BOCI and Karnataka State Bus Owners Federation Seek Help from Government Due to Financial Crisis

 

Bus & Car Operators Confederation of India - (BOCI) & Karnataka State Bus Owners Federation Bangalore representing district association of bus owners operating buses from various district of Karnataka and neighboring states urged the Karnataka government to provide immediate relief to the public transport sector which is on a  stand still due to COVID 19 lockdown. The public transport sector has requested waiver of taxes, deferment of tax payments, extension of vehicle insurance validity, increase in price/fare on tickets, extending the loan moratorium and subsidies on diesel and tax reduction on spare parts for a stipulated period which would help reduce the vehicle running cost to save the sector from collapsing.

The Current fleet of vehicles under the Private Passenger Services is approximately 4lakh in Karnataka. The extended lockdown has hit the sector hard with many operators in dire straits and on brink of closure.  When compared to other countries, in India public transport sector does not receive financial support, instead it has severe burden of taxation including GST on tickets and purchase of vehicle tires and spares, GST and CESS on fuel and lubricants and toll tax.

Considering social distancing norms and only half the seats being used, paying tax for all seats per quarter in advance has affected the transport operators badly.  Due to non-operation of vehicles for more than four months, it has impacted the public transport sector severely. The layoff has also caused tremendous inconvenience to commuters, the salaried middle-class and unprecedented hardship for migrant daily wage laborers in India who depend entirely on public transport for their commute. The sector has made several representations to the authorities in the transport department, Ministries of state and to the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Karnataka to draw their attention to multitudes of issues faced by the sector and have urged urgent action to alleviate their pain.

The key asks of the sector to various authorities in the Government of Karnataka are:

Waiver on Motor Vehicle Tax for six months

Extension of Vehicle Insurance

Increase in price in tickets

Waiver on Toll tax for public transport vehicles

Reduction in State tax & CESS on Diesel for public transport sector vehicles for next six months

Portal access to interact with RTO for payment of fees, documentation etc. avoid person to person contact and reduce virus spread

Insurance coverage to drivers and transport workers plying during pandemic to ferry passengers, essential goods

Allow utilization of ESI / EPF funds to pay staff salaries

Viability Gap Funding for Public Transport

Deferment of EMI payments for next 6 to 12 months

Addressing this concern, Mr. Rajavarma Ballal, All India Sectorial Vice President of Stage Carriage Service Sector, Bus & Car Operators Confederation of India (BOCI) said, “Transport sector is one of the major sectors contributing to the economy of the state and the nation. Government must provide necessary support to revive the sector in these critical times by providing tax exemption and extension of loan repayment tenure amongst other provisions. Though Banks have extended the moratorium for few months, but they should extend the mortarium by waiving interest to existing loans because more than 80% of the vehicles are usually financed and many are availing the moratorium. The Central Government has also provided COVID loan facilities for MSMEs. But as per the provision the loan facilities can be availed only by the owners of the travel companies. This loan facility must be extended to the individual owners who are using their personal vehicles for transport.  Also, the economic relief announced by the government to the public sector transportation must be extended.”

Mr. Prasanna Patwardhan, President, Bus & Car Operators Confederation of India (BOCI) said, India moves on public transport, as more than 90% of our people use it for their daily mobility needs. We have over 17 lakh operational buses on Indian roads, out of which, about 1.50 lakh buses are operated by various STU’s. The remaining 15.5lakh buses, accounting for almost 30 Crore passenger trips, are run by private operators which are the member of various Associations & Federations affiliated to Bus & Car Operators Confederation of India (BOCI). Being a labor-intensive sector, we request the government to support and save the sector from a total collapse. The fiscal relief sought will help the sector see through these tumultuous times.”

BOCI has also addressed these issues in a letter to the Honorable Prime Minister requesting for a job security of 1 crore people who have not been paid during the lockdown and requested government to take responsibility to pay salaries for 3 months. Rescheduling of all EMIs and Banks should be instructed to reschedule loans by giving at least six months moratorium period to all customers and to waived off the interest for the moratorium period. Banks and NBFCs should be advised to provide top-up working capital at low interest rates to resume business.

SABIC Extends Humanitarian Support to Indian Communities and Frontline Workers in the Fight Against COVID-19

SABIC, a global leader in diversified chemicals has come forward to support people, communities and frontline workers through its CSR efforts across Vadodara, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai and Bengaluru. These include monetary donations to central and state Governments, distribution of relief material to people and protective kits to the frontline workers.

The company, as part of the monetary aid, has donated INR 1 Crore towards the Prime Minister’s Care Fund. In addition to this, SABIC is continually extending support to the migrant and daily-wage workers across Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu region. SABIC is providing dry rations to help them navigate through these difficult times and to support 30, 000+ families.

SABIC is also undertaking the effort to support India’s frontline and essential services workers such as police and sanitation workers and more. The company will be doing so by donating protective equipment such as masks, gloves, visors and personal protection kits. 

