News and Updates

FD INTEREST RATES OF 8-9% TO CONTINUE FOR A LONGER PERIOD AS RBI HOLDS REPO RATE; HOW TO INVEST IN FIXED DEPOSITS

Fixed deposit investors have been rejoicing a high-interest rate regime for the last one year when RBI last hiked the repo rate in February last year to 6.5%. However, the interest rate cycle is due for reversal and hence the rates are likely to fall sooner or later. However, with RBI holding the rate in the current MPC, the rate reduction exercise has been pushed further by a few months. FD investors are not complaining.

NOT MAKING PPF INVESTMENT BEFORE APRIL 5 CAN COST THIS MUCH IN INTEREST

PPF deposit before April 5: Investing in a PPF account before April 5 can earn the PPF account holder more interest. Making a lumpsum investment for the entire year after this date will make a PPF investor to lose a month's interest. Read on to know how much you lose if an individual misses this date.

'Sequence of returns’ risk can wreck your retirement planning: How to protect retirement corpus from it

'Sequence of returns’ risk is the risk of negative returns occurring later in your working years and/or early in your retirement life. It particularly comes into play during the five years before and five years after retirement— the ‘fragile decade’. Investors in this phase of their lives are most vulnerable to the sequence of returns risk. Find out how to protect your nest egg from negative returns in the years before or after you quit work.

HDFC BANK RAISES NEW HOME LOAN RATES EVEN AS REPO RATE STAYS STEADY. HERE’S WHY

This increase however, is applicable only to new loans sanctioned and not existing loans, which means that older borrowers will not be impacted by these hikes.

INSURANCE NEW RULE: E-INSURANCE IN DEMAT LIKE FORMAT MANDATORY FOR ALL NEW POLICIES FROM APRIL 1, 2024; WHAT IS GOING TO CHANGE?

e-Insurance policies new rule: The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has made it mandatory to hold new insurance policies in electronic format from April 1, 2024. e-insurance refers to the process of acquiring and managing insurance policies electronically. Policyholders can purchase insurance and store digital policy documents in a dedicated e-Insurance Account (eIA). This eliminates the need for physical documents and simplifies managing various insurance policies, including life, health, and general insurance coverage. What policyholders must know about this new IRDAI rule?

TAX-SAVING IDEAS: HOW TO RESTRUCTURE YOUR SALARY TO REDUCE INCOME TAX OUTGO BY MORE THAN RS 1 LAKH

Taxpayers can reduce their tax significantly by reformatting their salary. If companies restructure their compensation packages by replacing taxable emoluments with some tax-free perks, they can lower the tax liability of their employees. There are several such tax-exempt allowances, including food coupons and reimbursement of expenses on fuel and travel, newspapers and periodicals, phone and Internet. The taxable portions of the salary, such as the special allowance, can be reduced to make place for the tax-exempt allowance. Find out how to go about it.

RENT AGREEMENT CLAUSES THAT LANDLORD, TENANT SHOULD ADD TO AVOID FIGHTS IN FUTURE

Rent agreement clauses for landlord and tenant: It can happen that the landlord and tenant are unable to add all the clauses to protect their interests in the lease agreement. However, there are certain clauses that should be added to the rent agreement to avoid future disputes. These clauses will help both landlord and tenant protect their respective interests.

RBI SLAPS FINES ON BANK OF INDIA & BANDHAN BANK FOR BREACH OF RULES

Mumbai, March 13 (IANS) The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has imposed fines on Bank of India (NS:BOI) and Bandhan Bank (NS:BANH) for breach of rules, the central bank said on Wednesday. A penalty of Rs 1,40,76,000 has been imposed on Bank of India for non-compliance with the following RBI directions:

(1) The bank did not pay interest in certain term deposit accounts as per the schedule of interest rates disclosed in advance; (2) had levied SMS alert charges from customers based on invalid mobile numbers and not on actual usage basis; (3) failed to reset interest rates in Marginal Cost of Funds based Lending Rate (MCLR) and external benchmark linked advances at prescribed periodicity; (4) failed to benchmark the interest on certain floating rate retail loans and floating rate loans to MSME, to an external benchmark rate; (5) failed to report or inaccurately reported data pertaining to certain large borrowers to Central Repository of Information on Large Credits (CRILC), and (6) failed to furnish accurate information to Credit Information Companies (CICs).

