All posts by Aishwarya Malewar

I believe that carefully written or spoken words can change the world. I am currently interning with Eduindexnews.
Business and Management

ITC SPELLS TROUBLE FOR M&M

A US regulator ruled that India’s Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd infringed Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV’s (FCA) Jeep brand’s intellectual property rights, barring the selling of the vehicles involved.

The International Trade Commission, in a decision released late Thursday, issued a limited exclusion order prohibiting sale or import of the infringing vehicles and parts, as well as a cease and desist order to Mahindra and its North American unit. According to the the ITC, Mahindra’s Roxor off-road utility vehicle violated the “trade dress” of FCA’s Jeep Wrangler SUV.

Trade dress consists of the unique features that distinguish a product and is generally accepted by the public as having been identified with that product. FCA, for example, sees the boxy body form of the Jeep Wrangler, front grille and round headlights as distinct from the model. The order is automatically effective but the U.S. Trade Representative has 60 days for policy reasons to potentially disapprove. The ITC, which originally began its investigation in September 2018, has since last November been evaluating the original decision of an administrative law judge. The outbreak of coronavirus postponed ITC announcement.

Mahindra said in a statement on Friday that the vehicle subject to the ITC action is no longer in production and the 2020 design was refreshed.

“The company and Mahindra Automotive North America … remain resolute in its position that the Roxor does not dilute or violate Jeep’s trade dress,” Mahindra said, adding it was weighing options with respect to an appeal during the review period or in federal appeals court.

FCA said in a statement it was pleased with the decision and that the Italian-American automaker reserved further comment while it studied the ruling.

The Roxor is assembled in Auburn Hills, north of Detroit. Mahindra on Friday reported a quarterly loss and was pushing to cut costs during the outbreak.

Mahindra & Mahindra began it’s journey in 1945, with them getting into the steel business first, and then over time, expanded to 22 key industries. As need for change was felt in the agricultural practices

M &M entered into that sector right before the agriculture revolution began in India. We became one of the key torch-bearers of the IT revolution in our country.They focus mostly lies in developing alternate energy sources because they have propagated a lot towards energy-conservation believe energy conservation will play a huge role in ensuring a better future – for not just our country and communities, but the entire world.

One of the more important sector that they are involved in is Agriculture.They are known to empower farmers with the most relevant technology and agricultural know-how, and link them to the market, so as to maximize their returns and to ensure they get better returns. Their agricultural inputs, advisory services, and output procurement businesses all aim to deliver continued Farm Prosperity, while their Farm-to-Fork model ensures stringent quality checks throughout the supply chain.They have also been known to partake in many charities as well as is considered to be one of the few multi-national companies in the world to have actively taken steps towards prevention of environmental degradation.

Source: https://in.reuters.com/article/fiat-chrysler-mahindra-complaint/u-s-regulator-sides-with-fca-in-jeep-trade-case-against-mahindra-idINKBN23J2E8

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Business and Management

luxury food industry amasses heavy losses due to the virus

Global demand for luxury foods such as wagyu beef, bluefin tuna and caviar has plummeted into decline in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, with thousands of restaurants shuttered.

The luxury food industry may be among the hardest affected because it depends heavily on restaurants and top hotels for ordering deluxe goods from caviar to champagne, because tight shutdown efforts to curb the epidemic ravage global economic activity. While some gourmet food manufacturers are specifically targeting customers to remain alive, some have been compelled to slash production since some goods have lost nearly half their value since the beginning of the year.

Jean-Marie Barillere, co-chairman of champagne producers’ lobby CIVC in France, said he hoped people would celebrate the easing of lockdown with a bottle of champagne, but expected a difficult end to the year. “This is really a period that looks like a war time,” he said.

Bookings data compiled by OpenTable, an online restaurant reservation service, showed this year a decline of nearly 80 percent year-on-year in seated restaurants in the United States, UK , Germany, Canada , Australia, Ireland and Mexico. Restaurants is among the world’s hardest-hit industries

“People will not want to taste a Chateau Petrus wine, a lobster or caviar under a bell jar,” said Michel Berthommier, managing director of Caviar Perlita in southwestern France. “If you force people to eat in these conditions they will prefer going to fast foods.”