Janardhanan Ramanujalu, Vice President & Regional Head, SABIC South Asia & ANZ said, “COVID-19 pandemic is a global health crisis and its sweeping impact continues in India. Our products are being used in producing personal protection wear and medical equipment such as COVID-19 test kits and ventilators, crucial for saving lives. SABIC team’s response in managing production and ensuring logistics during the lockdown, facilitated much of these equipment in India and around the world. We also fully understand our responsibilities towards supporting the communities we operate in. Therefore, through our CSR initiatives we are supporting those who have been affected by the pandemic.”

SABIC also launched an employee donation and corporate matching campaign. Employees across its India locations donated generously towards relief for COVID-19 and effectively doubled the amount collected with the company matched portion.

In close collaboration with its customers, SABIC is also leveraging its expertise by working with them to manufacture critical material that enables domestic production of COVID-19 test kits, gloves, ventilators, goggles, PPEs, sanitizers and high-grade bottles that can store disinfectants for a longer duration.

C-CAMP, Applied Materials India Assist Biotech Start-Ups to Increase Availability of Indigenous Medical Supplies

C-CAMP and Applied Materials India Private Limited (Applied Materials India) announced financial and technical support to two biotech start-ups in order to fast-track near-to-market technologies in the battle against COVID-19.

The two start-ups, Coeo Labs and Biomoneta, incubated under the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms (C-CAMP), an initiative of the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), and were chosen by C-CAMP’s COVID-19 Innovations Deployment Accelerator (C-CIDA) launched on 25th March 2020 to identify and help accelerate near deployment-ready solutions that have the potential to fight the pandemic.

C-CIDA received more than 1100 innovation submissions and after a rigorous assessment, selected 31 innovations that have high potential to help battle against COVID-19 as C-CIDA Stars for Impact. With this, C-CIDA has built a diverse portfolio of innovations ranging from diagnostics and novel therapeutic approaches to air and surface sanitization and many more categories.

Of the 31 innovations identified as “C-CIDA Stars for Impact”, Applied Materials India selected two start-ups working in the following high-priority areas:

Assisted Respiratory Technologies: Coeo Labs, for its non-invasive Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) product, Saans ProAir Sanitization Technologies: Biomoneta, for its air decontamination product, ZeBox

 

The Applied Science & Technology Research Accelerator (ASTRA) provided an avenue for multiple start-ups incubated by C-CAMP to explore potential collaborations and/or investments with Applied Materials India. In continuation of these efforts and to help battle the COVID-19 crisis, Applied Materials India will provide technical expertise and financial assistance to C-CIDA, Coeo Labs and Biomoneta.

Speaking on the funding, Srinivas Satya, Country President and Managing Director, Applied Materials India said, “It is heartening to see the passion start-ups bring to our nation’s battle against COVID-19.  Many of these entrepreneurs have brilliant solutions and need help bringing the technology to scale.  As a company with deep technical expertise and a long history of supporting our communities, we believe we must do all we can to accelerate the development of innovations that can strengthen the country’s response to COVID-19. In a time when infrastructure is a challenge and access to medical relief is limited, we are pleased to collaborate with indigenous start-ups that can help pave the way to a healthier future in India.”

Speaking on the collaboration, Dr. Taslimarif Saiyed, CEO and Director, C-CAMP said, “We are delighted to get this support from Applied Materials India for our C-CIDA, where our mission is to bring near deployment-ready innovations to the field. C-CIDA has had a significant impact across India and this support further fosters our efforts. We look forward to working closely with Applied Materials India to deliver impactful innovations together.”

C-CAMP is one of the flagship incubators set up under the DBT and a member of the Bangalore Life Sciences Cluster (BLiSC), with a mandate to enable cutting-edge life sciences research and innovation and promote life sciences entrepreneurship. In 2019, C-CAMP forged a close collaboration with Applied Materials India to help accelerate time-to-market of promising biotech start-ups in India. Applied Materials India has also been engaging with the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council, a program under the DBT, across various levels since 2019.

To find out more about these companies in India who are part of new wave of health tech start-ups aiming to create innovative solutions that are also affordable, please visit the Coeo Labs website for Saans Pro and the Biomoneta website for ZeBox.

500+ BPO jobs to move from Australia to India: Vodafone

Vodafone Hutchison has announced that it will be offshoring 450 call center jobs from Australia to Tasmania and India. A spokesman for Vodafone Hutchison Australia said that company would transfer an unspecified number of positions to a call centre in Mumbai and about 100 jobs to Kingston, Tasmania.

Service Stream, the company that was running Vodafone contract confirmed the telecom operator's plans to end the contract employing 450 in customer service and support roles starting in October to February. Michael Doery, Managing Director of Service Stream says that the company would try to find new roles for the affected employees, but was unlikely to accommodate them. "We're trying to do the right thing for our staff but not give them false expectations. Call centre people are unlikely to suit the other sort of work we do, which is technically-based or based on outdoor civil activities. If a company we're providing services to makes a decision to in-source call centre jobs to Tasmania and India, that's not our decision," Doery said.