The RBI also imposed a penalty of Rs 29.55 lakh on Bandhan Bank Ltd for not complying with its directions. The RBI said that the penalties were based on supervisory findings of non-compliance with regulatory instructions/ statutory provisions after considering the replies given by the banks to the issues that were raised.

At the same time, the RBI said that the action against the two banks is based on deficiencies in regulatory compliance and is not intended to pronounce upon the validity of any transactions or agreements entered into by the banks with their customers.

Further, the imposition of the monetary penalty is without prejudice to any other action that may be initiated by RBI against the bank.

BORIVALI BUSINESSWOMAN LOSES ₹28L WHILE APPLYING FOR A BANK LOAN

Borivali businesswoman duped of ₹28 lahks by loan frauds promising ₹4 crore loan for business venture. Malad police book Chandrakant Gaikwad and Pradeep Mishra.

NEW REITS REGULATIONS BY SEBI IS A GAME CHANGER: 7 WAYS HOW IT CAN HELP FRACTIONAL REAL ESTATE INVESTORS

New REITs regulations: Here's a primer on how this much-needed transparency could benefit retail investors, as well as HNIs, looking to add the highest-graded commercial real estate to their portfolios using the Real Estate Investment Trusts route.

NPS INVESTMENT CAN SAVE YOU TAX ON INCOME UP TO RS 9.5 LAKH UNDER OLD, NEW TAX REGIME: HERE'S HOW

Tax saving via NPS investment: There are many income tax laws changes that have come into effect from April 1, 2023 for the current FY 2023-24. However, NPS investment is one that can help you save tax in both the old and new tax regimes. However, it is important to know the tax rules to save income tax via NPS investment.

IS FLEXI LOAN OR DROPLINE OVERDRAFT BETTER THAN A PERSONAL LOAN AND CONVENTIONAL OVERDRAFT?

Credit line in the form of an overdraft is preferred by many people as it gives them the flexibility to repay at their convenience and keep the interest cost low as they pay only on the outstanding amount. A new version of this loan is now being offered by many lenders which is called a dropline overdraft or a flexi loan. Before going for it you must know if it is better than a personal loan or conventional overdraft.

RENTING A FURNISHED HOUSE; WILL A SEPARATE RENT AGREEMENT FOR FIXTURES HELP IN SAVING TAXES?

House rent: A landlord might be inclined to charge a higher rental for his/her furnished flat as tenants prefer to stay hassle-free and in a homely environment with all the amenities. Experts suggest that a landlord create two separate rent agreement-one for the house rent and another for the rent for furnishings- bed, geyser, mattress, etc.

No More Hidden Charges By Banks, Nbfcs To All Borrowers As Rbi Makes Declaring Actual Interest Rate Mandatory

The actual interest rate on loans in Key Fact Statement: When a borrower takes a loan from a bank or NBFC, apart from the interest rate, the lender levies other charges as well such as documentation charges, processing fees etc. Now the lender is required to inform all the charges levied on the loan upfront to the prospective buyer. This announcement was made by the RBI governor today while announcing the monetary policy decisions.

I-T USES FINE-TOOTH COMB TO NAB BOTH EMPLOYERS & EMPLOYEES FOR TDS-CLAIMS MISMATCH

The Income Tax (I-T) department is using a fine-tooth comb to nab discrepancies in the tax deducted at source, or TDS, by companies and the declarations by its employees in the annual I-T returns. What's underway is a line-wise reconciliation of the two sets of numbers under different heads - house rent allowance, medical insurance, outgo on home loans, tax saving investments under 80c etc.