End deep discounts, NRAI tells online food aggregators in India

Agencies
August 21, 2019

New Delhi, Aug 21: In a bid to stop "unethical" deep discounting practices of online food aggregators amid nationwide #logout campaign, the National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) on Tuesday told the platforms to realign their offerings to create a restaurant-friendly ecosystem, thus ending freebies and detox the consumers from discount addiction.

In a meeting with the five top players -- Zomato, EazyDiner, Dineout, Magicpin and Nearbuy – in New Delhi, the industry body discussed how technology has a key role to play in driving engagement and discovery for retailers versus deep discounting.

"It was decided that all aggregators will rejig their features to detox the consumers from the addiction of deep discounts that has crippled the industry," the association said in a statement.

The meeting came after thousands of restaurants delisted from online food aggregators' platforms across the country. The Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI) on Monday joined the chorus, calling for a review of the agreement of online food apps with restaurants and threatening nationwide protests.

Anshoo Sharma, Co-Founder and CEO, magicpin, said in a statement that they had a very productive discussion with the key members of NRAI.

"The NRAI members included President Rahul Singh (Beer Cafe), Priyank Sukhija (BoomBox, Lazeez Affaire, Flying Saucer and more), Vikrant Batra (Cafe Delhi Heights) and Nitin Saluja (Chaayos). We agreed on how technology has a key role to play in driving engagement and discovery for retailers versus deep discounting,' said Sharma.

Magicpin said it works at a base margin of 10 per cent and allows partners to top-up anywhere from Rs 2,000 to Rs 20 Lakh as per their marketing needs for the month while delivering guaranteed RoIs to them.

"We are fully supportive of NRAI's cause and are looking forward to working together to create sustainable impact for its members through the use of technology," Sharma added.

Ankit Mehrotra, Founder and CEO, Dineout said that as an industry body, NRAI had to take a stand for all aggregators.

"However, their major issue is around 'deep discounts'. Dineout as a dining out platform has been in existence for the last eight years and has never believed in deep discounting with its restaurant-first approach," Mehrotra told IANS.

"We allow the restaurants to select the discounts that they want based on day of the week and time of the day. This is something that the NRAI recognizes. We had a great meeting with NRAI and we are working with them as a tech platform to enable sustainable growth of the restaurant industry in the long run," he added.

According to the FHRAI, restaurants are willing to do business with online food apps but the current policies need to be reconsidered.

"Restaurants are constantly but subtly threatened to participate in deep discounting schemes without respite through the year with one scheme getting replaced by another.

"Our members are neither given an option nor the opportunity to agree nor are they even consulted. Promises made while launching any new scheme is almost always broken by changing the rules itself," said SK Jaiswal, Vice President of FHRAI.

Zomato did not reply to an email sent on the NRAI meeting. Zomato's Founder Deepinder Goyal had earlier requested restaurant owners to stop the #logout campaign.

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News Network
June 23,2020

Bengaluru, Jun 23: Karnataka Medical Education Minister K Sudhakar's wife and daughter have tested positive for COVID-19, a day after his father was confirmed to have been infected with the virus.

"Test results of our family members have come. Unfortunately, my wife and daughter have tested positive for #Covid19 and are undergoing treatment," the minister tweeted on Tuesday.

He said he and his two sons have tested negative.

Sudhakar's father P N Keshava Reddy tested positive for coronavirus on Monday. He was admitted to the hospital with a cough and fever.

Earlier, the domestic help of the minister had tested coronavirus positive and was admitted to a hospital.

In April, Sudhakar was quarantined along with three other ministers for coming in contact with a journalist who was coronavirus positive.

Karnataka reported 249 new COVID-19 cases and five deaths on Monday taking the total number of cases in the state to 9,399 and the death toll to 142.

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News Network
February 16,2020

Udupi, Feb 16: Nine people were killed after a private bus collided with a large roadside boulder in Udupi district in Karnataka on Saturday, the police said. The accident took place on Saturday evening, at around 5.45 pm, on the Mulnur Ghat at Abbas Kattingeri in Mala village, while the bus was on its way to Mangaluru from Sringeri, reported the news channel.

The bus, which was reportedly carrying around 35 passengers, was trying to manoeuvre a turn while travelling on a ghat road when the driver allegedly lost control of the vehicle. The vehicle hit a massive boulder and the impact caused seven people to die on the spot. Two others passed away while they were on the way to the hospital.

The deceased passengers have been identified as Radha Ravi, Yogendra, Preetham Gowda, Basavaraju, Angana, Sharul and Ranjitha. The cleaner of the bus was also killed in the accident.

According to reports, the passengers in the bus were mostly in their early 20s and were employees of Vital Records Private Limited near JCK Industrial Park. Century Vital Records is a data security company which works in the Hebbal Industrial Mysuru. The group was visiting Udupi, Hornadu and Kudremukh.

While some of the injured persons were rushed to Manipal hospital, others were taken to the Karkala city government hospital, police said.

The police have said that rash and negligent driving by the driver is likely to have caused the accident. A case has been registered at the Karkala Rural Police Station, the police said.

Last month, three persons were killed and four others were injured after a fatal collision between a van and a bus near Bengaluru. Both the vehicles caught fire after the impact, but while passengers of the bus, travelling from Bengaluru to Shivamogga, managed to escape, the three passengers who were trapped in the van could not escape and were charred to death.

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News Network
January 12,2020

Kochi, Jan 12: Golden Kayaloram, the fourth and last Maradu residential apartment was razed by controlled implosion in Kochi on Sunday afternoon as per the directions of the Supreme Court.

The building came crashing down, leaving the entire area in a cover of white smoke.

Earlier today, Jain Coral Cove, the apartment having the maximum number of housing units among the illegally built buildings, was razed down at 11:02 am.

The authorities coordinated the operations from a control room set up at the office of the Inland Waterways Authority of India.

As per municipal records, there were 122 housing units in Jain Coral Cove and 41 in Golden Kayaloram.

The prohibitory orders that were clamped in the area will remain imposed for the day. The district administration on Saturday imposed Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).

On Saturday, the 19-floor H2O Holy Faith apartment complex with 90 flats and the Alfa Serene complex with twin towers were demolished at 11 am and 11:05 am respectively.

The buildings are razed for violating the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) rules. The directions in this regard were passed by the Supreme Court last year. 

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