In the wake of the coronavirus-induced economic crisis, Haryana government decided to freeze dearness allowance (DA) of its employees and dearness relief (DR) of all pensioners. an official statement by the Haryana Finance Department said. ‘In view of the crisis arising out of COVID-19, it has been decided that additional installment of Dearness Allowance payable to Haryana Government employees and Dearness Relief to Haryana government pensioners, due from January 1, 2020 shall not be paid,’ the statement by the ministry said. Although the state government will continue to pay both DA and DR at a rate of 17 per cent, employees and pensioners will not receive the arrears of these allowances which were due from 1 July 2020, and 1 January 2021. ‘As and when the decision to release the future installment of

ICICI Bank has announced that it has crossed a milestone of 1 million users on its WhatsApp banking platform. ICICI Bank had introduced WhatsApp banking services three months ago to enable its retail customers to undertake a slew of banking requirements from their home in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. ‘Over a million of users have adopted the service in a short span of three months. We have mostly seen that millennials across the country are using WhatsApp for their banking needs. With the encouraging response, we aim to double the number of users in next three months to 2 million,’Bijith Bhaskar, Head- Digital Channels & Partnership, ICICI Bank said. ICICI Banking services on WhatsApp 1) The customer simply needs to save ICICI Bank’s verified WhatsApp profile number, 9324953001, to his/her â

The United Arab Emirates plans to test two million people, or about 20% of the population, for the novel coronavirus over the next two months after the infection rate climbed again following the lifting of restrictions, a government spokesperson said. The regional business and tourism hub on June 24 removed a nationwide curfew in place since mid-March. It has gradually reopened commercial businesses and public venues and the emirate, or state, of Dubai is set reopen to foreign visitors on Tuesday. ‘UAE health authorities continue to increase testing capacity for Covid-19, with additional 2 million tests to be performed in the coming two months, across the country,’ she said in comments carried on the government Twitter account. The UAE recorded 528 new cases on Monday, taking its tally to 52,068 with 324 d

National Pension System (NPS) subscribers can now opt for e-PRAN card at cheaper rates. Pension fund regulator PFRDA has given subscribers the option of choosing in between physical and e-PRAN cards with both being treated equivalent for all purposes. ‘NPS subscribes have hitherto been provided with a physical PRAN (Permanent Retirement Account Number) card along with the welcome kit. In order to give them a choice to optimise the cost i.e. the account opening charges payable to Central Record keeping Agencies (CRA), it has now been decided that a subscriber may, either opt for physical PRAN card or e-PRAN (PRAN received through email) along with the option to receive welcome kit as well, either physically or through email,’ PFRDA said in a circular. NPS account opening charges: To open a Permanent Reti

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said late that the United States is ‘certainly looking at’ banning Chinese social media apps, including TikTok. ‘I don't want to get out in front of the President (Donald Trump), but it's something we're looking at,’ Pompeo said in an interview with Fox News. Mike Pompeo also said the United States has to take a different path with regard to China as the previous policy of helping them open up their economy with the believe that this would lead to more political freedom has not worked, PTI reported. Meanwhile, the popular video snippet-sharing app TikTok said it is stopping working in Hong Kong due to ‘recent events.’ The move by TikTok, owned by China-based ByteDance, came as Facebook, Google and Twitter put a hold on requests by Hong Kong's government or police force f

HDFC Bank has cut its MCLR rates across tenors with effect from today. If your floating rate home loan is linked to MCLR or marginal cost of funds based lending rate, you will have a reset clause and from that date the new rates will become applicable. Banks have been cutting their lending rates, citing adequate liquidity. HDFC Bank, the country's top private-sector lender reported a loan growth of 21 per cent as of June 30, compared to a year earlier. Earlier this week, state-run Canara Bank and Bank of Maharashtra announced reduction in their marginal cost of funds based lending rates (MCLR) by 10 basis points and 20 basis points, respectively, across all tenors, effective July 7. Bengaluru-based Canara Bank cut its one-year MCLR to 7.55 per cent from 7.65 per cent earlier. Last month, India's biggest

French automaker Renault has announced the launch of new RXL variant of its entry level hatchback Kwid with BS-VI engine at a starting price of Rs 4.16 lakh in the domestic market.  The carmaker also announced that Kwid sales have crossed 3.5 lakh units in the country. The new RXL variant comes in two versions, MT and AMT, priced at Rs 4.16 lakh and 4.48 lakh, respectively, Renault India said in a release. ‘With more than 3.5 lakh Kwid families, we are overwhelmed and grateful for the faith that our customers have bestowed in brand Renault. The model continues to be a game changer for us,’ said Venkatram Mamillapalle, Country CEO and Managing Director, Renault India Operations.            Renault claims Kwid offers low cost of ownership owing to 98 per cent localisation of the car. The car mak

Apollo Tyres has decided to cut its capital expenditure (capex) by Rs 400 crore this fiscal amid challenging business environment due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to a senior company official. ‘Given the overall demand situation, we have cut back on capex to the tune of another Rs 400 crore in 2020-21 to make sure that we are not stressed from a cash flow or a liquidity perspective,’ Apollo Tyres Chief Financial Officer Gaurav Kumar said in an analyst call. The company had earlier earmarked a capex of around Rs 1,400-1,500 crore for the domestic operations for the current financial year. Apollo Tyres has also taken a cut in the capex investment across its European operations, he added. ‘We would have talked if I remember correctly the figure in India of Rs 1,400- Rs 1,500 crore. That number