New Rules for FASTags, IMPS Transactions, And Pension Into Effect from 1st February

Numerous modifications in the finance sector took place when our Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman delivered the temporary budget in the parliament. Many authorities have been circulating the updates concerning planned adaptations, the majority of whom will take effect from February 1. Parties like investors, account holders, and other institutions involved in the financial actions will be affected. To make a plethora of people’s lives easier, one of the vital changes is to restrict sending bulk emails.

No more FASTags without KYC

Car owners who have not done KYC for their FASTags will be restricted from using them to pay for their electronic purchases on the toll plazas on the highways, with effect from February 1, according to new guidelines of National Highway Authorities of India (NHIA). 31 January 2024 is the last day for completion using FASTags, prepaid car tax. Through this, traffic will move smoothly without blocking the toll booths. It is a normal credit-card-sized paper attached to the windscreen.

Introducing new IMPS rules

The IMPS quick payment service is simplified by the National Payments Corporation Of India (NPCI) which makes it easier to transfer money now. The Circular passed on 31 October 2023 by NPCI, says that consumers can use any IMPS channel to Pay and receive money by utilizing their 2 things which are bank name and mobile number. The transaction limit is up to 5 lakh rupees. From 31^st January 2024, all member banks are ordered to follow the directive strictly.

Sovereign Gold Bond 2023-2024 Series 4 issue

The RBI will announce the last batch of Sovereign Gold Bonds in February 2024 for the 2023-2024 series. A press release on the subject in December 2023 appeared on the Press Information Bureau (PIB) website. On February 12, 2024, the program will start and it will finish on February 16, 2024.

Changed pension rules

In December 2023, the PFRDA issued a master circular that contains numerous changes to the National Pension System (NPS) withdrawal rules. New rules are implemented from today. The terms for making half withdrawals of funds from the pension accounts have been changed by the most preferred suggestions. The stipulate that followers may have requested to withdraw partially, among other items, the acquisition or building of a residential home or flat in their name or joint name with the legal spouse, higher education expenditures for their children( can be legally adopted child too), and the marriage expenses for their child. In particular, the only purposes for which withdrawals will be permitted are initial house construction or any purchase.

Email authentication changes are also applied from February 1, 2024. Parties sending loads of emails to Yahoo or Google have to apply to an email domain that sends over 5000 emails daily. If the sender’s services wish to keep sending emails then they have to be DMARC complaint. The sender’s authorities have to keep the spam rate below 0.3%.