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The lockdown has officially been extended by another two weeks by the Ministry of Home Affairs beyond 3 May. The lockdown will now remain in place until 17 May 2020. While some relaxations have been permitted by the MHA, a large majority of the restrictions still remain. E-commerce companies will still only be allowed to deliver only essentials in the red zones, according to the circular issued by MHA.
"E-commerce activities, in the red zone, are permitted only in respect of essential good," says the MHA notification. Nevertheless, all standalone shops, neighborhood shops, and shops and shops in residential complexes have been permitted to open in urban areas without the distinction of essentials or non-essentials items.
Earlier today, Brian T Olsavsky, senior vice president and chief financial officer, Amazon had said that their India business had suffered the post due to the COVID-19 induced lockdown. "I think the biggest impact internationally has been in India where, of course, similar to all companies in India, we're now only fulfilling our essential goods such as grocery. So that's cut back a lot on our offering and we will further expand when the Indian government announces that we're allowed to resume operations. So we're in a bit of a holding pattern except for grocery in India, said Olsavsky during an earnings call.