#StartupsVsCovid19: Ecommerce Gets Boost Even As Lockdown Extended On Day 21

While many Indians may already be tired of the lockdown, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement has officially confirmed the extension of the lockdown till May 3 to keep the Covid-19 situation under control.

With this Delhi Police Commissioner SN Shrivastava, in internal communication, clarified that the travel passes for delivery and essential services personnel will also remain valid up to May 3 and would need no separate reviewing.  Meanwhile, Odisha has allowed all ecommerce platforms to resume their operations for both essential and non-essential deliveries, in the second phase of the lockdown.

Even retail chains like BigBazaar, Reliance Fresh and Spencer’s Retail have been allowed to start doorstep deliveries in the state. Odisha has also allowed all logistics players like DTDC and BlueDart to start their operations again.

Healthtech Targets Testing, Home Care

Credihealth and Healthian have launched new services to allow their users to find healthcare solutions. Credihealth has launched a comprehensive care platform to provide screening tests, epharmacy, diagnostics, critical care assistance, home care aid and equipment delivery at doorstep. Besides this, the platform will also focus on mental wellness and counselling sessions as well.

Healthians, on the other hand, has launched a special healthcare helpline for Delhi NCR and Mumbai for those who are seeking guidance for Covid-19 testing.  Besides this, the company also started doorstep sample collection last week, which costs INR 4,500.

Meanwhile, Medikabazaar and myUpchar have brought in B2B solutions for healthcare institutions and service providers. Medikabazaar has launched a Covid-19 Combat Collaborative Platform to connect medical supplies buyers, sellers and experts. Users can procure medical supplies ranging from thermometers to ventilators through the platform.

Whereas, myUpchar has started delivering hospital supplies like personal protective equipment (PPE) to medical staff in every town and village of India. For this, the platform has partnered with licensed manufacturers.

Remote Technology In Demand

The IT Ministry is looking for 10 startups to develop indigenous video conferencing solutions under the Digital India initiative. The Indian government would grant a sum of INR 5 Lakh to the startups to develop a prototype. Once approved, the IT Ministry would also grant an additional INR 20 Lakh to develop the product. The winning product will be deployed across state and central government departments for four years.

Meanwhile, a global hackathon called Hack The Crisis for Covid-19 received 15K applications and 2,500 team submissions from India alone. Out of these, 300 teams were shortlisted for mentoring support from professionals in Europe and India. The top 30 finalist teams got a direct entry to represent India at the Global Hackathon which ended on April 12, 2020. The solutions presented ranged from crisis response, mental health, health and wellness to governance. In the end, only 30 solutions were named winners, out of the 78 finalists.

The hackathon is being headed by Payal Rajpal, Gayatri Chhabria and Ritu Chhabria with support of the IT Ministry, Minister of State for Human Resource Development and Make in India.

As both public and private players are looking to incorporate more solutions in the fight against coronavirus, tech giant Google has incorporated a new feature called Nearby Spot in its digital payments app Google Pay in India. Now, users will be able to find daily essential stores that are open. Besides this, the platform has also started listing out details of the food and night shelters set up by the government across the country.

Meanwhile, logistics startup Routematic has started offering a range of essential services to its customers. The Bengaluru-based transportations company will now not only pick up and drop essential services employees, but will also help in moving laptop, desktops, along with ecommerce grocery delivery support.

Donations & Funds For The Needy

Zomato’s CEO and cofounder Deepinder Goyal, on April 14, took to Twitter to announce that the Zomato Gold Support fund has raised INR 1.5 Cr from over 14,500 contributors. The fund will be used to help restaurant owners listed on Zomato. Goyal also highlighted that over 300 restaurants have already written to Zomato and the team is working closely with them to make quick and seamless disbursals.

Meanwhile, GiveIndia has launched an “India COVID Response Fund”, which has raised an initial amount of INR 75 Cr to support verified non-profits, who are helping in tackling Covid-19. GiveIndia is looking to identify the most critical areas of interventions and scale relief efforts across India.

The Embassy Group, which owns the WeWork franchise rights in India, has announced that it has distributed over 2.50 Lakh meals to daily wagers and migrant families across several locations in Bengaluru. The company also added that it is also supporting government schools and their students in and around Bengaluru.

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