In Brief: Centre to monitor Covid-19 patients with wristbands; IT cos ask govt to pay dues

The government looks to procure wristbands with pre-installed Aarogya Setu app to monitor the movement of Covid-19 patients both in hospitals and under house quarantine, The Economic Times reported. The wristbands will also help health professionals know people’s temperature and symptoms, the report said. The Broadcast Engineering Consultants India (BECIL) will present the designs to All India Institute of Medical Sciences and other government hospitals this week, and then to state governments, the financial daily reported. Some undisclosed Bengaluru and Gurugram-based startups will work on designing the tool, it said. Each wristband could be priced at around Rs 2,200, the report added.

Read: All about the Aarogya Setu App and whether it actually works

IT companies ask govt to clear past dues

The Indian information technology (IT) sector has urged the government to clear its past dues, according to a report on The Economic Times. The payments are due from several departments, including income tax and customs, the report said. It cited a 2017 National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM) study, which showed that the central government, several state governments and public sector undertakings (PSUs) owed the industry nearly Rs 5,000 crore for just technology-related projects. The industry lobby body has undertaken a fresh survey to get current estimates, the financial daily added.

Read: Coronavirus India LIVE updates

Amazon vendor Cloudtail delays payments to brands, suppliers

Cloudtail India, a top vendor for retail giant Amazon, has held up payments to brands and suppliers due to loss of business in light of the Covid-19 crisis, The Economic Times reported. The company has not made any payment since March 23, the report said. Cloudtail is working with stakeholders to ensure that disruption is minimised, the financial newspaper quoted the company as saying. Seattle headquartered Amazon holds 24% stake in Cloudtail.

IT firm 3i Infotech rolls out remote secure access gateway

Mumbai headquartered IT company 3i Infotech, as part of its services business unit Altiray Services, has rolled out Remote Worker as a Service. The virtual private network (VPN)-as-a-service is a unified secure access gateway that allows people to work remotely by hosting any on-premise server or application, according to a statement. Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform and Alibaba Cloud are the technology partners for the platform, the statement added. 

Inventive banking key for traditional players to thrive: Report

Effective collaboration with fintech companies and inventive banking are key for traditional banks to thrive in today’s markets, according to World Fintech Report 2020 by nonprofit organisation Efma and IT services major Capgemini. Big tech firms and challenger banks, which refer to banks that deploy modern fintech practises, provide data-fueled, hyper-personalised experiences in real-time. Thus, to retain a competitive advantage, traditional players must partner with new entrants and embrace the Open X approach to banking, it said. The report said currently, only 6% of banks have achieved the desired return on investment from collaborations, while 70% of fintech firms don’t culturally or organisationally see eye-to-eye with their bank partners.  

Finaureus rolls out investment advisory platform; raises fresh capital

Fintech company Finaureus Technologies, along with investment research products and tools provider Validea, have rolled out an online investment advisory platform AlphaNiti. Customers in the US and India can access proprietary investment strategies for all prominent asset classes, with initial focus on equity and mutual funds, on the platform, according to a statement. Additionally, the company also raised an undisclosed amount of capital in a bridge funding round from investment firm Pinetree Capital, a separate statement said.