RBI’s new auto-debit rule, pension norms: 9 changes that will set in from October 1 – Times of India

NEW DELHI: From pension rules to the new auto-debit guidelines and discontinuation of cheque books of certain banks, a slew of changes are set to come into effect from Friday.
Most changes will have a direct impact on the day-to-day lives of the people.

New auto-debit rules will come into effect from today as the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) extended deadline to implement the guidelines comes to an end.
There will be no automatic recurring payments for services like recharge, utility bill as the additional factor of authentication (AFA) has now become mandatory.
To ensure safety and security of card transactions, the central bank had, in December last year, directed all banks that processing of recurring transactions (domestic or cross-border) using cards or Prepaid Payment Instruments (PPIs) or Unified Payments Interface (UPI) under arrangements/practices not compliant with AFA would not be continued beyond March 31, 2021.
However, non-readiness of some of the players had forced the RBI to extend the deadline on recurring payment till September 30.
The rule is applicable to all types of recurring payments like utility bills, phone recharge, DTH and OTT, among others.
As per the guidelines, banks will send a one-time password (OTP) to customers for payments above Rs 5,000.

* Pension rules

To keep receiving their pension amount on time, all pensioners need to submit a life certificate every year to the authorised pension disbursing agencies like banks, post offices and the like or else they won’t receive the money.
The new rule that comes into effect from today allows every eligible person above the age of 80 years to submit their digital life certificate at Jeevan Praman Centres of their respective post offices.
Last date to submit these digital certificates is November 30.
Digital life certificates for pensioners scheme — also known as Jeevan Pramaan — has been initiated by the government of India to digitise the whole process of securing a life certificate.
Unlike before, pensioners are not required to be physically present in front of the pension disbursing agency or the certification authority.
It uses the Aadhaar platform for biometric authentication of the pensioners.

* Cheque books of 3 PSU banks will become invalid

Customers of Allahabad Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) and Union Bank of India (UBI) will have to apply for new cheque books as the existing ones will become invalid from today.
As the government announced its mega bank merger drive in August 2019, ten public sector undertakings (PSUs) were merged into four large entities.
As part of the plan, Allahabad Bank was merged with Indian Bank; Oriental Bank of Commerce and Union Bank of India were merged into Punjab National Bank (PNB).
Both Indian Bank and PNB have been urging customers of the banks that merged into them to issue new cheque books.

In addition, customers also need to update their pre-existing MICR magnetic ink character recognition (MICR) and Indian financial system codes (IFSC) as they will be halted if not updated.

* Private liquor shops in Delhi to be shut for a month

Around 40 per cent liquor vends in the national capital that are run privately will shut down from today due to the new excise policy of the Delhi government.
Under the new policy, all the 850 liquor vends, including the 260-odd outlets that are run privately, have been given to private firms through open tender.
The new licence holders will start retail sale of liquor in the city from November 17.
In the transition period of nearly one-and-half month, only government-run liquor vends will remain open. The government vends will close down on November 16.

* Sebi rules for new trading accounts

Investors who open a new trading and demat account from October 1 now have the choice of providing nomination or opting out nomination.
The existing holders of such accounts will need to provide choice of nomination by March 31, 2022. In case they fail to do so, their demat accounts will be frozen.
As per the new guidelines issued by Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), from October 1, all trading members and depository participants will activate new trading and demat accounts only upon receipt of the requisite forms.
The market regulator has issued a format for nomination form and opting out of nomination through a declaration form.

* Nationwide clean India campaign

The government’s month-long Clean India Drive will begin from today. The programme focuses mainly on removing single use plastic and other waste.
Announcing the drive, Union minister Anurag Thakur said that it will be the largest cleanliness drive with more than 75 lakh tonnes of waste, primarily plastic waste from different parts of the country will be collected and further processed in a ‘waste to wealth’ model.

* New Sebi rule for Mutual Fund investments

Apart from this, Sebi has mandated that all designated employees of asset management companies (AMC) be paid up to 20 per cent of their monthly compensation in units of the mutual fund schemes in which they have a role or oversight.
All junior employees below the age of 35 years will have to invest 10 per cent of their salary in the first year and 15 per cent in the second year of implementation in schemes which they manage in a phased manner.
Other employees will be required to invest 20 per cent of their monthly compensation in MF schemes they manage from the current year itself.
In other words, 10 per cent of salary will be invested from October 1, 2021 to September 30, 2022 and 15 per cent from October 1, 2022 to September 30, 2023. They will also need to increase such investment to 20 per cent from October 1, 2023 onwards.

* Ordnance Factory board to be dissolved

The Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) will be dissolved with effect from today and split into 7 PSUs.
On June 16, the Union Cabinet had approved splitting of the OFB into 7 fully government-owned corporate entities to improve its functioning as the main supplier of arms, ammunition and clothing to the armed forces.
The OFB was an entity of the defence ministry and supplied critical arms and ammunition to the three armed forces and the paramilitary.
All 41 factories, assets, employees and management are being transferred to these 7 new PSUs.
The new defence PSUs will be known as Munitions India Ltd, Armoured Vehicles Nigam Ltd, Advanced Weapons and Equipment India Ltd, Troop Comforts Ltd, Yantra India Ltd, India Optel Ltd and Gliders India Ltd.

* FBOs need to declare FSSAI license number on all invoices

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has urged food business operators (FBO) to print their 14-digit registration and license numbers from today on all bills and invoices.
FSSAI number is available on all packed foods. But, mentioning the licence and registration number will ensure that FBOs get themselves registered with FSSAI in case they haven’t done it yet.
This will also help consumers to raise complaints with the food security department if they are not happy with quality of food.
Consumers can access information about a particular food business as it will be publically available at FSSAI’s portal.
It will also help the regulators to trace the origin of the complaint and attend to it promptly.