In Brief: Startups ask for relief package from FM; ByteDance makes Lark free in India

The Indian startup community, including entrepreneurs, venture investors and industry associations, has urged the government to introduce an economic relief package for the sector, Business Today reported. In a letter written to the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, founders, organisations and venture capital firms including CII Startup council, iSPRIT, India Angel Network, Chiratae Ventures, Rahul Garg from Moglix, Aloke Bajpai from Ixigo and Amod Malviya from Udaan, among others, have said that companies are unable to operate amid lockdown and many are drowning in losses as their revenue lines are hit by the crisis. 

Read: Indian startup community ACT to aid firms in Covid-19 fight with Rs 100 cr grant

Commerce ministry to soon bring out e-commerce and data laws 

The commerce ministry is set to provide recommendations regarding the governance of data to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), The Economic Times reported. The ministry is currently finalising the much-awaited policy. The report revealed that the ministry is working towards avoiding any overlapping between the e-commerce policy and data laws. Last month, members of a committee on non-personal data, headed by Infosys co-founder S (Kris) Gopalakrishnan, met officials from the DPIIT to discuss these issues. 

ByteDance’s Lark app is free in India now

Lark Technologies, a subsidiary of Chinese internet conglomerate ByteDance, has made its digital collaboration suite free in India, The Economic Times reported. The platform brings together a host of tools such as messenger, online docs and sheets, cloud storage, calendar, and video conferencing. The app was rolled out in India last year in August, the report said.