CRISIL Downgrades India's Economic Growth from 3.5% to 1.8% for FY20-21

Domestic rating agency CRISIL has revised its projections for India’s GDP forecast to 1.8 per cent from 3.5 per cent it had earlier predicted for FY20-21. Pre-COVID-19 prediction by the agency was 6 per cent which was later revised to 3.5 per cent in March.

The agency predicts total losses of over Rs 10 lakh crore due to the nationwide lockdown to control the spread of the Corona Virus.


The agency has criticized the economic packages announced so far by the Indian government and said that there is a dire need of government support to boost the economy.

India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra), another rating agency, has also lowered India's economic growth forecast for FY 2020–21 to 1.9 per cent. This will be the lowest increase in the last 29 years.

In March, the Central Government has released a package of Rs 1.70 lakh crore to support the poor people affected by Covid-19. This package is being criticized for the fact that this money is already being given by the government to the poor and it is not a new measure. On the other hand, the Reserve Bank of India has also taken some steps. It has reduced the interest rates and also taken measures to increase liquidity.

India has been under lockdown since March 25 and now running in phase 2 which will end on May 3. The slow growth rate is on the expected lines amid nationwide lockdown for over 40 days. However, according to the agency, it would be only China and India who may survive the recession post Covid-19.
The government has responded with a Rs 1.70 lakh crore package, which was criticised for not being entirely new money, while the RBI has taken a slew of measures by cutting rates and also upping the liquidity supply.

"Lockdowns are showing a disastrous impact on the economy and could lead to a permanent loss of GDP, unemployment and poverty, despite relief packages," -warned CRISIL

Furthermore, CRISIL is concerned about the fact that the policymakers are still in a dilemma, whether to extend the lockdown beyond May 3 or not. The threat of infection is still there and even if the lockdown has opened partially, will the people follow the social distancing norms? CRISIL added that if the norms are followed strictly, and the infection remains under control, there shall be reverses on the economic activity. 

IT Company Employees Can Work From Home till July 31, Terms and Conditions for VPN Relaxed

Amid Covid-19 pandemic, the Department of Telecommunication (DoT) has relaxed norms for facilitating work from home (WFH) for IT firms till July 31, 2020.

Earlier, Union IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said that work from home will become the norm and had relaxed the norms till April 30, 2020.


Prior to lockdown, the companies were not allowed to connect the office VPN to a home infrastructure. After the lockdown exemptions were given to the companies and it was allowed till April 30. This has now been extended till July 31.

As part of the exemptions, the companies do not have to pay a security deposit and doesn’t require agreement for WFH facility for IT and IT-enabled services. Besides, it will be the discretion of the company to allow employees to work from home or ask them to return to the office when needed.
Union IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad tweeted, “In response to IT Industry’s request to facilitate WFH for OSPs, @DoT_India had relaxed terms & conditions for VPN till 30.4.20. After discussions with IT Ministers, this relaxation in terms and conditions is extended till 31.7.20.”

He further clarified in another tweet
“Wish to clarify that it is not an extension of #WFH. In response to IT Industry’s request to facilitate WFH for OSPs, @DoT_India had relaxed terms & conditions for VPN till 30.4.20. After discussions with IT Ministers this relaxation in terms & conditions is extended till 31.7.20”

https://twitter.com/rsprasad/status/1255178409430286336?s=20

The DOT announcement means that the companies can now ask its employees to work from home till July 31. However, this is not the extension of WFH. Companies are allowed to start operations with 50 per cent of the workforce at the workplace.

Work from Home – The New Normal?

Most of the management was not comfortable with the concept of WFH before lockdown. However, post lockdown the companies were forced to adapt this concept as there was no other option left. After a few hiccups and initial challenges, the employers and employees have shown a steady learning curve. As a result Work from Home (WFH) is becoming a New Normal now.

In fact, the organizations are planning to come up with new WFH policies for the employees. Many CEOs and HR experts are now of the opinion that post Covid-19, many organizations may adapt WFH for a certain section of employees.


Therefore, many HR experts have started framing new HR policies as the existing policies may not be adequate for WFH concept.

COVID-19 Impact: Relevance of 4Ps of Marketing in Business Amid COVID-19

Covid 19 and Marketing 

India has been under lockdown since March 25, and it will now continue till May 3. The number of Coronavirus cases in India crossed 32,000 on April 30, 2020 and more than 1000 people have died until now.

Every business big or small has been hit by COVID- 19 and the stock markets across the globe have crashed. Major world economies including India are bearing the brunt of lockdown. The GDP growth is declining and the economists are even predicting that the world may go into recession.

Further, the economists are still trying to analyze the exact impact of Covid-19 on the world economy. However, they are sure that the pandemic is going to give a hard hit to the economy. Moreover, it is also uncertain how long it will take to revive the economy as the condition is still volatile and the world hasn’t recovered from Corona yet.

Even if the virus slows down the businesses are going to struggle for well over a year because they will have to make up for their losses. The companies and the marketers are trying their best to adapt to the situation. During the challenging times, they need to make sure that brands remain in a positive light. The approach towards advertising need to be changed to ensure long term consumer trust and loyalty.

How to use the 4Ps of Marketing amid Covid-19 

The COVID-19 outbreak has affected the businesses and made a big dent in the revenues. That doesn’t mean a marketer lose all the hopes and stop the marketing activities. Marketing managers need to remain motivated during this time and keep on promoting the brands. This is a time when marketers can come up with innovative campaigns so that their brand is registered in the minds of the people.

