Industrial safety gets an AI upgrade; Spreading ‘Pawsitivity’ among strays

Hello,

A little money here or there, does it make a difference? Swiggy thinks not.

Ahead of Holi, Swiggy Instamart introduced a ‘festive handling charge’, adding an extra fee for orders placed during the festival week. The new fee, priced between Rs 8.90 and Rs 20, is similar to handling and surge charges imposed by quick commerce platforms.

This comes as Swiggy continues to face profitability challenges despite its strong market presence, according to Jeffries. The brokerage firm noted that while Instamart has shown rapid expansion, it will continue to operate at a loss through FY26.

While Swiggy is managing upfront fees, Blinkit and Zepto are pushing up the commissions they charge brands and sellers in the hopes of improving margins, according to a recent ET report.

ICYMI: How the rush of 10-minute deliveries is rewiring your brain.

However, the price war resulting from the heated competition is rubbing retailers the wrong way. Last week, the All India Consumer Products Distributors Federation filed an anti-trust case with the CCI against players like Swiggy, Zomato, and Zepto over alleged predatory pricing and deep discounting.

There’s no such thing as a free lunch.

In other news, Ola Electric is doubling down on profitability. It has completed a company-wide cost-cutting and efficiency drive, resulting in cost savings of Rs 90 crore per month.

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• Wearable technology for industrial safety
• Spreading ‘Pawsitivity’ among strays
• Making contract workers’ voices heard

Here’s your trivia for today: According to Greek mythology, who was the first mortal woman?

Startup

Wearable technology for industrial safety

Traditional safety gear lacks smart monitoring features, leaving industrial workers vulnerable to undetected risks such as toxic gas leaks, fall hazards, and equipment malfunctions. Kausthub Kaundinya, Sreekanth Kommula, and Anand Kumar launched Jarsh Safety in 2017 to address these challenges.

“We are addressing these challenges by integrating advanced technology into safety gear, ensuring both comfort and protection. Beyond comfort, our IoT-enabled smart safety gear offers real-time hazard detection, AI-driven risk analysis, and predictive safety alerts,” explains Kaundinya, Co-founder and CEO of Jarsh Safety.

Highlights:

• Its flagship product, ActivCooling Helmet, is the world’s first commercially available air-conditioned safety helmet. It integrates a wearable AC to provide portable ventilation in extreme conditions where traditional cooling solutions are not feasible. 
• Its SmartVolt product, a wearable, non-contact voltage detector, is designed to detect hidden electrical hazards from a safe distance. Acting as an early warning system, it alerts users to potential dangers before they come into contact with them. 
• Jarsh Safety follows a B2B model, and its revenue strategy is built around multiple channels, including direct sales to enterprises, where large industrial clients procure products in bulk to enhance workplace safety. 

Funding Alert

Startup: Weskill

Amount: Rs 40 Cr

Round: Pre-seed

Startup: Allo Health

Amount: Rs 16 Cr

Round: Pre-Series A

Startup

Spreading ‘Pawsitivity’ among strays

Rimjhim Joshi Shende never imagined that an everyday act of feeding stray dogs near her home would lead her to a simple innovation—one that would save thousands of them from being run over or displaced.

Shende’s love for strays led her to develop Pawsitivity, a QR-enabled reflective collar for dogs that can save them from risk and displacement.

Dog safety:

• Without any background in design or production, she began experimenting, stitching her first collars using denim and makeshift reflective strips. She then moved to cloth and nylon strips, and after many iterations, found the right one.
• In 2019, Shende and her husband Tushar Shende registered Pawsitivity as a business. They ensured the collars remained accessible at just Rs 40 each—affordable to everyone, especially rescuers and animal groups. In 2023, they introduced QR code-enabled collars.
• The Pawsitivity collars are available on its own website and on Amazon, and it has sold over Rs 20 lakh collars so far.

Social Impact

Making contract workers’ voices heard

The story of the Social Compact began five years ago when India went under a lockdown to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Overnight, thousands of migrant workers had to leave cities for their hometowns. The exodus laid bare the harrowing realities of these labourers.  

Industry leaders such as Farhad and Rati Forbes, Meher Pudumjee, Anu Aga, and Pradeep Bhargava, with NGOs Dasra, Aajeevika Bureau, and Centre for Social Justice, started Social Compact. Based in Mumbai, the industry leaders and nonprofits together wanted to create an ecosystem to protect the rights of contractual workers. 

Helping hand:

• Social Compact aims to address these concerns, along with gender parity among informal workers. A multi-stakeholder approach with various companies helps revise company policies and implement on-ground systems across India. 
• First, companies fill out a questionnaire with 80 indicators, which identifies and highlights the contractual workers’ needs. Social Compact then visits company sites, engages with worker representatives, and works with the companies to come up with specific recommendations. 
• Over the last five years, it has worked with 60 companies across India. Its efforts have triggered changes in improving working conditions, robust documentation, setting up grievance redressal mechanisms, and other systemic changes, for 6 lakh workers. 

News & updates

• Inflation: India’s retail inflation fell below 4% in February for the first time in six months mainly due to a decline in vegetable prices, giving the RBI room to cut rates further in coming meetings. Retail inflation in February eased to 3.61%, the lowest since July. Inflation for January was revised to 4.26% from 4.31%.
• Tariffs: The EU announced a retaliatory trade action with new duties that will cover US industrial and farm products worth around $28 billion after the US increased tariffs on all steel and aluminium imports to 25%. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the bloc “will always remain open to negotiation.”
• Recession: There is about a 40% chance of a US recession this year and a risk of lasting damage to the country’s standing as an investment destination if the administration undermines trust in US governance. “Where we stand now is with a heightened concern about the US economy,” said JP Morgan chief economist Bruce Kasman.

According to Greek mythology, who was the first mortal woman?

Answer: Pandora. In Greek mythology, she was created on the orders of Zeus to punish mankind for the gift of fire given to them by Prometheus. 

We would love to hear from you! To let us know what you liked and disliked about our newsletter, please mail [email protected]. 

If you don’t already get this newsletter in your inbox, sign up here. For past editions of the YourStory Buzz, you can check our Daily Capsule page here.