As many as 72 changes to the Companies Act 2013 have been approved by the Cabinet. Briefing reporters, Corporate Affairs Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the priority is to "decriminalise" provisions in the Act. Sitharaman, who is also the Finance Minister, said the Cabinet has approved 72 changes to the Act.

A report by the UN Conference on Trade and Development has forecast that the global economy may see an impact of $1-2 trillion in 2020. How far will the virus impact the Indian economy. Here's a brief overview.

On February 23, 2019, the first draft of the National e-Commerce policy was placed in public domain for suggestions. Comments from over 120 stakeholders- companies both Indian and foreign, industry associations, think tanks, foreign governments were received. Post this, a series of meetings have been held with different stakeholders.

In its Global Economic Outlook 2020, Fitch said the number of people affected by coronavirus will keep rising in the coming weeks but that the outbreak will remain contained. However, there are downside risks to this scenario.

​​Without any protocol for resolving conflicting views between regulators on the same issue, stakeholders such as the parties involved in disputes, as well as consumers, at large suffer. Moreover, the regulatory burden for entities involved to supply information, litigate at multiple fora, etc, adding to the cost and (un)ease of doing business.

This is expected to boost manufacturing and supply of essential goods and services without violating the home ministry’s guidelines on working with reduced staff to maintain social distancing to curb the spread of Covid-19. Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat have already announced the change.

​​​The intention is to bring all B2B, B2C, consumer-facing, consumer-based content platforms, apps-based commerce and IoT device-based services under the policy, potentially engulfing products like the Amazon Echo, which is powered by artificial intelligence-driven virtual assistant Alexa, and MG Hector, the Internet-enabled vehicle from Morris Garages in the regulatory realm of e-commerce.

Paradoxically and fatally, just when risk of a downturn is at its highest, optimism also ends up peaking! So be careful with your forecasts; and even more careful with the forecasts of others.

ESOPs allow grantees to have a stake in the company which directly results in greater loyalty.

Equipping the business with cutting-edge technology is essential to ensure you stay competitive in today’s industrial environment.

Transferability of shares in a privately held company is governed by the Articles of Association, which is a document that lays down the rules and regulations.

A personal loan is dependant on the credit profile of the individual borrower, if you already have other loans active, you may or may not be able to get a personal loan.

Conserving cash is the basic tenet of financial management.

Competing with private companies for limited resources could cap the room for RBI to cut interest rates. Even if it does, market rates won’t ease due to higher government debt. Also, with inflation being predicted to ease by the second half of 2020 towards the target of 4%, prospects for sharp rate cuts diminish.

Millions of migrant workers toiling in the Gulf countries are facing a crisis due to Covid-19 and the fall in oil prices.

Police should have welfare systems similar to the ones implemented by the armed forces, says Delhi Police Commissioner SN Shrivastava.

The way you buy gold changed from January 15 as hallmarking has now become mandatory. There are four components that you should look for on the hallmarked gold jewellery to ensure the purity of gold. Here is a look at each of them in detail.

2019 saw some major innovations in the smartphone segment. After a happening year as far as smartphone launches were concerned, 2020 is expected to witness a lot more competition in innovation as well as on the design front. ET Wealth lists 5 such trends.

You can take your mobile photography to the next level if you have the right accessories. ET Wealth tells you about five must-have add-ons to get creative with mobile photography. Some of them can be purchased from prices starting as low as Rs 199.

If you are a heavy smartphone user and are looking for a smartphone that offers higher battery power but are running a tight budget for such a spend, then here are six options that will solve your problem. These fall in the below Rs 12,ooo price range.

Now all domestic airlines, including government-owned Air India, have announced a waiver on re-booking charges in case a customer does not want to travel on the designated date. Wadia group-owned private carrier GoAir, which was earlier offering free cancellation, has said it will now allow people to only reschedule their flights for no charge.

If you are someone who has been asked to work remotely and are looking for a laptop at a reasonable price, here are six of the best ones under Rs 40,000.

Your computer, smartphones might be holding videos, photos and audio in various folders, and you would not even know that it's there. Hence, ET Wealth tells you the following methods on how to clean up your devices for more efficiency.

