Maharashtra – Dutch Uncles

Will Rs 6500 Cr of Maharashtra Government be wasted?

Tanisha Achrekar — Sat, 01 May 2021 09:35:04 +0000

The second wave of Covid-19 has throttled India like never before. The richest state of the country, Maharashtra is amongst the worst affected states. With cases rising each and every day, the Maharashtra government has taken swift measures. On April 28, 2021, the state government cleared its plan to provide vaccines for free.

The state requires 120 million doses to vaccinate its entire population. Also, vaccination centres and facilities are needed to be set up accordingly for the entire humongous population. Health Minister, Rajesh Tope spoke about how it would cost the government Rs 6,500 crores to inoculate its population of 57.1 million citizens from the age of 18 to 44 years within a span of six months. While the plan seems perfect in itself, what is the hold-up? The biggest challenge the Maharashtra government is facing is the vaccine shortage.

Maharashtra in jeopardy: The vaccine shortage

While the plan was to vaccinate citizens between the ages of 18 and 44 from May 1, 2021, it has been halted currently due to the unavailability of sufficient numbers of vaccine doses. The state said that this plan will be resumed after getting sufficient vaccine doses. The government will still continue to vaccinate all its citizens in next six months as planned. The age group of 18 to 44 years will be vaccinated for free in the government vaccination centres as declared. However, those who take their jabs at private facilities will have to pay for it.

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The state requires 120 million doses to vaccinate its entire population.

The Health Minister has asked the age group of 18 to 44 to be patient. Also, the Co-WIN app needs to be compulsorily installed by citizens. Only by registering on the app, one can take an appointment for the vaccine. This will ensure that the vaccination centres are not crowded and end up spreading COVID-19.

Currently, only citizens who are above 45 years are being vaccinated. The government has also declared that for citizens between 18 to 44 years, separate vaccination centers will be established. The Minister has also reassured by confirming that the state jab wastage rate is 1%, way less than the national average of over 6%.

The ray of hope

The Serum Institute of India has promised to supply up to 10 million doses of vaccination every month to the state. While there is a shortage, Bharat Biotech has assured the Maharashtra government that it will accelerate its supply soon.

In the month of June and July, the company assured that they will be sending a supply of 2 million doses per month. The Chief Minister of Maharashtra is also in talks with the manufacturers of Sputnik V, a Russian vaccine. The government is tapping on all resorts to get the vaccine available for the state.

However, if the shortage has not been met by the institutions soon, the Rs 6500 Cr plan of the Maharashtra Government may go on the blink.

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How is E-Commerce Reacting : Maharashtra’s New Covid-19 Guidelines?

Shalmoli Sarkar — Fri, 09 Apr 2021 12:35:04 +0000

With India experiencing a surge in fresh new cases of infections, it seems that the battle with coronavirus is far being over. To curb the infection spread, the Maharashtra government under the ‘Break the Chain’ initiative has released new Covid-19 guidelines to restrict people’s movement in social places. It has not been long since the e-commerce and food delivery companies have just begun to revive their businesses from the aftermath of the previous year’s 40-day lockdown.

Some of the Covid-19 guidelines released and their implications on the e-commerce industry

A night curfew would be in place across the state from 8pm to 7am and a weekend lockdown will start from Friday 8pm till Monday 7am. This imposition is a big blow to the food delivery sector since weekends are the time for relaxation where people order in. The imposition of lockdown and curfew will delay the shipments and food delivery. However, medicines and essential services are to remain open at all times.

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To curb the infection spread, the Maharashtra government under the ‘Break the Chain’ initiative has released new Covid-19 guidelines to restrict people’s movement in social places.

All the delivery executives and personnel belonging to home delivery services and e-commerce delivery services to be vaccinated as per Government of India guidelines. Since the current government allows only people above 45 years to be vaccinated which indicates the compulsion that the delivery personnel will have to keep getting tested after every 15 days. The deadline for delivery executives to be vaccinated is April 10. The delivery personnel must carry a negative RT-PCR report that will remain valid for 15 days. Food aggregator companies such as Zomato and Swiggy will be bearing the costs of vaccination as well RT-PCR tests for their delivery fleet. The rising cases in Maharashtra, it will act as a double whammy since the waiting line for the RT-PCR test will be longer than usual, which will cause massive chaos for the delivery fleet as they cannot step out without the test, lowering the number of people in delivery and hindering business.