The decision to transfer call center jobs out of Australia comes three months after Vodafone Australia and Hutchison 3G Australia formed a 50:50 joint venture. Speaking on the current development Nigel Dews, Australia Chief of Vodafone Hutchison said, "The opportunity to use our combined scale to enhance our customer service capabilities is an important outcome for the Vodafone Hutchison Australia merger."

Agencies

Nortel opens new center in Bangalore

Nortel has opened a new Global Network Operations Center (GNOC) in Bangalore, India, to help remotely manage and support communications networks for enterprise and carrier customers across Asia, Europe and the Americas.

The Bangalore GNOC provides round-the-clock network surveillance and performance monitoring for voice and data networks. This enables Nortel enterprise and carrier customers to focus their resources on their core business, instead of dedicating costly IT resources to maintain and manage their communications networks. This, in turn, helps these companies lower operational costs, maximize network efficiency and performance, and keep abreast with new, evolving technologies.

The GNOC monitors customer network to identify network problems before they can impact business functions or productivity, and seeks to resolve issues either remotely from the GNOC or by dispatching technicians to the customer's site. This is Nortel's fifth Network Operations Center.

Nortel's other NOCs are located in North America, Europe, China and India (Gurgaon). The latter supports the managed services requirements of Bharti Airtel and other local customers.

Agencies

Will the Obama's policy on US firm to pull back jobs have effect on India?

Sallie Mae, a US-based company which gives loans to students, Monday announced to move back as many as 2,000 overseas jobs, including those from India, even if it means an additional financial burden on the company because of higher labour expenses.

"It's the right thing to do," said Sallie Mae Chief Executive Albert Lord at a press conference which was attended by Democrat Congressman Paul Kanjorski and Senator Robert Casey in an apparent reference to the large scale job losses in the US in the last one year.

The value of a company's franchise is essentially measured in financial terms, but there are a lot of values in a company that relate to the long-term value of a franchise. It's a wise investment in the company's future, Lord said.

"The current economic environment has caused our communities to struggle with job losses. They need jobs, and we will put 2,000 of them into US facilities as soon as we possibly can," he added.

In the next 18 months, some 2,000 overseas jobs would be moved back to the US. These jobs are primarily in India, Mexico and the Philippines and are basically call centres, information technology and operations support positions.

The move would cost the company $350,000 per annum as the workers in the US would have to be paid a much higher wage than those in countries such as India.

Sallie Mae is the largest US-based student loan provider. It employs more than 8,000 people in the US. For quite some time, it has been struggling during the credit crunch to finance loans to students.

In the fourth quarter the company had reported a net loss of $216 million, in which it made $4.8 billion in student loans. Through its subsidiaries, the company manages $180 billion in education loans and serves 10 million student and parent customers.

Agencies

Will Infosys-Telstra deal cause job losses in India?

Bangalore-based software giant Infosys will pick up most of IBM Global Services’ multi-million dollar applications support contract with Australian software giant Telstra, after the latter’s deal with the former was scrapped following telco reducing its outsourcing partners from four to two.

According to The Australian, the decision to shift from IBM to Infosys could result in hundreds of job losses locally and in Bangalore, where IBM operates outsourcing centres.

IBM GS staff was told the scratching of the vendor’s software support would represent about 50 per cent of its one billion dollar, six-year deal with Telstra, signed in early 2006.

Telstra’s decision to drop IBM was a big surprise to IBM GS staff, who expected the contract to continue until 2012.

The deal was lost not because of performance issues but because Infosys low-balled the IBM offer, sources said.

Telstra has been reviewing its IT outsourcing contracts with Satyam, EDS, IBM GS and Infosys since last year, when the telco announced it would trim its list of major IT suppliers from four to two in an effort to reduce costs and streamline its providers.

Earlier, Telstra had ended one of its information technology outsourcing contracts with International Business Machines Corp (IBM). It has now roped in Infosys Technologies for the same.

IBM Global Services' multimillion dollar applications support contract with Telstra has been scrapped as a result of the telco reducing its outsourcing partners from four to two, as per an Australian media report.

The decision to shift from IBM to Infosys could result in hundreds of job losses locally and in Bangalore, where IBM operates outsourcing centres, the report said.

The Australian reported that IBM staff were told the scrapping of the vendor's software support would represent about 50% of its $1 billion, six-year deal with Telstra, signed in early 2006.

Less than a week ago, Telstra terminated its IT outsourcing contract with fraud-hit Satyam Computer Services. Telstra is the second major Australian company to do so after The National Australia Bank decided in February to suspend future work with the Indian outsourcer since the disgraced Indian outsourcer's accounting scandal came to light.

The IBM India spokesperson could not be reached for comment while the Infosys communication person said, "We are in our silent period and will not be able to comment on the issue."

Agencies