New COVID-19 Fund
The newly appointed Union Cabinet came into action immediately and allocated Rs 23,123 crore towards the COVID-19 fund. Out of the allocated amount, Rs 15,000 crore will be contributed by the centre. States will contribute Rs 8,000 crore towards it.
The government intends to utilise this fund to create more infrastructure for pediatric care and hospital beds for children. In a way, this can be seen as a part of the government's preparations to tackle the third COVID-19 wave.
A Booming Industry
Moving away from the traditional IT services, India’s Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) industry is seen as a new flag bearer for the IT industry. A recent report suggests that this industry could be valued at USD 1 trillion and give employment to 5,00,000 people by 2030.
Software as a service (SaaS) allows the users to use the licensed software on a subscription basis which is hosted by the developer. Apart from SaaS, other AAS (As a Service) offerings are also gaining momentum due to the faster movement towards cloud migration.
It includes services like infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), desktop as a service (DaaS), and datacenter as a service (DCaaS).
Rural Sector Takes a Blow
The second COVID-19 wave brought down the rural demand, and it is unlikely to revive for the rest of the year, says Wipro Consumers.
It is a major blow for the economy since the rural market had emerged as a major economic hotspot even post-pandemic. The sector managed to outperform urban centres even during the pandemic.
Declining rural demand has come as a double blow for the FMCG sector as growing volumes will be a challenging task for them. It has come as a double blow for FMCGs who are already facing pressure on margins due to the rising raw material prices.