Penalties and Fines for e-commerce and food delivery

Food delivery personnel will be fined Rs 1000 for not conforming with the compliances and Rs 10,000 will be penalised on the establishment. For repeaters, their licence will be withdrawn. For the e-commerce delivery fleet penalty will cause withdrawal of license to operate till the notification of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The implications on e-commerce

The delivery fleet is the nerve of any e-commerce industry. With curfew imposition and prolonged waiting times for RT-PCR tests, the e-commerce industry will be facing massive headwinds. Till then the industry needs to rework on its delivery mechanism where the person does not need to travel much and delivers for addresses that are close to his /her residence. Besides, these e-commerce companies must try to schedule and complete maximum deliveries in the daytime for smooth operations. In such testing times, e-commerce companies need to take care of the health and safety of their personnel as well.

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Maharashtra’s State Innovative Start-up Policy 2018

Smruthi Krishnan — Mon, 01 Mar 2021 02:35:03 +0000

As a nation of more than a billion people is embracing technology with welcoming hands, every state across our country has started focusing on their Start-up ecosystem, building on policies to incentivise entrepreneurs to augment their ventures in specific states and often specific sectors. The start-up culture seeped into India a while back and has sown its roots deep into the entrepreneurial status quo. However, metropolitan cities like Bengaluru and Delhi-NCR continue to be the hub of start-ups and quantum of investments. The industry needs to expand into smaller cities to increase opportunities across the country and for better growth of ideas and technologies. This would also bridge the gap between consumers and producers making the market place more digital and convenient. Maharashtra’s State Innovative Start-up Policy 2018 aims to convert the state into a more convenient and successful landscape for the growth and development of Start-ups and innovations before the end of 2023.

About the Policy

The Maharashtra State Innovation Society aims to create an ecosystem for stakeholders to participate in fostering a culture of innovation across Maharashtra and building an environment for Start-ups to excel and drive economic growth. They also plan to nurture innovative thinking from a young age by inducing changes in the curriculum of schools and colleges.

To sustain economic growth, the state should promote innovative entrepreneurship; which will also help address pressing issues facing the nation and generate employment opportunities. The policy aims to :

Create employment opportunities for all sections of society, develop robust infrastructure and ease the regulatory framework to spur the development of the startup ecosystem.
The state will ease the regulatory regime and keep compliance costs to a bare minimum to ease the process of doing business. Necessary changes have been made in terms of Self Certification, Relaxing Laws, Easing Procurement Laws, Patent Filing and Quality Testing Assistance.
Setting up the Leapfrog Maharashtra portal to create a one-stop page for the entire startup ecosystem and enable knowledge exchange and a single-window clearance system for startups to obtain clearances and approvals in a time-bound manner.
Innovation clusters: Based on existing and potential regional economic advantages, local Governments and the local industry and academia are working together to nurture sector-specific startups and establish major urban/rural areas as innovation clusters.
The State supports the development of incubators on a Private, Public or Public-Private Partnership (PPP) mode in collaboration with higher educational and R&D institutions, and the corporate sector.
The State created a mechanism to open up conference rooms, laboratories across the state and Tinkering Labs at the school-level for the holistic development of the startup ecosystem. A multi-facility Startup Park was established to bring incubators, accelerators, investors, mentors and other industry stakeholders under one roof. Startup Villages shall be established in places like Amrav. The State organises a two-day Start-Up Symposium to bring together innovators, incubators, investors, industry associations and academic institutions.
In association with leading angel investor networks, the State organizes experiential learning workshops to guide aspiring investors.
A fund-of-funds will be established with an initial corpus of ₹100 Crore and a total corpus of ₹500 Crore over five years. Investments are made in SEBI-registered funds including early-stage i.e., angel and seed funds.
Maharashtra State Innovation Society (MSInS): The MSInS acts as the state level nodal agency for implementing, monitoring and evaluating this policy.

What is in it for Start-up Entrepreneurs?

With innovation transforming the economic landscape, government bodies plan to foster innovative start-ups by providing connecting communities to share ideas, experience, knowledge and ease the process of doing business which impedes innovation.

A network of incubators will help cultivate entrepreneurial mindsets and help you connect with relevant stakeholders and seed and angel investors. Simplification of the regulatory environment will make it easier for you to set up your venture in Maharashtra and incentivise Start-up growth in these areas. If you are an entrepreneur looking forward to starting a new venture or expand an existing venture, Maharashtra’s economical landscape will provide you with the best opportunities through the New Innovative Policy 2018. The policy will prove beneficial in connecting you with investors and stakeholders across the country, relaxed laws and additional incentives, funding and infrastructure and help you optimise based on geography and sectors.

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