Bengaluru: The Union Cabinet’s decision to freeze the DA of its employees till July 2021 and Kerala’s decision to absorb a month’s salary of its employees to the CM’s relief fund to fight Covid-19 has put pressure on chief minister BS Yediyurappa to bite the bullet.The chief minister or the Karnataka Cabinet is yet to take a call on reworking pay and compensation package of its employees in the face of a sharp drop in revenues, and enormous pressure on the finance department to meet the rising demand for funds for Covid-19-related activities and the farm sector.The chief minister had told ET last week that he will take a decision in two weeks after assessing the situation.Karnataka’s salary and pension bill per month comes to about Rs 5,500 crore, and the state has been able to hold on because of the impressive GST collections last month on account of good business climate in February. The commercial tax department does not have any hopes of decent collections over the next two months because of the host of relief announced by the ministry of finance to dealers on GST remittances. The department can hope to have considerable collections only in June. All other major revenue sources for the Karnataka government such as liquor sales, property and vehicles registration are nearly dry.Several IT companies such as TCS, Infosys and Wipro have deferred annual increments.

People have a lot of misconceptions about what has been promised. Keep these things in mind when you make financial decisions basis the announcements in the relief package.

ICICI Bank, along with issuing details on availing the moratorium on loans and credit card dues, also issued a set of FAQs on moratorium for equated monthly instalments (EMIs) taken on debit cards.

To use UPI, you must have a bank account with a member bank, i.e., your bank should allow you to use the UPI facility.

If you have a credit card from Kotak Mahindra Bank, here are some of the details of its three-month moratorium facility.

Banks have been alerting their customers of cyber frauds that can happen while availing EMI moratorium.

As per the circular, EPF members can now correct the date of birth up to plus or minus three years instead of one year earlier. This would make the linking of Universal Account Number (UAN) with Aadhaar easier.

As the country is staying at home to fight against the coronavirus, investors are adapting themselves to the online way of working with their finances.

It must be recalled that the finance ministry had revised rules and introduced separate forms for each small savings scheme via a notification in December 2019.

The RBI announced a host of measures today aimed at increasing liquidity in the economy.

Due to lockdown in the country, we are more dependent on the Internet, which also means that we are more susceptible to tracking by websites and apps for our data. Here are 5 simple steps you can take to protect your personal information.

A Clockwork Orange is about a sociopathic delinquent whose interests include classical music, misogyny, and what is termed ‘ultra-violence’.

Dead souls are supposed to drink from this so as not to remember their past lives upon being reincarnated!

By denying women their rights, we deny rights to the entire humanity for we are also ignoring the contribution of half of humanity.

The stock market, bond market and other financial markets are feeling the negative effect of coronavirus. ET wealth presents a quiz to help you assess your risk appetite in the current market scenario.

Do not deny the possibility of losing the job, or being furloughed briefly.

Any investment decision during this period should be made factoring in the short-term goals of an individual.

The looming uncertainty caused by coronavirus without a doubt requires cutting down on expenses. You need to start exercising monetary prudence and caution. However, don’t try to cut corners in these five expenses even at such a time.

No investment portfolio would have escaped the impact of coronavirus and the consequent financial troubles. Analyze the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in your financial plan in the following quiz and find out where you stand and what you need to do.

We can do a lot without spending money, and money well spent can do a lot. Let your money help you and those around you live better. Rather than lying meaninglessly in expired bonds, unaccessed PPF accounts, unused vases and unworn dresses.

Back home, the workers are looking to start afresh. Their best bet seems to be rehabilitation packages.

Punjab Minister for NRI Affairs Bikram Singh Majithia said they were being set up keeping in view the demand for more such police stations by the NRI community.

In India, Mumbai has emerged as the most expensive city for expatriates and was ranked 118 in the Index. Last year Mumbai was ranked 114th on the list.

The number of Indians who left during the grace period till October-end is 1,34,281, the Indian Embassy here said in a statement.

All passengers coming to India will have to fill in a new detailed customs form on their arrival from tomorrow.

High costs, poor job prospects and wrangles over work permits are persuading a host of Indian students with foreign degrees to return home.

The trend of Indians returning from abroad to work here has picked up pace with the recovery in the country's economy.