Premium foods was “one of the worst hit sectors worldwide”, said Ole Houe, director of advisory services at agriculture brokerage IKON Commodities in Sydney. He said he did not expect a prompt recovery given many countries were in recession. Falling demand has already taken a toll on the prices of luxury items.

In Tokyo, the price of top-quality wagyu beef cuts fell around 30% from a year ago, bluefin tuna – deemed the best in Japan – fell more than 40% during that period, while Shizuoka’s popular ‘Earl’s melons’ prices dropped 30%. Russia’s largest breeding sturgeon business-Russian Caviar Shop-meanwhile gave Beluga hybrid caviar a 30 per cent discount.

“Spring and summer are always low seasons for the caviar market, but if we compare this period with previous years, the sales in Russia are down 50%,” said the firm’s owner Alexander Novikov.

In France, caviar prices languished near historic lows, champagne sales tumbled, while foie gras producers have had to cut output to prop up prices. Cifog, a foie gras producers’ group, said restaurants account for 40% of total foie gras sales. “Mid-March it felt like the sky had fallen on us,” said Florian Boucherie, who produces 2 tonnes of foie gras per year in France.

To plug the yawning gap left by eateries, many high-end food producers are attempting to reach consumers directly via e-commerce platforms. Others are steering more produce onto supermarket shelves. “We are accelerating our supply of products into some of the world’s largest supermarkets, gourmet butchers and direct to consumers online,” said Hugh Killen, chief executive of Australia’s largest listed beef producer, Australian Agricultural Company.

In Japan, top sushi chefs pay 400,000 yen ($3,737.97) for 10kg of the best cuts of tuna compared to the 25,000 yen paid by supermarkets for 10kg of lower value cuts, said Yukitaka Yamaguchi, owner of Yamayuki tuna brokerage at Toyosu Market in Tokyo. He said “the best part of (the) tuna” was usually sold first to high-end sushi restaurants but when these closed the “harakami had nowhere to go.” They eventually started offering high-quality tuna to fish retailers and supermarkets. For now, Yamaguchi has had to park plans to retire as he has accumulated debt during the pandemic. “I had planned to retire when I turn 60, but that’s no longer possible,” he said.

Source:https://in.reuters.com/article/health-corononavirus-food-premium/luxury-food-industry-turns-sour-amid-global-coronavirus-lockdowns-idINKBN23J0SR

Business and Management

Spike in household savings expected due to covid-19

Due to forced slowdown in COVID-related consumption household savings are expected to spike in Q1’20-21. This will come in handy to finance the economy’s recovery, an RBI research paper said as it is the Indian economy’s most reliable and self-reliant source of capital.

In this time of layoffs and the economy is absolute turmoil, this research comes as a beacon of hope.In India, as compared t other countries saving has been considered very important, especially by middle-class families.Due to our mindset and traditional values saving has always been preferred over spending . In fact consumerism came very late to India in comparison with other countries that achieved independence from colonial powers around the same time that we did.A lot can be attributed to the fact that the standard of living in our country had been stagnant for a very long period of time.

Only in the last decade or two, the standard of living of masses have some how increased, this can be mainly attributed to increase in the country’s overall literacy rate, for both men as well as women and also rapid infrastructural development that we have witnessed since the turn of the century.One of the many policies of this government that played a major role in this would be the 1990 Economic Policies, this particular policy has drastically changed the prevalent economic structure of the country.One of the important implementations of the policy was the opening up of the country’s economy and integrating ourselves with the world economy.This created a healthy competition in the economy which motivated Indian firms to increase the quality of their product to be at par international standards

A spike in households’ net financial assets is likely due to a sharp drop in lockdown-induced consumption in the first quarter of 2020–21. According to the paper written by Anupam Prakash, Anand Prakash Ekka, Kunal Priyadarshi, Chaitali Bhowmick and Ishu Thakur of the RBI Department of Economic and Policy Research, several studies show that households tend to save more during a slowdown and income uncertainty.

