India DA increased by 60 percent HDFC Bank Q4 FY26 profit increased by 9 percent Meta Employee Earning Scheme

The Central Government has approved a 2% increase in Dearness Allowance (DA) for central employees and Dearness Relief (DR) for pensioners, both of which have increased from 58% to 60%. This change will come into effect from January 1, 2026 and approximately 50 lakh central employees and 69 lakh pensioners will benefit from it.

Under this theory, there will be an additional financial burden of approximately ₹ 6,791 crore on the government every year. This increase has been done to reduce the impact of inflation and maintain the purchasing power of the employees. Earlier in July 2025, DA was increased from 55% to 58% and its payment was done with arrears.

HDFC Bank has announced its fourth quarterly (Q4) results for the financial year 2025-26. The bank’s consolidated net profit increased by 9% to ₹ 19,221 crore for the quarter ending March 31, 2026, from ₹ 17,616 crore at the same time last year.

The bank has declared a final dividend of ₹13 per share for the financial year 2026, for which the record date has been fixed as June 19, 2026. In addition, the bank had already paid a special interim dividend of ₹ 2.5 per share in August 2025, taking the total dividend for the full year to ₹ 15.5 per share.

Meta Platforms plans to lay off about 8,000 employees in May 2026, the report said. The layoffs are expected to begin as soon as May 20 and could impact approximately 10% of the company’s global workforce.

This is seen as another restructuring effort of the company after the large amount of dismissals in 2022 and 2023. According to experts, this concept is part of a strategy to reduce costs, increase efficiency and invest more in future technologies such as artificial intelligence and the Metaverse. However, the company has not yet officially determined the final number of dismissals or the vacancy deadline.

In another development, the stock market was closed on Sunday. There was no change in petrol and diesel prices, indicating stability in energy prices.