Ride-hailing major Uber has extended work-from-home policy for its employees till September 13, as California continues to show a dramatic decline in the number of Covid-19 cases.

Uber is also encouraging employees to get vaccinated when it’s possible to do so, reports TechCrunch.

“In considering the extension, we took into account the latest scientific data and experts’ views; the fact that different countries are at different stages of recovery; and the start of the school year,” Uber Chief People Officer Nikki Krishnamurthy said in an email.

In August, Uber told employees they should expect to work from home through June 2021.

“We’re taking a number of aspects into consideration, such as how being physically together benefits or reduces productivity, collaboration, and engagement,” Krishnamurthy said.

Google has also extended work from home till September 2021 and when the offices reopen, employees may rejoin the workplace for three days a week and work from home on rest of the days.

Google had earlier set January 2021 as a tentative timeline for its workers to return to offices.

In May, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg laid out a detailed remote-working plan to make half of his 50,000-strong workforce work from home by 2030.

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OneWeb, the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite network owned by the UK Government, Bharti Global and other strategic investors, have announced the appointment of Srikanth Balachandran as Chief Financial Officer (CFO).

A press release issued by Bharti Global says that Balachandran has joined from Bharti Global, where he was CFO since October 2018, prior to which he was CFO of Bharti Airtel for seven years.

The release says under his financial stewardship, Airtel engaged in some intense M&A, grew its customer base five-fold to become the world’s No.3 mobile operator in subscriber numbers, and expanded its operations to 18 countries. Balachandran was closely associated with Airtel’s launch and scaling up of the Satellite TV business in India and the expansion of the firm’s global business.

Neil Masterson, CEO of OneWeb, said, “Having had the opportunity to work with Srikanth in his most recent role as CFO of Bharti Global, the team at OneWeb has seen first-hand the wealth of experience and expertise he will bring to his new position at OneWeb. He will assume responsibility for helping us deliver our ambitious business plan, securing additional funding and establishing high standards of governance.”

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India’s largest manufacturer of industrial and medical gases, INOX Air Products (INOXAP) plans to invest Rs 2,000 crore to build 8 new air separation units across the country. This will be India’s largest greenfield investment plan in the industrial gases sector. This follows a manifold increase in demand for medical oxygen because of the Covid-19 pandemic though the company says it is looking ahead at the government’s push for the manufacturing and infrastructure sector.

With a combined capacity to make more than 1500 tonne a day (TPD) of liquid gases, the expansion will take INOXAP’s total liquid gases production to 4800 TPD by 2024. The investment would be funded by a mix of debt and internal cash accruals. “The debt portion is yet to be worked out but it could be 40 per cent of the investment,” Siddharth Jain, director – INOX Air Products, told Business Standard.

INOXAP’s new plants will be strategically located in proximity of high demand growth areas in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal. The plants will produce liquid oxygen, liquid nitrogen and liquid argon and will be commissioned during the course of FY22-24. The bulk availability of industrial and medical gases will ensure constant supplies for the electronic manufacturing, pharmaceutical sector, besides helping iron, steel and automobile industries to ramp up their production capacities. The projects will generate more than 1000 direct and indirect employment opportunities in their respective regions.

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(Reuters) – Facebook Inc’s WhatsApp said on Thursday it will go ahead with its controversial privacy policy update but will allow users to read it at “their own pace” and will also display a banner providing additional information.

The messaging platform laid out fresh terms in January, aimed at increasing business transactions on the platform.

The policy update would allow owner Facebook and its subsidiaries collect user data, including their phone number and location, which sparked a global outcry and a rush of new users to competitors Telegram and Signal, among others.

WhatsApp then moved to delay the new policy launch to May from February and sought to clarify the update was focused on allowing users to message with businesses and would not affect personal conversations, which will continue to have end-to-end encryption.

In its latest blog post, WhatsApp said it will start reminding users to review and accept updates to keep using the messaging platform.

“We’ve also included more information to try and address concerns we’re hearing,” it added.

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The cybercrime wing of the Mumbai Police has saved the lives of two persons, who posted suicidal thoughts on social media, an official said on Wednesday.

The cyber police’s Twitter analysis cell examined a tweet by a Class 12 student, who posted about feeling depressed and suicidal over his studies on February 14, the official said.

A probe revealed that the person was a resident of Amaravati city, and accordingly, the police there were informed about the tweet, he said.

A team was formed to locate the student, who was subsequently tracked down and sent for counselling, he said.

Similarly, the cyber police analysed a Facebook post in which a man wrote about his suicidal thoughts on Tuesday night, the official said.

On analysing the post with technical support, the man was traced to the western suburb of Borivali here, he said.

The cyber police alerted the MHB police station about the man, who was tracked down after an overnight operation, he added.

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By Derek Francis and Nandakumar D

(Reuters) – Jaguar Land Rover said on Wednesday it would cut 2,000 jobs from its global salaried workforce, just days after announcing its luxury Jaguar brand will be entirely electric by 2025 and e-models of its entire lineup will be launched by 2030.

“The full review of the Jaguar Land Rover organisation is already underway,” the company said in an emailed statement.

“We anticipate a net reduction of around 2,000 people from our global salaried workforce in the next financial year,” it said.