After the nationwide lock-down to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, economists forecast an ever worse contraction of the Indian economy during FY’21. The paper also warns that lags in the pickup of economic activity may cause households’ financial surplus in subsequent quarters to taper off. With construction activity at a standstill, households are likely to move from physical assets such as residential property to financial assets such as deposits, currency, and mutual funds, and are more useful in financing businesses and the growth of the economy. At Rs 15.6 lakh crore, India’s net financial savings rose to 7.7 per cent in FY’20 as of March 2020 from 7.2 per cent in FY’19.

For the Indian economy, the report notes, the household sector is the most sustainable and self-reliant source of finance. In the light of the policy initiative gathering critical mass to lift the Indian economy from the vice-like grip of a recession and, more recently, the life-threatening COVID-19 pandemic, it said, its position is likely to become crucial.

The Indian households hold financial assets or financial savings in currency, bank deposits, debt securities, mutual funds, insurance , pension funds and small savings. Currency and bank deposits accounted for 66 per cent of overall financial assets, led by pension companies and mutual funds contributing 30.2 per cent respectively. Such in-turns are strong sources of company financing.

Source:https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/finance/covid-related-consumption-crunch-may-spike-q1-household-savings/articleshow/76322161.cms

Public Administration, Science and Technology

Amazon to stop use of it’s facial recognition software by cops

In a major policy shift for the company, Amazon is placing a one-year moratorium on use of it’s facial recognition software by the police . For years the company has been a fierce defender of the controversial software.

The company would suspend the use of this program for law enforcement to allow policymakers some room to establish system for regulation  that has been sparking controversy for years and shining an uncomfortable spotlight on Amazon’s cloud computing department. This step was taken in the wake of police violence and racism riots, after an cop killed George Floyd, an unarmed black man. In research, facial recognition technology has been found to often have trouble recognizing individuals with darker skin, recalling previous policy overreaching that infringed civil liberties for advocacy groups.

Amazon Web Services, the cloud computing group of the company, released Rekognition in 2016, a software service designed to identify objects in images and videos, including the ability to match a face with images in a database without taking the time to compare images manually.

Recognition isn’t the only software of this sort. Rivals from Amazon like Microsoft Corp., and Google have similar capabilities. But Amazon ‘s software became the focus of an intense debate about the potential for powerful, new software to undermine human rights after the American Civil Liberties Union called out the risks of misidentifying people with such software. The group highlighted the relationships between Amazon and a sheriff’s office in Oregon and Orlando City, two commitments that Amazon had made in marketing materials.

“We’ve advocated that governments should put in place stronger regulations to govern the ethical use of facial recognition technology, and in recent days, Congress appears ready to take on this challenge,” the company said. “We hope this one-year moratorium might give Congress enough time to implement appropriate rules, and we stand ready to help if requested.”said,Nina Lindsey, an Amazon spokeswoman.

The House and Senate Democrats included a provision in a sweeping police-reform bill introduced Monday that would block real-time facial recognition analysis of federal police body camera footage. Amazon said other organizations will continue to use the software, including those using facial recognition to fight human trafficking. Rekognition runs on Amazon servers, and is delivered as an internet service to customers, making it theoretically relatively easy for Amazon to suspend access for police users. How many law enforcement departments did use Rekognition remains unknown.In an interview for a PBS Frontline investigation that aired earlier this year, AWS chief Andy Jassy said he didn’t know the total number of police departments using Rekognition.

“It’s sort of the first, real, meaningful concession we’ve seen from Amazon allowing that use of facial recognition by police might not be good for communities” harmed by biased policing, said Shankar Narayan, who expressed concerns about Rekognition to Amazon officials while at the ACLU of Washington, which he left earlier this year. “The move shows that Amazon is vulnerable to public pressure and optics,” said Narayan, a co-founder MIRA, an organization working to give civil society groups a greater say in how new technologies are used.

