Business
Strong delivery segment growth likely in 2022 as online shopping behaviour takes roots among consumers: Vahan
Despite the growing cases of the highly infectious Omicron variant of Covid-19 across the country, India’s flourishing blue-collar segment is anticipating higher demand growth for blue-collar workers across the delivery category in 2022.
Although this developing situation has raised some uncertainty of a possible third wave, there is a strong likelihood of it manifesting itself through/accelerating shift in consumer behaviour towards a more digital world and triggering lasting changes in online shopping behaviours.
Vahan, a technology startup that enables companies to hire blue-collar workers at scale, sees the year 2022 as one of further acceptance of online shopping behaviours by consumers across categories. The company believes that this emerging situation will lend support to a massive surge in demand for delivery workers where metros will contribute over 60 per cent of the overall demand in 2022 followed by tier two and tier three cities.
Vahan witnessed rapid demand for delivery workers in the August to November 1st week period last year fuelled by contests, discounts, incentives, etc. running across the board around the IPL season and T20 world cup.
A rapidly growing cohort of consumers identifies speed, convenience, and quality as the most important elements of a positive customer experience. This trend is likely to hold true in the near future where grocery delivery service providers will extend quick commerce service to attract and retain customers.
Vahan data shows that the grocery delivery service providers offered quick commerce and narrowed the delivery radius to 2-3 km during the festive season last year.
This stoked cyclist demand and brought more temporary workers thereby increasing the hiring pool. The company is expecting a month-on-month increase in demand close to 30 per cent across industries in 2022 as against 25 per cent across industries in 2021 with the food delivery category as the major contributor.
Bike taxis and food and grocery delivery have lent heft to the booming e-commerce industry in India. This has been corroborated by Vahan’s data which shows that companies hired almost double of their business-as-usual (BAU) numbers in the festive period of 2021.
As per Vahan, bike taxis emerged as a preferred mode of commute during the pandemic period and its sustained demand in the August to November 1 st week period indicates changing travel patterns of consumers at large. Vahan expects bike taxis to gain more popularity in 2022 with demand coming from all across the country and an upward spiral in demand for e-commerce in tier 2 and 3 cities with rising Internet penetration pan India and consequent changes in consumer buying habits.
The year 2021 was marked by the increasing focus of organisations in the delivery space to achieve gender parity at the workplace. This indicated a change in perception that delivery work is not appropriate for women. This trend is likely to take root in 2022 onwards and open space for the women to enhance their contribution to the delivery segment to 15 per cent in 2022 up from around 7-10 per cent of the overall hiring requirement per month of delivery staff across industries from food delivery to e-commerce in 2021.
According to Madhav Krishna, Co-founder and CEO, Vahan, “The blue-collar job market in India is set to repeat its astounding growth performance in 2022 as online shopping behaviour and preference for speedy delivery takes root in the country. Vahan, with its technology enabled recruitment platform which seamlessly connect employers and delivery workers effectively, with speed and at an unprecedented scale is clearly sitting in a sweet spot given the growing number of organisations embracing delivery model and increasing number of blue-collar workers wake up to a new dawn of comfort and convenience online recruitment portals like Vahan brings to them.”
India has over 250 million blue-collared workers, and this number is growing with a decline in agricultural employment and the addition of around 7-8 million new college graduates to the workforce every year, 60 per cent of which lack employability skills and end up joining the blue/grey-collar workforce. This presents a massive opportunity for placement in the blue-collar industry.
Interest in Vahan’s placement solution is high. It is currently recruiting 10,000+ people a month and is set to become India’s largest blue-collar recruitment platform in 2022.
Business
Meta to report child safety cases to India’s I4C cybercrime portal (Lead)

New Delhi, Sep 15: Meta will directly report child safety matters to India’s Cybercrime portal managed by the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), the US-based technology giant said on Tuesday.
The decision comes amid heightened scrutiny of Meta in India over the alleged circulation and promotion of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) through advertisements on Instagram.
The government has said the online safety of children is a fundamental principle for every social media platform operating in India and remains non-negotiable, according to government sources. The commitment by Meta is being seen as a first step towards strengthening safeguards for children on social media platforms, they added.
Meta — in a statement on the ongoing issue — said protecting children on its platforms is a priority and that it is committed to working with the government to ensure perpetrators of such crimes are held responsible.
“To collectively strengthen our efforts to combat this harm, Meta will now report child safety matters directly to the Cyber crime portal managed by I4C,” a Meta spokesperson said.
Social media platforms can be used to circulate or facilitate access to CSAM and other forms of child exploitation.
Reporting such cases to law enforcement agencies would help ensure that such incidents are not dealt with solely through platforms’ internal content-moderation systems.
The government has stressed that more needs to be done and that discussions are continuing with other social media platforms to proactively identify and remove harmful content.
It has also warned that action could be taken against platforms that fail to adopt adequate proactive measures to protect children online.
The development comes amid growing global scrutiny of social media platforms over risks to children, including exposure to sexual exploitation, harmful content and online abuse.
In India, social media platforms are governed by the Information Technology Act and the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, which prescribe due-diligence obligations for intermediaries.
Meta had faced scrutiny after an investigation by the Tech Transparency Project (TTP) found that Facebook and Instagram carried paid advertisements featuring child sexual abuse material this year, including AI-manipulated images of real children.
The investigation also found more than 300 advertisements featuring AI-generated child sexual abuse material on Meta’s platforms.
Business
Indian equities open higher defying weak global cues

