In Brief: Ola Electric has a new HR head; Droom’s Covid fund; Agora-Wipro partnership

Electric scooter manufacturer Ola Electric has roped in former GE executive N Balachandar as its Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO). As part of his job, Balachandar will be responsible for the hiring and other HR processes within Ola Electric, which is gearing up to launch the world’s largest e-scooter facility. 

Balachandar has previously worked with companies such as GE Healthcare, GE Capital in HR roles.  

The company had recently hired vehicle designer Wayne Burgess as its head of vehicle design and is preparing to launch its range of electric scooters in the next few months. 

Droom sets up Covid-19 fund 

Online automotive marketplace Droom has said that it would set aside a corpus of Rs 1 crore to help its employees and dealer network fight the pandemic. Dubbed Droom Cares, the company said it will increase the insurance cover of employees five-fold this year, and provide sanitisation services to select healthcare facilities, police stations, clinics, pharmacies, and homes of healthcare workers in Delhi NCR.  

It will also help verify leads on oxygen and medicines, as well as availability of hospital beds and ICU, along with other Covid-19 necessities, a statement said. More than 20,500 of its dealers, it said, will assist with Covid vaccination and offer medical assistance. 

Online automotive marketplace Droom has said that it will set aside a corpus of Rs 1 crore to help its employees and dealer network fight the pandemic. Dubbed Droom Cares, the company said it will increase the insurance cover of its employees five-fold this year, and provide sanitisation services to select healthcare facilities, police stations, clinics, pharmacies, and homes of healthcare workers in Delhi NCR.  

It will also help verify leads on oxygen and medicines, as well as availability of hospital beds and ICUs, along with other Covid-19 necessities, a statement said. More than 20,500 of its dealers, it said, will assist with Covid vaccination. 

Paytm launches Covid-19 vaccine tracker 

Fintech platform Paytm has announced the launch of a Covid-19 vaccine finder on its mini-app store. The platform will help citizens check vaccine slots through pin code or district details and age group. The company will also offer alerts from Paytm once a vaccination slot is available. Paytm said that the data is sourced on a real-time basis from the CoWIN API portal.  

Do note that real time data availability has been disabled by the Cowin API portal. The appointment availability data is cached and may be up to 30 minutes old. These APIs are also subject to a rate limit of 100 API calls per 5 minutes per IP.  

Agora to help Wipro strengthen RTE portfolio  

Santa Clara based application programme interface (API) platform Agora has announced a partnership with information technology (IT) services giant Wipro. The deal will help power Wipro’s real-time engagement (RTE) and communications solutions portfolio, a statement said. The Bengaluru based giant said it will embed Agora's streaming video and voice solution in various practices to enhance real time experience for users. The solution will leverage the Agora platform to implement augmented reality into applications and provide information to workers. 

Haryana govt launches Covid-19 helpline on WhatsApp  

The Gurugram district administration has launched a WhatsApp Covid-19 helpline for the city’s citizens. The helpline will provide citizens access to critical information and a central repository of Covid-19 resources. Developed by volunteers, private sector organisations and district administrators, the platform is built on the WhatsApp business API and will directly connect citizens to official and verified sources of information. The citizens have to send an HI to 9643277788 to avail the service. The helpline has also integrated the services of MyUpchar, Meddo and Dunzo. 

HCL adds 500 beds for Covid patients in NCR  

IT major HCL has said that it will support the government with Covid-19 care facilities in the national capital region. It will add 500 hospital beds in and around New Delhi, and support the import and installation of an oxygen plant at the Commonwealth Games Village (CWG). The oxygen plant was closed in December 2020 due to the fall in Covid cases, but was reopened on April 18, 2021.