Amazon, who has long been reluctant to bow to external pressure on public policy issues, claimed those studies did not accurately reflect its software capabilities. The corporation has said there have been no documented incidents of Rekognition’s harassment by law enforcement, but the ability by Amazon to monitor the use of the app is restricted by the security of AWS and regulations against consumer data analysis.

Following a January 2019 study by two AI researchers, pressure on Amazon stepped up , showing the software made more mistakes when used on people with darker skin, especially women. Amazon argued with the paper’s conclusions and methodology, authored by Inioluwa Deborah Raji and Joy Buolamwini, leading some of the top AI scientists, including Yoshua Bengio, the Turing Award winner, to criticize both Amazon’s sale of the product to police and its treatment of Raji and Buolamwini. The ACLU tested the software separately on Congress members and found it falsely matched 28 of them with mugshots, selecting minority lawmakers disproportionately.

“We believe it is the wrong approach to impose a ban on promising new technologies because they might be used by bad actors for nefarious purposes in the future,” Matt Wood, an executive in Amazon’s machine learning group, said in a 2018 blog post. “The world would be a very different place if we had restricted people from buying computers because it was possible to use that computer to do harm.”

Source:https://tech.hindustantimes.com/tech/news/amazon-to-pause-use-of-facial-recognition-software-by-cops-71591848562092.html

Science and Technology

Johnson & Johnson to start human trails for covid-19 vaccine in july

Johnson & Johnson has decided to move up it’s clinical trials by two months, from September to July, says the company as the pharmaceutical giant , like many others expects to be the first, in the race of creating ‘the’ vaccine,i.e COVID -19 vaccine.

The speeding up of the process will allow J&J to participate in the U.S. government’s proposed major clinical trials project which targets to provide an successful vaccine by the end of the year. In March, J&J signed agreements with the U.S. government to build adequate production resources to manufacture more than 1 billion doses of its vaccine by 2021, even before it has confirmation that the vaccine will be effective.

There are currently no recognized medications or vaccines approved for the virus in the USA. A vaccination is seen as necessary to end the pandemic that has affected more than 7.2 million people and killed more than 412,000 people across the globe and has also had an adverse affect on the several economies around the world .

“Based on the strength of the pre-clinical data we have seen so far and interactions with the regulatory authorities, we have been able to further accelerate the clinical development,”Chief Scientific Officer Paul Stoffels of J&J said in a statement on Wednesday.

The trails by J&J will test the vaccine for safe operation and early signs of effectiveness in 1,045 healthy volunteers aged 18 to 55, and in those aged 65 and older. The trial will take place in the United States and Belgium.

The firm is also in discussions with the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) to begin bigger, late-stage studies before time, based on early research outcomes and regulatory clearance.

The United States plans to study a number of participants for the coronavirus vaccine in studies that would involve up to 30,000 people and get a potency result as soon as possible.  Health Chief of National Institutes Dr Francis Collins said.

Stoffels said last week that J&J hopes to have results of its vaccine efficacy trials in the first quarter of 2021. He added that the company is “working hard to bring it back to the end of the year.” A lot will depend on how much virus is circulating at that time, he said.

The company plans to test the vaccine in high-transmission regions within the United States. If the incidence is low, “we will complement that with international sites to make sure that we reach enough endpoints quickly to prove the vaccine works,” Stoffels said.

Moderna Inc, which is working in close partnership with NIAID, has started testing its vaccine candidate in a 600-subject mid-stage trial. The company expects to begin late-stage trials in July.

Moderna’s vaccine uses messenger RNA technology, an approach that has yet to produce any approved vaccines. J&J is utilizing the same technology used to make its Ebola vaccine, which won European regulatory approval late last month.

The trick with developing a vaccine is that it has to be widely tested and developed in a format that is effective on everyone and thus, can be mass-produced , so that the vaccine is profitable for the company manufacturing it too.