Mumbai, Sep 15: Indian equity benchmarks opened higher on Tuesday despite global markets remaining under pressure amid elevated US bond yields and crude oil prices.
Sensex opened at 75,369.63, up 587.87 points or 0.79 per cent, while Nifty began trading at 23,576.15, higher by 178.05 points or 0.76 per cent. The gains were led by information technology stocks as Nifty IT index jumped more than 4 per cent, while the Nifty MidSmall IT & Telecom index rose nearly 2 per cent.
Other sectors, Nifty FMCG gained 0.72 per cent, while Nifty Auto rose 0.31 per cent. Media, energy and private banking indices were also marginally higher.
In contrast, Nifty Metal fell 0.58 per cent, while Nifty Financial Services Ex-Bank and Nifty MidSmall Financial Services declined 0.52 per cent and 0.5 per cent, respectively. Nifty Pharma fell 0.37 per cent, while cement, healthcare, consumer durables and realty indices also traded lower.
Among Nifty 50 stocks, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Grasim Industries, BEL, Shriram Finance and InterGlobe Aviation were top losers which declined between nearly 1 per cent and 1.67 per cent.
“Global equity markets will be under pressure from the US 10-year yield hitting the psychological 5 per cent mark. The macro scenario will continue to be under pressure from rising crude prices,” according to market experts.
The continuing boom in the initial public offering market and the outperformance of the broader market were also cited as positives for domestic equities, according to market experts.
On the Nifty’s technical outlook, the expert said the pullback from the 23,260-23,000 region suggested the index was attempting a swing higher after approaching oversold territory, they said.
“This mean reversion move could potentially aim for 23,720,” the experts said, while cautioning that failure to clear 23,515, or a direct fall below the 23,260-23,000 region, could bring the 22,600-21,800 range into focus.
Business
India‑UAE ties grow into a model for BRICS collaboration: Report

New Delhi, Sep 14: The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and India are broadening a strategic and economic partnership that serves as “an effective model of cooperation within BRICS,” a new report has said.
The partnership is built on a foundation of historic ties, shared interests and major projects that promote trade, investment and logistics connectivity between markets, the report from Gulf Today said.
“The growing UAE-India partnership, reflected in expanding trade, increasingly integrated logistics corridors and cooperation in investment and innovation, provides a practical model of the UAE’s role within BRICS,” the report said.
Further, the partnership also proves UAE’s commitment to exchanging expertise and perspectives and building more integrated and sustainable economic partnerships.
Bilateral trade reached $101.25 billion in FY26, marking the second consecutive year in which trade between the two countries exceeded $100 billion. The UAE and India have set a target to raise bilateral trade to $200 billion by 2032.
The partnership is being advanced through initiatives such as Bharat Mart, the Virtual Trade Corridor and cooperation under the India‑Middle East‑Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC).
“These initiatives are helping strengthen supply chain integration and create new routes for trade and investment flows between the two countries and global markets,” the report noted.
The UAE-India Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), operational since 2022 was hailed as the first agreement of its kind concluded by the UAE. The agreement has bolstered the flow of goods, services and investment and expanded opportunities for the private sector in both countries.
United Arab Emirates and China were the largest destinations within BRICS, together accounting for 88.50 per cent of India’s electronics exports to the grouping.
The number of Indian companies registered as active members of Dubai Chamber reached 85,841 by the end of June 2026 after 7,579 new Indian firms joined in the first half of the year, marking a year‑on‑year increase of 15 per cent, another report said.
-
Crime4 years agoClass 10 student jumps to death in Jaipur
-
Maharashtra2 years agoMumbai Local Train Update: Central Railway’s New Timetable Comes Into Effect; Check Full List Of Revised Timings & Stations
-
Maharashtra2 years agoMumbai To Go Toll-Free Tonight! Maharashtra Govt Announces Complete Toll Waiver For Light Motor Vehicles At All 5 Entry Points Of City
-
Maharashtra2 years agoFalse photo of Imtiaz Jaleel’s rally, exposing the fooling conspiracy
-
National News2 years agoMinistry of Railways rolls out Special Drive 4.0 with focus on digitisation, cleanliness, inclusiveness and grievance redressal
-
Maharashtra2 years agoMaharashtra Elections 2024: Mumbai Metro & BEST Services Extended Till Midnight On Voting Day
-
National News2 years agoJ&K: 4 Jawans Killed, 28 Injured After Bus Carrying BSF Personnel For Poll Duty Falls Into Gorge In Budgam; Terrifying Visuals Surface
-
Crime2 years agoBaba Siddique Murder: Mumbai Police Unable To Get Lawrence Bishnoi Custody Due To Home Ministry Order, Says Report
