Mangaluru’s Shanthi Prakashana takes part in 36th Sharjah international book fair

Bengaluru, May 18: Indian food delivery startup Swiggy said on Monday it would lay off 1,100 employees, or nearly 14% of its workforce, to cut costs, as a weeks-long nationwide lockdown to curb the coronavirus outbreak hits demand for online food ordering.

The company, backed by South African internet giant Naspers, also said it will scale down adjacent businesses and has already shut several of its cloud kitchens - facilities that only cater to takeaway orders - temporarily or permanently.

“The core food delivery business has been severely impacted and will stay impacted over the short term, but is expected to start growing again after that,” said Sriharsha Majety, co-founder and chief executive at Bengaluru-based Swiggy.

Swiggy, one of India’s best known startups, is among many that are laying off employees and reshaping their business in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has forced 1.3 billion Indians indoors and crippled business.

India is currently under a two-month lockdown, and though several curbs are being eased, public places such as restaurants remain closed, hurting restaurants themselves as well as companies such as Swiggy and main rival Zomato.

Mangaluru, May 6: The Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industry has urged the government to consider erstwhile undivided Dakshina Kannada (now DK & Udupi) as one unit for the purpose of movement of people. KCCI president Isaac Vas has written a letter to Karnataka chief secretary T M Vijay Bhaskar in this regard. 

Mr Vas said: Even though the erstwhile Dakshina Kannada district was bifurcated in 1997 for administration purposes, the two districts are actually an urban agglomeration with most of the population residing in suburbs/towns. Office Staff, technical crew and labour of many industries reside in either district and commute daily for work within an efficient transport system.

The present restriction on Inter-district movement in view of the Lockdown is hindering the kick starting of industries and commerce. Workers are deprived of their livelihood and Industry and business owners are finding it challenging to move forward. To add to this, the migrant labour is moving back to their native places further aggravating the situation. Many Industries and Commercial establishments have requested us to take up this matter with the government, he said.

“Hence, we kindly request you to consider these two districts as one geographical area for the movement of people and private vehicles,” he said adding that this would facilitate movement of people for employment and business in either districts of Dakshina Kannada & Udupi.

He pointed out that Bangalore Rural, Bangalore Urban, Ramanagara, Chikkaballapur and Kolar are considered as a single unit as per your order No. RD158/TNR 2020 dt 03/05/2020 (Clause 2(a)).