However, it added that the organisational review did not impact hourly paid, manufacturing employees.

JLR, owned by India’s Tata Motors, said earlier that its Land Rover brand will launch six fully electric models over the next five years, with the first in 2024.

Known for its iconic, high-performance E-Type model in the 1960s and 1970s, Jaguar faces the same challenges as many other carmakers as it transitions to electric vehicles while trying to retain the feeling and power of a luxury combustion engine model.

Last month, Tata Motors said it was concerned by semiconductor shortages and Brexit-related supply disruptions as its luxury car sales recover, although the Indian automaker added these had not yet hit production.

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VA TECH WABAG Ltd (‘WABAG’), a leading pure play water technology company, announced financial closure for its Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM) project received from Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA).

The project debt requirement will be funded by a consortium of International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Tata Cleantech Capital Limited (TCCL)

WABAG had earlier signed a Rs 575 crore HAM concession agreement under the Namami Gange programme administered by the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) which included the scope of engineering, supply and construction of new sewage treatment plants, renovation and upgradation of existing sewage treatment plants, rehabilitation of pumping stations and other associated infrastructure in Kolkata.

WABAG will execute Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) portion of this project over 24 months followed by O&M of 15 years. Once complete, the project with a cumulative wastewater treatment capacity of 187 MLD will contribute to reducing the discharge of untreated sewage into the Holy Ganga from the state of West Bengal by around 15 per cent.

The EPC portion of the project is to be funded by a mix of NMCG grant, equity and debt. Forty per cent of EPC cost will be funded by NMCG grant during the construction period and balance 60 per cent to be funded by a mix of debt and equity.

Prasanth Prabhakaran, joint MD & CEO, YES Securities, said, “YES Securities is glad to act as an exclusive advisor to Eversource Capital for their investment in this marque project awarded to VA Tech Wabag. This project is one of the largest HAM-based sewage treatment plant under the Namami Gange Scheme. This transaction reiterates YES Securities as the preferred transaction advisor to marquee sustainability focused PE funds and further reinforces its strong capabilities and credentials in the environmental services sector.”

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Australia’s government said on Tuesday it will amend draft laws that would make Google and Facebook pay for news to clarify that publishers would be paid in lump sums rather than per click on news article links.

The legislative changes described in a government statement as clarifications and technical amendments follow Australian ministers’ weekend discussions with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Sundar Pichai, chief executive of Alphabet Inc. and its subsidiary Google.

The conservative government hopes to enact the so-called News Media Bargaining Code before the current session of Parliament ends on Feb. 25.

The amendment to be introduced to Parliament on Wednesday improve the workability of the code while retaining its overall effect, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Communications Minister Paul Fletcher said in a joint statement.

The opposition center-left Labor Party agreed at a meeting of lawmakers on Tuesday to support the bill, guaranteeing its passage through the Senate where the government does not hold a majority of seats.

But the government might have to compromise with further Senate amendments.

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Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday explained the government’s priorities to the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) central board during their first meeting after presentation of the Union Budget 2021-22.

The finance minister addressed the 587th RBI central board meeting and informed the members about key initiatives in the Budget and the priorities of the government, RBI said in a statement.

Complimenting the finance minister on the Budget, the board members made various suggestions for consideration of the government, it added.

“The board in its meeting reviewed the current economic situation, global and domestic challenges and various areas of operations of the Reserve Bank, including ways for strengthening grievance redress mechanism in banks,” it said.

The meeting on Tuesday was chaired by RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das through video conferencing.

The government’s nominee directors on the board — Financial Services Secretary Debasish Panda and Economic Affairs Secretary Tarun Bajaj — also attended the meeting.

Finance minister holds customary meeting with the board members of the RBI and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) after Budget presentation every year.

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Reliance Entertainment has joined hands with filmmaker Ribhu Dasgupta to form Film Hangar, a joint venture company to produce clutter-breaking content.

The first film under this banner is the highly anticipated thriller, “The Girl On The Train”, an adaptation of the bestselling novel with the same name by Paula Hawkins. The film starring Parineeti Chopra is slated to release on Netflix on February 26.

Ribhu’s body of work comprises “Michael” (2011) starring Naseeruddin Shah, the TV series “Yudh” (2014) starring Amitabh Bachchan, “TE3N” (2016) starring Amitabh Bachchan, Vidya Balan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui and, very recently, the web series “Bard Of Blood” (2019), which streams on Netflix.

Speaking about the joint venture, Ribhu said: “I have always believed that content sets the ground for you as a filmmaker, and Reliance Entertainment embodies this philosophy with the stories it tells. Film Hangar will bring films that are rich in content and high on entertainment. We aim to blur the lines between ‘massy’ and ‘classy’ content because filmmaking is an art that defies boundaries, definitions and labels.”

Shibasish Sarkar, Group CEO, Reliance Entertainment, said: “Right from our ‘TE3N’ days, Ribhu has been someone who has brought a unique sensibility to every project and with Film Hangar, we wish to break the clutter with edgy and engaging content. At Reliance Entertainment, we believe that filmmakers who keep us on the edge of the seat should be in the driving seat when it comes to content, and our new joint venture is a testament of this belief.”

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