New Delhi: The Central government has hiked the interest rates on small savings schemes for the third quarter beginning on Saturday.
While the interest rate for senior citizen savings scheme has been increased to 7.6 per cent from 7.4 per cent, the interest rate for Kisan Vikas Patra (for a term of 123 months) has been revised to 7 per cent from the existing 6.9 per cent (a term of 124 months).
Term deposits for a period of two years would now fetch an interest of 5.7 per cent. It was 5.5 per cent during the second quarter of the financial year.
The interest rate for monthly income account schemes, too, has been revised to 6.7 per cent from 6.6 per cent. The revised interest rates -- announced after nine quarters -- will be in force from October 1 to December 31. The interest rates for other small savings schemes, however, will remain unchanged.
Card tokenization
Card tokenization, implemented based on Reserve Bank of India guidelines, will also come into effect on Saturday. This means e-commerce websites, payment gateways or third-party platforms for financial transactions could not save debit or credit card details. Instead of card details, a code number (token) will be saved.
E-invoice
E-invoicing will be mandatory for business-to-business dealings of GST-registered businesses with an annual aggregate turnover of more than Rs 10 crore. The current ceiling has been Rs 20 crore.
For uploading e-invoices, businesses should register through the common GST portal or einvoice1.gst.gov.in
Atal Pension Yojna: Deadline ends today
Friday (September 30) is the last day for tax payers to join the Atal Pension Yojna (APY) Scheme. The accounts of those joining from Saturday will be closed, and the pension amount/accumulated pension wealth deposited will be refunded.
Debit, credit card norms
Besides card tokenization, certain other RBI rules, too, will kick in from Saturday. The card-issuer could seek a one-time password (OTP)-based consent from the cardholder for activating a credit card.
If the card has not been activated within 30 days of issuance, the issuer could close the account within seven working days from the date of seeking confirmation from the customer. The customer should not be charged any amount while closing the card account.
Additionally, the card-issuer cannot raise the credit limit without the consent of the cardholder.
National pension scheme (NPS)
The nodal officer will have to make a decision on approving nominee details the pensioner has uploaded within 30 days. If no decision has been made within 30 days, the details will be automatically approved. This new rule, which will come into force on Saturday, will also be applicable to pending applications.
Additional security for demat accounts
Two-factor authentication for demat accounts for online trading will also come into effect on Saturday. This is to provide additional security to demat accounts.
Besides biometric authentication factor, password, PIN (knowledge factor), OTP, security token (possession factor) could be used for two-factor authentication.