There are about 10 coronavirus vaccines in human testing. Experts have said a safe and effective vaccine could take at least 12 to 18 months from the start of development, which would shave several years off the typical vaccine development timeline.

Source:https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-johnson-johnson/jj-to-begin-human-trials-of-covid-19-vaccine-in-second-half-of-july-idUSKBN23H24F?utm_campaign=fullarticle&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=inshorts

Business and Management

3 months given to unlisted bond issuers in debt funds to list by sebi

India’s Securities and Exchange Board (Sebi) has issued unlisted non-convertible debentures (NCDs), where mutual funds are mostly the investors, a three-month one-time window for listing has been allocated to such schemes.

A letter was sent to asset management companies late Tuesday, acoording to SEBI, stating that , starting June 15, a window would be made available to issuers who have outstanding unlisted NCDs as of March 31 without having to comply to the requirement and the guidelines on the electronic bidding platform. Mutual funds are however required to keep issuers informed of this window.

According to a copy of the letter with LiveMint , the letter stated “This is another step towards ensuring that debt mutual fund schemes hold only 10% in unlisted debt. Mutual funds have time till end of December to comply with the norms. The existing unlisted remains grandfathered. The listing would entail higher compliance and disclosures.”

The schemes had to meet the investment limits for non-listed non-convertible debentures (NCDs) at 15 percent and 10 percent of the debt portfolio by 31 March and 30 June respectively. These dates were subsequently extended to 30 September and 31 December respectively due to COVID-19 related disruptions. This additional move is to have liquidity for certain papers that are not listed. Exchanges require for the listing of fresh NCDs and not current unlisted ones, said asset management company’s CEO.

“In addition, it permitted mutual funds to grandfather the existing investments in unlisted debt instruments till maturity of such instruments, so as to not disrupt the market,” said Sebi.

According to Sebi communication, if issuers of non-listed NCDs take advantage of the opportunity of one-time listing and submit their application for listing but unduly delay in getting their NCDs listed, they would be required to pay additional 1 percent coupon to investors. On Wednesday the Asset Management Companies (AMCs) were advised by the Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) that they would take full advantage of the opportunity and act immediately.

“There are about 121 companies which haven’t listed their debs. Franklin Templeton is the largest owner of unlisted debts among mutual fund houses. We will request all of invester companies to list their debts,” said the CEO of a large fund house, anonymously.

MF industry holds about 41,500 crore of non-listed NCDs in all schemes, excluding liquid schemes as of March 31. The six debt schemes that are under the winding-up process hold a large chunk of these unlisted debts. Many of these NCDs are issued and used to be considered liquid investments by marquee issuers. Those have been illiquid in the new covid-19 scenario due to market uncertainty, raising problems for the mutual funds.

“Further, some of the same issuers’ listed NCDs issued after 1 October trade regularly, but the unlisted NCD of the same issuer with the same rating and potentially a shorter maturity has become completely liquid. This has been adversely impacting the performance of various mutual fund schemes investing in debt instruments,” said an AMFI member.

“While Sebi has facilitated listing of unlisted NCDs many marquee issuers such as Tata Sons are unwilling to list their bonds. Perhaps they would make up the 10% of the unlisted debt still allowed,” said an official of a fund house.

Source:https://www.livemint.com/news/india/sebi-gives-3-months-to-unlisted-bond-issuers-in-debt-funds-to-list-11591790405023.html

Business and Management, Science and Technology

world’s largest vaccine manufacturer invests usd 100 million to develop potential Covid-19 vaccine

According to a company official of , the world’s largest producer of vaccines, the Serum Institute of India , is planning to invest USD 100 million on a potential vaccine for COVID-19,  being developed at Oxford University. The organization established in Pune, has collaborated with AstraZeneca, a British bio-pharmaceutical corporation mammoth, to ensure a stable supply to India and other low- and middle-income countries of the AZD1222 vaccines.

