News and Updates

MUMBAI REAL ESTATE: 5 LOCATIONS THAT HAVE RESTRICTIONS ON CONSTRUCTION OF PROPERTY PROJECTS

There are several localities in Mumbai where restrictions on construction are in place either due to the presence of defence facilities or environmental rules.

Now buy commercial real estate in leading metros for less than Rs. 300 a day | Here’s how

Fractional ownership is redefining the rules of real estate in the country. The Indian real estate market is undergoing a whole range of shifts in terms of developments, investments, government reforms, and consumer behavior.

CENTRAL GOVT EMPLOYEES, PRIVATE EMPLOYEES CAN'T CLAIM LTA IF THEY DON'T FOLLOW THESE RULES; LTA ELIGIBILITY, OTHER LATEST UPDATES

LTA for central govt employees: Employers offer Leave Travel Allowance (LTA) to offset travel expenses during leave. It covers airfare, train tickets, or public transport, but reimbursement is capped by employer or tax limits. Confusions arise, especially with air travel. Here's a breakdown: Can you claim LTA with a confirmed flight ticket? Does the booking platform matter? Is family included? What documents are required for flight-based LTA claims?

Despite challenges, redevelopment projects in Mumbai are a honeypot for builders

The biggest and most ambitious redevelopment project in the city is that of Dharavi slum cluster, which is being undertaken by the Adani group, at a total cost of $3 billion.

Investing in real estate? Here’s why non-metro cities are your golden ticket!

Tier-2 cities are surpassing traditional metros in terms of economic growth, driven by a variety of sectors such as manufacturing, IT, education, and healthcare. For instance, Nagpur is experiencing growth in manufacturing, logistics, and IT, while Surat is advancing in textiles, petrochemicals, and IT industries.

FED MEETING OUTCOME TODAY: HOW IT MAY IMPACT INDIAN STOCK MARKET

Federal Reserve's decisions, especially on interest rates, have a profound impact on global markets, including India. Chair Jerome Powell, could chalk out a future trajectory, without any rate cuts this year, or bring it down from the three rate cuts the other Fed officials were projecting. Young retail Indian investors can mistakenly treat these macroeconomic developments lightly, believing instead that it won’t have an impact on the Indian markets. But that would be a costly blunder.

4 WAYS BANKS ARE OVERCHARGING BORROWERS ON LOAN INTEREST RATES, AS PER RBI

Date for interest charging by banks: The Reserve Bank of India did an onsite review of banks and other financial institutions to check how lenders are charging interest on loans issued to borrowers. The central bank found four instances where banks were following unfair lending practices. Read on to know more about this and what RBI has asked banks to do.

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 cause 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 the 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 the 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 an 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.