Product

Customizing products according to the market needs is very difficult in the challenging times. Amid Covid-19 the marketers can think of making some changes that are acceptable and can be implemented to best serve the customers and communities without having a negative impact in the future.
There was a huge impact on the businesses of Swiggy, Zomato, Flipkart, Bigbasket, Amazon and many other online companies due to lockdown. Amid lockdown, only the essential items were allowed to be delivered at home. These players immediately shifted the gear and took permission to deliver the essential items like vegetables and groceries. They are effectively making use of their delivery infrastructure and witnessing a surge in the revenue even at the time when other companies are struggling.
The companies are also helping the government in reducing the supply chain burden.

Place

The Corona Virus has also drastically changed the way buyers are approaching the businesses. There are no physical meetings or contact between the two.
Marketers are designing ways to interact with customers keeping in mind the safety and social distancing aspect, and deliver what customers want and need
The companies should start using AI-enabled chatbots options and to solve queries customer queries. Furthermore, giving a virtual demonstration of your products instead of sending a representative at home is a better idea amid Covid-19.
The training providers and educational institutes can use the online platforms for their trainings and courses.
Country Delight- a Gurgaon based Dairy Startup, is sending the flowing message daily to its customers- “Dear Customer, Please help us keep you safe with 100% contact-less delivery. Your delivery partner has sanitized their hands and has a normal temperature of 97.3 at 4:00 am today, Thanks.”- Team Country Delight

Price

Pic Credit: Allie on Unsplash

The people are already living in fear and are very cautious while spending or purchasing anything during the pandemic. Increasing your product price to take advantage of the situation is not going to help your brand. Similarly offering a lot of discounts is also not good for the health of your company. The price adjustment if needed can only be done in conjunction with other departments like operations and finance. You may feel the need of giving some discounts to your clients.
Some companies have waived off the shipping or delivery charges. Companies like Byju’s and Vedantu’s are giving free subscriptions till lockdown. Similarly, some matrimony apps are also offering free subscriptions during this period.

Promotion

Promotion is all about the act of communicating the values and benefits of your products to your customers. Managers use various methods of promotion to make their brand visible in the market. Promotion in a normal scenario includes direct marketing, sales promotion, advertising, and personal selling to persuade customers to your business.
Due to lockdown, there is an over 80% increase in social media usage and internet browsing. The TV viewership has also seen a similar surge. The advertising cost is also all-time low these days. Marketing managers need to identify the medium that will best suit their products. They need to take advantage of those mediums to engage their audiences.
Organizations need to assess not only the tactics or mediums they use to engage their audiences and deploy their marketing strategy but also the context of the messages they're transmitting via those channels. The promotional campaigns also need to be carefully designed keeping in mind what your consumers want to hear from you in those messages.
Many travel companies are requesting their consumers to simply postpone and not cancel their vacation giving a message that they are badly hit by Corona.
Some health drink companies, Multivitamin manufactures are focusing on more immunity development amid Covid-19 as a person with strong immunity has more chances to fight corona.

Conclusion
There is a need to reassess and readjust the four P’s of Marketing during the Corona crisis. Certainly, the companies are facing the heat due to lockdown. The marketing managers have a big responsibility to respond to these business challenges and pain points. They need to understand and adjust to the needs to find creative solutions to tackle the situation.

These 4 Ps of Marketing are very helpful when it comes to running a business. Under this unprecedented situation, the marketing managers need to rise above the storm to avoid the pitfalls. Hence the circumstances, if not handled properly can make these 4Ps Painful, Panicky, Puzzled, and Pathetic


Since everybody is working remotely, marketing budgets need to be planned accordingly by the managers.

Worried Startups Seek Bailout Package and Exemption from FDI Curbs

The Startup India Association or (SIA) has requested the government to exempt startups from the foreign direct investment curbs placed on investors from neighbouring nations. SIA is an advocacy group representing the Indian startup community ecosystem. China is one of the neighbouring nations which has been investing in the Indian for many years now.

This comes after India tweaked its FDI policy after China’s central bank raised an equity stake in HDFC above 1 per cent. The change in policy is aimed at curbing opportunistic takeovers of Indian firms amid the COVID-19 crisis.

Therefore, India made some changes to keep an eye on investments from neighbouring countries including China. According to the new policy, any investment from neighbouring countries, including China, will now need prior government approval.

China's VC Investments in Indian Startups

The already struggling Indian Startups amid Covid-19 are worried about the outcome after this change in the policy. SIA, in a letter to commerce minister Piyush Goyal, said that foreign investors have put in around $82.1 billion into the Indian startup ecosystem in the last five years. Chinese investors alone have contributed to the tune of over $8 billion.

The concern of the SIA is genuine as the Chinese venture funds are one of the biggest backers of Indian technology startups. It may be noted that the Chinese Ventures like Alibaba, Tencent, Fosun RZ Capital, Shunwei Capital, and many others have backed the Indian companies. Some of them include the successful startups like Paytm, Zomato, Ola, Byju’s, OYO, Delhivery, Swiggy, Rivigo, Ixigio. There are other emerging startups such as Rapido, ShareChat, Trell, LetsTransport and more funded by Chinese VC.

Besides urging the government to ease the FDI norms, the SIA also requested the Minister and DPIIT for a bailout package. The association urged them to set-up a Rs 25,000 crore Startup India Fund. It will help the “running out of cash” startups as the VC funding have also dried up during Corona pandemic.


Furthermore, SIA also warned the government that without any support, startups may wind up and may also cut employee numbers. As a result thousands of people may lose jobs in India.