“Our manufacturing facility is ready and we plan to start production in two months. We are spending more than USD 100 million for this facility. Till the trials are completed successfully for safety and efficacy, vaccines will not be distributed either in India or anywhere else in the world,” Adar Poonawalla, Chief Executive Officer, Serum Institute of India (SII), said.

With high hopes the company is planning to mass produce up to a million units, and is planning to stockpile the same at personal risk. According to the company when it comes to determine how many units India is likely to get in the first phase, they commented that it might be too early too comment. “However, if the vaccine trials succeed, India will gain access to the doses as it will also be the requirement of the Government of India. And we are certain that everybody will respect if the substantial volumes go to India,” he added.

According to their website, Serum Institute of India was founded in 1966 by Dr. Cyrus Poonawalla with the aim of manufacturing life-saving immuno-biologicals, which were in shortage in the country and imported at high prices. Thereafter, several life-saving biologicals were manufactured at prices affordable, and now is the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer by number of doses produced and sold globally (more than 1.5 billion doses) which includes Polio vaccine as well as Diphtheria, Tetanus, Pertussis, Hib, BCG, r-Hepatitis B, Measles, Mumps and Rubella vaccines. It is estimated that about 65% of the children in the world receive at least one vaccine manufactured by Serum Institute. Vaccines manufactured by the Serum Institute are accredited by the World Health Organization, Geneva and are being used in around 170 countries across the globe in their national immunization programs, saving millions of lives throughout the world.

Serum Institute of India is ranked as India’s No. 1 biotechnology company, manufacturing highly specialized life saving biologicals like vaccines using cutting edge genetic and cell based technologies, antisera and other medical specialties.

Serum Institute of India also has plans and is working on developing a vaccine with USA based firm Codagenix, Poonawalla recently said that at present, the firm is undergoing pre-clinical trials (animal trial phase) and hope to progress to the human trial phase by September/October.

“The aim is to make the vaccine over the next 1.5-2 years to help combat the novel corona-virus. With the combined efforts of our partner Codagenix, we are optimistic that we will be able to provide a viable and effective vaccine for mass use,” Adar Poonawalla, Chief Executive Officer, Serum Institute of India (SII), said.

SII along with Oxford and Codagenix is also working with an Austria-based firm, Themis and two other promising candidates to develop an effective and affordable vaccine for COVID-19.At least half a dozen attempts to build a coronavirus vaccine are underway worldwide but the ones in Oxford are considered one of the most assuring and promising ones.   A vaccine will be a much needed intervention that can bring the loss of lives caused by the infections, to a complete halt.

Source:https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/healthcare/biotech/pharmaceuticals/serum-institute-investing-usd-100-million-on-potential-covid-19-vaccine/articleshow/76288408

Law and Order

mexico alcohol poisoning claims 10 more lives

As mentioned in The Indian Express, dated 9 Jun due to the Corona-virus pandemic, sale of adulterated alcohol has increased exponentially and has claimed hundreds of lives in Mexico.

The government of state of Guerrero issued a statement saying “the latest 18 deaths occurred in and around the mountain township of Tlapa de Comonfort, after inhabitants drank a tequila-type drink from little-known brands. called “Rancho Escondido.” Another 16 people were hospitalized for poisoning symptoms; four remain in serious condition. This area is known for its poverty-ridden farming villages.

The Guerrero Health Department said the liquor was labeled as “distilled agave,” the cactus-like plant from which both tequila and mescal are made. Because tequila production is strictly limited to certain regions, drinks made outside those areas are sometimes labelled “agave liquor.”

The department said at least three brands were implicated in the poisonings: “Rancho Escondido,” “Jalón” and “100 Años. The victims were admitted to hospitals in such serious condition that they rapidly died. Authorities seized 505 bottles of the liquor from four stores in the area.

Due to the pandemic, the sale of legitimate alcohol had been banned across several towns in the country, resulting in people turning to cheaply-made alcohol. Many having also had lost their job and were unable to afford name brands anymore.

