Business highlights

Following are the top business stories at 1930 hours: DCM48 BIZ-VIRUS-BANK-JAN DHAN Banks to start transfer of Rs 500 to Women PMJD account holders from Fri: IBA New Delhi: Women bank account holders under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) will start getting a sum of Rs 500 per month from Friday in line with the announcement made by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman last week, IBA said. DCM8 BIZ-VIRUS-MYLAB Mylab partners with Adar Poonawalla, Abhijit Pawar to scale up production of COVID-19 test kits New Delhi: Pune-based molecular diagnostics firm Mylab Discovery Solutions on Thursday said it has partnered with Serum India CEO Adar Poonawalla and AP Globale Chairman Abhijit Pawar to scale up the operations and escalate faster delivery of its COVID-19 testing kits.

DCM31 BIZ-VIRUS-RBI-RELIEF RBI director Marathe presses for bold initiatives to revive MSME sector, amid COVID-19 crisis New Delhi: The government and the Reserve Bank need to come out with a bold and comprehensive package to help small and medium enterprises tide over the unprecedented crisis created by COVID-19, said veteran co-operator and RBI central board director Satish Marathe. DCM42 BIZ-VIRUS-UNIONS LABOUR-MINISTER Covid-19: Unions seek labour minister's intervention to prevent job losses, pay cuts; demand income support scheme for informal workers New Delhi: Trade unions on Thursday sought Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar's intervention at the ground level to stop retrenchment of employees and salary cuts and also demanded an income support scheme for over 40-crore informal workers hit by the coronavirus lockdown in the country. DCM41 BIZ-VIRUS-TELECOM-COAI-RELIEF PLEA COAI dials FM for sector relief; says urgent measures must amid virus pandemic New Delhi:Industry body COAI has written to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman seeking urgent relief measures, including lowering of levies with immediate effect, for the telecom operators on account of the "adverse impact" of COVID-19. DCM20 BIZ-ONGC-GAS ONGC to lose Rs 4,000 cr on new gas price; seeks freeing of gas prices New Delhi: State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) will lose about Rs 4,000 crore in revenue and start making cash losses after the government slashed the natural gas prices by a steep 26 per cent by benchmarking it against rates prevalent in gas-surplus nations.

DCM7 BIZ-VIRUS-MAHINDRA LETTER Anand Mahindra tells employees to take a relook at life, prepare for post corona world New Delhi: Terming the coronavirus pandemic as a "crisis of a magnitude that we have never faced before" Mahindra Group Chairman Anand Mahindra on Thursday asked employees of the conglomerate to use the lockdown period to relook at personal and professional way of life to prepare for the future and to serve the "post corona world". DCM2 BIZ-VIRUS-MOODYS-BANKS COVID-19 impact: Moody's changes outlook on Indian banks to negative New Delhi: Moody's Investors Service on Thursday changed the outlook for Indian banking system to negative from stable, as it expects a deterioration in banks' asset quality due to disruption in economic activity from the coronavirus outbreak. PTI DCM12 BIZ-VIRUS-LINKEDIN LinkedIn offers free job postings to accelerate hiring for critical roles to fight COVID-19 New Delhi: Global professional network LinkedIn on Thursday said it will offer free job postings to companies in healthcare, supermarket, warehousing, freight delivery and disaster relief nonprofits to accelerate the hiring process for critical roles to fight COVID-19.

DCM53 BIZ-RELIANCE Reliance Industries to raise Rs 25,000 cr via NCDs New Delhi: Reliance Industries on Thursday said it will raise Rs 25,000 crore through non-convertible debentures to fund its operations..