said on Tuesday.

The decision was taken after it was found that about 2,100 foreigners have come to India since January 1 and indulged in Tablighi activities in different parts of the country. Many of them have tested coronavirus positive.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has been advised that missions may be requested to refrain from granting tourist visa to such foreigner who is likely to use it for Tablighi activities, a home ministry official said.

The home ministry told the MEA that it should ensure that details regarding place of stay and return ticket as well as financial means to defray expenses in India by such visa applicants must be examined carefully before granting them tourist visas.

In addition, the home ministry told the Delhi Police Commissioner to caution the Tablighi headquarters located in Delhi”s Nizamuddin and ensure that those who are promoting missionary activities on the strength of tourist visa are treated as visa violators. (PTI)

“Will Always Love You”
Salman’s close friends and co-stars also paid tribute to Abdullah Khan on Instagram

Salman Khan, on Monday night, announced the death of his nephew Abdullah Khan, in an Instagram post.

The 54-year-old actor shared a grey scale throwback picture with Abdullah and he wrote: “Will always love you.”

Abdullah Khan, who was frequently spotted with Salman, often did fitness training with the actor. He was reportedly admitted to Mumbai’s Kokilaben Hospital and the cause of death has not been revealed as of now. Besides Salman Khan, Abdullah was remembered by Salman’s close friends Iulia Vantur, Daisy Shah, Zareen Khan and Bina Kak

Cases have surfaced, in several States, of people who attended a religious conference at the area

Saurabh Trivedi

Around 150 people were evacuated by district authorities from the Nizamuddin area in New Delhi to various hospitals after they developed symptoms of COVID-19, a police officer said on Monday. On Sunday 34 persons from the same area had been moved to hospitals.

Delhi Police have cordoned off the area around the Markaz Masjid located around 100 metres from the Nizamuddin dargah. Drones have been deployed in the area to ensure strict implementation of lockdown orders, the police officer said.

Around 8,000 people from across the country as well as Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Saudi Arabia attended a gathering at Alami Markaz Banglewali Masjid, the headquarters of the Tablighi Jamaat in the Nizamuddin area of South Delhi earlier this month. While many returned home, others stayed back at the mosque. The persons evacuated were staying in the Markaz, the police officer said.

Speaking to the media Joint Secretary in the Union Health Ministry Lav Agarwal said, “In all such cases a set protocol is put in place where our team goes in to collect samples, trace contacts and recommend quarantine and basic precautions. The same has been done for this areas.”

Cases of COVID-19 have surfaced in several States in persons linked to the Nizamuddin gathering. On Friday, six persons, who had attended the Delhi meet, tested positive in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

They had returned to Port Blair via Kolkata on Tuesday, said a senior officer. A 65-year-old man, who died of COVID-19 at a hospital in Srinagar on Thursday, had also attended the Nizamuddin congregation and returned to Kashmir by train. In another case, a 52-year-old man tested positive after his return to Guntur in Andhra Pradesh. Entry to the Markaz Masjid has been banned till further orders.

A medical camp has been functional in the area for the last one week, collecting samples from people. A World Health Organisation (WHO) team also visited the Markaz.

“We are coordinating with other authorities to track down people who went back to their towns after attending the congregation,” said the officer.

“As per the recommendations of medical team, more people have been shifted to quarantine or hospitals. We are cooperating with authorities and people have been shifted from Markaz,” said Dr. Mohammad Shoiab, spokesperson of the Markaz.

In a report from the Assistant Commissioner of Police (Lajpat Nagar), a Tableegh Jamat was held at the Tabligh Markaz and it was attended by many people including foreign nationals. The attendees of the Jamat were already in the mosque when the March 24 21-day lockdown was announced and no fresh participants were allowed to enter as the Markaz gates and doors were closed immediately after the lockdown orders. In fact an effort on March 23 to decongest and vacate the Markaz premises had to be stopped midway due to extended lockdown.

The officer added that the report had been sent to MHA. DCP (South East) R.P. Meena, said the police had served notices for holding a religious gathering during the lockdown.

