Today is the last day of September. With tomorrow being October 1, 2021, there are several changes expected to come into play from Friday. These rule changes are best kept in mind going forward into the next calendar month as they affect us all in some way, shape or form in day-to-day life. From a Pension rule change to altered LPG prices, here are the six changes to keep an eye on, going into the next calendar month.
1) Pension Rule: Digital Life Certificate Submission Starting from October 1, 2021, the rules related to the digital life certificate for pensioners will change. For anyone, who is above the age of 80, the rule states that they will have to submit the digital life certificate or proof of life certificate to their Jeevan Pramaan Center at any Head Post Offices in India in order to continue receiving Pension. Citizens have also been given a deadline of November 30, 2021. Due to how vast this undertaking is the Indian Postal Department had also been asked to ensure that the IDs of these Jeevan Pramaan Centers were activated for a smoother process.
2) Chequebook Rule Change From October, the old chequebooks and MICR codes of the three banks will become invalid. Namely, the Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC), United Bank of India and Allahabad Bank. In a series of tweets, all three banks were revealed to be undertaking this change, Allahabad Bank issued one tweet from its official Twitter handle, while OBC’s and United Bank of India’s changes were tweeted from the official account of Punjab National Bank in light of the merger that happened. The notifications informed that the lenders would be halting old chequebooks and pre-existing MICR codes and IFSC codes come October if they were not updated by that time. It is important that you get these things renewed with your respective bank branches if you are a customer.
3) Auto Debit Facility: Additional Factor Authentication As per a mandate issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the facility for auto-debit from your credit/debit card will see some changes from the next calendar month. All banks will have to carry out ‘Additional Factor Authentication’ (AFA), which means that monthly bills and auto-paid bills will now have to be verified by the customer and approved 24 hours ahead of the transaction. This notification will be sent to you via SMS or E-mail and only once confirmed will the payment be deducted from your account.
4) Investment Rule Changes The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) had brought in a new rule to better secure the interest of mutual fund investors. This rule will apply to junior employees who work in Asset Under Management (AMC) ie Mutual Fund House. Junior employees of asset under management companies will have to invest 10 per cent of their gross salary in units of that mutual fund with effect from October 1, 2021. As it is a phase-wise change in place, in October 2023, these employees will have to invest 20 per cent of their salary.
5) LPG Prices As it does every month, the price of LPG gas cylinders will change once they undergo their monthly revision by the state-owned oil companies. If the recent trend was any indication, it could mean that customers could see another hike in the cooking gas cylinders from October 1 onwards. However, this is not confirmed and only time will tell what the change really means for the rates. New prices of domestic LPG and commercial cylinders are fixed on a monthly basis.
6) Private Liquor Shops Starting October 2021, private liquor stores will close until November 16, 2021. Government stores will be operational though. Deputy CM Manish Sisodia said that under the new excise policy, the process of allotment of licenses has been done by dividing the capital into 32 zones. Only shops that come under the new policy will be allowed to operate from November 17 onwards.
