After swinging over 800 points during the day, the 30-share index closed 232.24 points or 0.74 per cent higher at 31,685.75.

Currently, authorised persons of employers have to go to the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) offices to get their digital signatures registered.

Currently, businesses are required to digitally sign GSTR-3B form while filing monthly return and paying taxes.

However, the data only reflect company payrolls through April 12 so the report does not reflect the full impact of COVID-19 on the overall employment situation.

Indian stocks slid on Thursday, with declines led by banks and Hindustan Unilever, as coronavirus cases in the country crossed 50,000 despite a strict weeks-long lockdown.

The move from Kotak Mahindra comes weeks after the top management voluntarily surrendered 15 per cent of their payments for 2020-21.

Under this new product, an additional 30 basis points premium will be payable for senior citizen's retail term deposits with "5 Years & above" tenor only.

ONGC was the top loser in the Sensex pack, slumping over 4 per cent, followed by NTPC, Kotak Bank, Titan, Bharti Airtel and PowerGrid.

Coal Minister Pralhad Joshi had earlier written to state chief ministers asking them not to import dry-fuel and take the domestic supply of fuel from Coal India Ltd.

Participating in the same meeting, Union Minister for MSME and Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari also said "a package is going to be declared".

With five months still left for 2019-20 marketing year to end, the association feels the mills have the potential to fulfil their exports commitments.

Yes Bank's board had to be superseded by the RBI and the government earlier this year after alleged mismanagement under its founder CEO Rana Kapoor.

The minister also noted that the pendency of dues owed to MSME units by the central government, state governments, public sector undertakings and major industries was "very high".

The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has written to Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal seeking his intervention in the matter.

The procurement of wheat and rice (second crop) during the ongoing Rabi season has picked up pace despite severe logistical constraints posed due to countrywide lockdown," the food ministry said in a statement.

The global market is fearing that India would slide into a 'controlled economy', which would be very damaging, Basu added.

The lender has also hiked interest rates on personal loans against property by 30 basis points.

This is the third high profile-investment in Reliance Jio in as many weeks.

Equity benchmark Sensex rallied over 600 points in opening session on Friday as strong gains in index-heavyweight Reliance Industries, massive foreign fund inflow and positive global cues boosted market sentiment.

Forex traders said a positive start of domestic stocks and significant foreign fund inflows supported the local unit.

Moody's Investors Service on Friday said the negative outlook on India's rating reflects increasing risks that GDP growth will remain significantly lower than in the past and partly hints at weaker policy effectiveness to address economic and institutional issues.

The ratings agency said it expected India to see no growth in financial year 2021 and bounce back to a 6.6% GDP growth in FY22.

Overall, the mutual fund industry witnessed net inflows of Rs 45,999 crore across all segments, data by the Association of Mutual Funds in India showed on Friday.

Despite crude prices trading at a two decades low, the government had earlier this week hiked excise duty on petrol by Rs 10 a litre and on diesel by Rs 13 a litre to mop up nearly Rs 1.6 lakh crore in additional revenue this fiscal.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her Budget for 2020-21 had pegged gross borrowing in the new financial year at Rs 7.8 lakh crore, higher than Rs 7.1 lakh crore estimated for 2019-20.

Japanese brokerage Nomura warned of a likely downgrade of the sovereign by global ratings agencies while American brokerage Goldman Sachs (GS) said RBI will cut rates by another 1 percentage point to arrest the economic slide.

Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund also issued an apology to Sebi and said that comments of its top executive Jenny Johnson were wrongly interpreted, diluting her responses about the reason for winding up of schemes.

The employers' organisations also sought relaxation of the provisions of the Industrial Disputes Act to treat the lockdown period as lay-off.

Earlier, such registrations/approvals were granted without any specific expiry period unless specifically withdrawn by concerned tax authority.

The deal could be completed as soon as this month, though no agreement has been finalised and plans may change.

While the first instalment of the SGB 2020-21 series was open for subscription from April 20 to 24, the current issue will be open from May 11 to May 15.

Tour de France is rescheduled for August 29 without spectators but Chris Froome feels it may be hard to contain the fans.

Stephen Kearney sees this as a chance for Australia's National Rugby League to be one of the first sports in the world to emerge from Covid-19 shutdown.

Taylor Fritz and Addison Rae beat Kei Nishikori and DJ Steve Aoki in the final of the Mario tennis charity tournament.

Armand Duplantis and Renaud Lavillenie shared the honours in the Ultimate Garden Clash.

Tennis is one of several social-distancing-compatible sports the Austrian government has allowed to resume as they ease the Covid-19 lockdown.

Leander Paes revealed that his mother was not to happy with his viral challenge that took social media by storm.

Novak Djokovic posted a video showing him exchanging shots with another man at clay court in the coastal city of Marbella.

A statement said 'appropriate testing measures' would be put in place to protect the health of players, production crew and others on site.

BWF chief Thomas Lund said the restrictions on international travel due to coronavirus has complicated the picture for badminton to resume.

Mary Wilson, a multiple sclerosis sufferer, hoped to qualify for Tokyo Paralympics but being 56-year-old, she recognises that with Covid-19 roadblock, time may not be on her side.

Sun Yang was found guilty of refusing to give a doping sample and was banned for eight years for the same.

Egypt's Youssef Hossam received life ban for match-fixing and his brother has got the same two years ago for corruption.

Taylor Fritz said that the tennis authorities are looking to stage the US Open but he was unsure if they will be able to do that.

Money though the Player Relief Programme, run by ATP, WTA, Grand Slam organisers and ITF, will be divided equally among men and women.

The nomination inviting process usually begins in April but was pushed back due to Covid-19 lockdown and now, the final date of submission has been fixed at June 3.

Social-distancing restrictions are still in place in Australia, so 'normal' full-contact training will not resume for another week at least.

FFT president Bernard Giudicelli said the protocol proposed was "favorably received by the sports ministry" and could lead to the resumption of training and other amateur activities.

Rafael Nadal believes the chances of tennis restarting before the end of this year are slim.

PV Sindhu said that senior Indian players with international experience can coach and help youngsters during the coronavirus lockdown.