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The beginning of every new month brings with it many economic and regulatory changes. From September 1, 7 major rules affecting the daily life and financial management of common citizens, investors, taxpayers and consumers of the country are going to come into effect. These rules, being enforced by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), petroleum companies, major commercial banks and the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), have a direct relation with your savings, kitchen budget, stock market investments and banking facilities. It is important for everyone to be fully aware of all these changes to avoid unintended financial losses or procedural disruptions.
The new revised nomination framework of capital markets regulator SEBI is coming into full effect from September 1. Under this rule, it has been made mandatory to add a nominee in all newly opened single-holder demat accounts and mutual fund folios. If an investor does not wish to add a nominee, he/she must mandatorily submit a formal opt-out declaration in the prescribed format; That means the nomination column can no longer be left blank. Under the new rules, investors can add a maximum of 3 nominees and decide the percentage stake. To simplify the process, SEBI has required only the name and relationship of the nominee as mandatory information, while the requirement of witness at the time of signing the physical form has been removed.
The country’s oil marketing companies (IOCL, BPCL, HPCL) review the prices of LPG on the 1st of every month. New prices for 14.2 kg domestic LPG cylinder and 19 kg commercial cylinder will be released on September 1 at 6 am. There will be revision in prices depending on the trend of international energy market and crude oil. Along with this, it has become extremely important for domestic gas consumers to complete Aadhaar based biometric e-KYC. Consumers who have not done biometric verification by visiting their gas agency may face technical difficulties in getting continuous delivery of cylinders at subsidized and domestic rates.
A major change is being seen in the credit card rules in the banking sector from September 1. Several financial institutions, including American Express, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank and SBI Cards, have revised the milestone reward points and cashback structure offered on their premium and travel credit cards. Reward points on utility bill payments (electricity, water, gas) and rent payments made through third-party apps are being limited or additional transaction fees are being added. Additionally, complimentary airport lounge access is now linked to a minimum spend in the previous month, making cardholders a higher spend limit than before.
The date of September 1 is very important for taxpayers. All returns filed from September 1 after the last date for filing income tax returns without any late fee for non-audited individual taxpayers, freelancers and small businessmen (filing ITR-3 and ITR-4) will fall in the category of ‘Belated ITR’. Taxpayers filing returns under Section 234F of the Income Tax Act from September 1 will have to pay late fee of up to Rs 5,000 and penal interest at the rate of 1 percent per month under Section 234A on the outstanding tax liability.
A new rule is coming into effect from September 1 for large depositors and institutional investors holding fixed deposits (FD) under the guidelines of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). It will now be mandatory for banks to publicly display the daily interest rates offered on bulk deposits of Rs 3 crore or more on their official websites by 10:10 am on every working day. This step will provide real transparency in interest rates to investors, corporates, trust and retail account holders making large FDs and arbitrary bargaining at the branch level will be stopped.
Strict stock limit rules are being implemented by the Ministry of Food and Public Distribution from September 1 to keep sugar prices stable in the domestic market and to prevent hoarding during the festive season. This rule will be applicable to all bulk buyers, confectionery manufacturers, soft drink companies and food processing units who consume more than 10 metric tonnes of sugar per month. From September 1, such bulk consumers will be allowed to keep sugar stock only equal to their 15 days’ requirement. This ban will be effective till November 30, which will impact the operational strategy of sweets, bakery and beverage manufacturers.
A new technical security mechanism is being activated from September 1 in collaboration with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and RBI to prevent financial fraud, fake APK files and phishing calls. Under this, traceability of URLs, APK links and callback numbers present in all promotional and transactional SMS sent to customers by banks, financial institutions and payment aggregators has been made mandatory. Under the whitelisting system of telecom companies, messages without authenticated sender ID and unregistered telemarketing calls will be blocked at the network level, which will make digital banking transactions more secure.
All these changes, which will be implemented from September 1, will directly impact the personal budget, investment discipline and financial security of every citizen of the country. So do not delay in updating the nominee in your demat-mutual fund folio, checking e-KYC of gas connection and managing credit card billing cycle as per the new rules.