Hyderabad: Here are some of the changes in the banking and economic sector that will be take place from January 1, 2024.
- Enter revised bank locker agreements: RBI has set the deadline as December 31 for customers to sign revised bank locker agreements. If locker holders fail to do so, their lockers will be frozen.
- Time running out for filing I-T returns: If you have not yet filed your income tax returns (ITRs) for the fiscal year 2022-23 (AY 2023-24), your last chance to file them is December 31. While this is the last date for filing belated returns, it comes with penalty for late filing which stands at Rs 5,000 (or Rs 1,000 if income is less than Rs 5 lakh). December 31 is also the last date for you to file your revised returns for any changes to original returns.
- Update nominations in Demat accounts, MFS: For those of you into online stock trading or investing through mutual funds (MFs), Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has extended the deadline for demat and MF account holders to provide a nomination to June 30 next year. Earlier, the deadline to nominate a beneficiary or opt out of it by submitting a declaration form was December 31, 2023.
- Get ready to pay for Aadhaar card updations: If you want to make any changes online in your Aadhaar card, you have only till December 31 to do so without any cost. From January 1, a charge of Rs 50 will be imposed for requesting change in any field of Aadhaar.
- Inactive UPI IDs will be disabled- As per a November circular by the National Payments Corporation of India, banks and payment apps such as Google Pay, Paytm should disable UPI IDs of customers who have not undertaken any UPI transactions for one year or more. Customers, who have not been active on UPI for one year or more as of December 31, will not be able to receive funds on their UPI IDs from January 1.
- Digital KYC process to fetch new sim cards: Starting January 1, the Department of Telecommunications is doing away with paper-based KYC for SIM cards. Customers need not fill paper forms for acquiring new SIMs and can go through an Aadhaar-enabled digital KYC process to get new SIM cards.
- Insurers to provide revised explainers for policies: To help policyholders cut through the technical legalese and better understand terms of the policy, insurance companies will have to provide key features of policies to policyholders in a prescribed format, starting January 1. The regulator Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has revised the existing customer information sheet to make terms clearer.
- Brace yourself for increased car prices: A slew of automotive giants, including Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai, Mercedes and Audi, have announced price hikes on their cars, with effect from January 1, due to inflationary pressures and increase in commodity prices.
- Sending parcels to get costlier: DHL Group that operates express logistics brands, including Blue Dart, has announced a general price increase of around 7 per cent with effect from January 1, making it costlier for customers to send consignments through the shipping giant.
- New CEO set to take over at Kotak Mahindra Bank: Ashok Vaswani officially starts his stint as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Kotak Mahindra Bank for a period of three years with effect from January 1, after founder-CEO Uday Kotak stepped down four months ahead of his retirement.
- Earliest Mickey, Minnie mouse versions set to enter public domain: The earliest versions of the 1928 film Steamboat Willie along with the original versions of Mickey and Minnie Mouse that featured in it are set to enter the public domain on January 1. The copyright on the Disney characters expires on December 31, and this will be the first time ever they will be available for use by cartoonists, filmmakers, authors and any one else who wishes to use them.