Preachers blacklisted

Union Home Ministry will blacklist around 800 preachers from Indonesia who came on a tourist visa and participated in a three-day religious conference in Delhi this month. India and Indonesia have a liberal visa arrangement and allow tourist visa on arrivals for the citizens.

“They came here on a tourist visa but were participating in religious conferences. This is violation of visa rules. We are going to blacklist around 800 Indonesian preachers so that in future they are not able to enter the country,” said the official.

The official added that the preachers had moved in batches to Telengana, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and conducted group meetings in mosques and elsewhere.

“Around 50% of Covid positive cases in Telengana are linked to the meetings organized by the preachers. Around 350 people from Telangana had also attended the conference in Delhi,” said the official. When asked whether the preachers were not screened at the airport for any COVID symptoms, the official said, “they entered India before the red alert was sounded.”

(With inputs from Vijaita Singh)

Agencies

Contents of letter written by maulana to police have been revealed

The maulana of a markaz in west Nizamuddin in Delhi, from where 24 Covid-19 positive cases have been reported in Delhi alone, wrote to the police on March 25 stating that they had vacated 1,500 people and 1,000 people were still on the premises.

“We still have more than 1000 people of different states in the markaz. As per your direction we contacted respected SDM for vehicle pass so that we can send the remaining people to their respective places. SDM office has given time for meeting at 11 am on 25/3/2020,” the letter said.

“You are therefore requested to kindly approach the SDM for early action. We are ready to compliance all your directions [sic],” it added.

In the March 25 letter, the maulana informed the area station house officer (SHO) that they were trying to shut down the markaz as directed by the SHO on March 24.

In another letter to the police on March 29, they informed that further efforts to vacate the premises of the markaz were stopped midway due to the lockdown announced by the Prime Minister.

On March 28, Assistant Commissioner of Police (Lajpat Nagar) Atul Kumar, wrote to the markaz authorities informing that despite the lockdown, “many persons had gathered at the markaz Nizamuddin” and warned of legal action.

On Monday night, the Delhi government said that it will ask the Delhi Police to register an FIR against the maulana.

“Now it has come to our knowledge that the administrators (of the markaz) violated these conditions and several cases of coronavirus positive patients have been found here. Strong action would be taken against those in charge of this establishment. By this gross act of negligence, many lives have been endangered,” the Delhi government said in a statement on Monday.

Coronavirus update: Among the total coronavirus cases in Delhi — two patients died of the disease — five have been discharged and one has migrated out of the country, the Delhi health department said.

By: HT Correspondent, Hindustan Times

New Delhi

Delhi reported a steep rise in the number of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases on Sunday, adding 23 new infections of SARS-CoV-2 that took the Capital’s tally to 72 from 49 a day earlier, according to data released by the Delhi health department.

Among the new cases, officials were not immediately able to established the source of the infection for six Covid-19 patients — they did not appear to have a known history of foreign travel or direct contact with another confirmed patient.

Experts have raised concerns over possible signs of the Covid-19 outbreak entering the community transmission phase, when the source of an infection can’t be traced. Officials have, however, denied that the outbreak has entered the next stage.

“The reports of these people who tested positive have just come to us and our teams are right now in the field trying to trace their contacts. At the moment, we do not know the source of infection in six cases. Now we have many labs in the city testing people but they do not necessarily collect history,” said an official from the state disease surveillance programme.

Thirteen of the remaining fresh cases were traced to recent foreign travel history, while four others were linked to direct contact with another infected person.

The six people whose infections could not be traced to their source recently came to Delhi from Andaman to attend a religious function. There are nine positive cases in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. “They had come to Nizamuddin Dargah [Delhi]. They only had history of travel from Andaman, no history of foreign travel,” an official said on condition of anonymity.

Among the total cases in Delhi — two patients died of the disease — five have been discharged and one has migrated out of the country, the Delhi health department said.

Some of the other patients who tested positive on Sunday were in Okhla, Kotla Mubarakpur, Gonda, Sangam Vihar, Nizamuddin West, Ghitorni, Shahpur , Vasant Kunj, and Khichripur. The total number of samples sent for testing from Delhi now stands at 2,049 and reports for 1,680 have been received, the department said.

(This story has not been edited by Kashmir Today staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)