According to the authorities as many as 40 people have died in two states alone , during the month of May after drinking Methanol, which is a poisonous cousin of the ethanol alcohol , which is used in normal liquors. It can’t be smelled or tasted in drinks, and causes organ and brain damage, and its symptoms include chest pain, nausea, hyperventilation, blindness and even coma.

This is one of the more serious examples of how a disaster brings out the worst in some people, where they are willing to endanger the lives of those who are desperate, just to profit off of them.

Business and Management

Swiggy to shut down it’s independently working food delivery service-scootsy.

Bangalore-based food-tech unicorn, Swiggy plans to close its on-demand online food delivery service Scootsy, a Mumbai-based startup which it acquired in 2018, for an estimated value of Rs. 50 Crore, to expand its operations in the online food delivery segment.

Scootsy,  was permitted to function as an independent app, serving food from a curated list of brands (such as Masque, Nara Thai, Royal China, Trattoria),gourmet food stores, and  bakeries after the takeover in Mumbai.

Swiggy is one of the many big Indian brands that have been adversely affected by the Corona-virus pandemic.Food delivery business in India saw a 70% drop in food order volume, with just 25% of listed restaurants operational.

In the past month, Swiggy has concentrated on luxury ‘curated’ consumer food delivery and has been linking itself to premier hotel groups like ITC Hotels, Marriott, Hyatt, KA Hospitality and such similar brands—to raise its average order volume and size on its website as it aims to benefit further from high-ticket size orders.

Thus the major food startup is planning to fully merge Mumbai-based Scootsy, an already premier food delivery brand , on its own platform and will redirect Scootsy’s customers to the Swiggy app. With this it will also undertake the transitioning of Scootsy’s partners and delivery fleet onto the Swiggy platform.

“Swiggy has seen a increase in demand over the past few months for customized food choices from premium brands. In order to extend our reach to all discerning consumers across Mumbai, we will be transferring the services provided by Scootsy to Swiggy ‘s platforms in the near future. This will be the first big step in setting up the premium category for Swiggy,” said a Swiggy representative.

Recently, gourmet restaurants have slowly begun to tap food distribution services such as Swiggy to ensure continuity of business as the industry expects  changes in consumer behavior toward eateries.

Source: https://www.livemint.com/companies

Research Paper

IIT-HYDERABAD DEVELOPS CHEAPER COVID-19 TESTING KITS


Researchers at Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad have developed a first of its kind testing kits for COVID-19 , which can deliver results in under 20 minutes.

“We have developed a Covid-19 testing kit which can deliver results in 20 minutes for symptomatic and asymptomatic patients. The uniqueness of this test kit is that it functions sans the Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR),” Shiv Govind Singh, the professor at IIT-Hyderabad’s Electrical Engineering Department said.

The test kit has been developed at a cost of Rs. 550 , but can be reduced to a cost of upto Rs. 350, if mass produced, they said.

According to researchers, these test kits do not employ the Reverse Transcript Polymerase Chain Reaction, which is the one that is currently being used to detect COVID-19 . Instead provides for an alternative testing method .

While a patent has been filed , the team is conducting test trails for the same at ESIC Medical College & Hospital in Hyderbad. They have also sought for an approval from the Indian Counsil for Medical Research (ICMR) .

“The low cost testing kits are easy to carry around and tests can be done at point of care. The testing methods used is an alternate to the currently employed method.We identified a unique sequence of conserved regions of COVID-19 genome,” said Mr. Singh , who lead the three-member team.

The researchers have also claimed that the ones they have developed were “probe-free” as opposed to the “probe-based” method employed by testing kits currently being used.

Before IIT-Hyderabd, IIT-Delhi became the first academic institute to have obtained the approval of ICMR for a real-time PCRP-based diagnostic assay.

Recent estimates have shown that India has now become the fifth-worst COVID-19 hit country, as it has surpassed Spain by reporting a total of 2,41,970 cases through out the country.