Get Heath Cover To Pursue Fitness
Aditya Birla Health Insurance, in partnership with the health club chain Talwalkars, has launched a wellness programme called FIT-Fitness Insured Totally. The programme offers enrolled members a complete fitness package along with an insurance cover for any illness or injury that occurs post enrolment. The health coverage is available with select annual memberships of Talwalkars and does not incur additional cost. The scheme offers personal accident cover of Rs 10 lakh (death and permanent total disablement) and critical illness cover of `1 lakh covering 15 medical conditions.
Partial Withdrawal Made Easy
The Pension Fund Regulatory Development Authority (PFRDA) has relaxed the norms to allow partial withdrawals from NPS accounts. "Partial withdrawals will now be allowed to NPS subscribers who wish to improve their employability or acquire new skills by pursuing higher education/acquiring professional and technical qualifications," PFRDA said in a statement. Its board has also cleared 25 per cent increase in the equity investment cap (from 50 to 75 per cent) for private sector subscribers in the active choice category. However, subscribers can only avail the option until the age of 50.
Banks Raise MCLR
Axis Bank raised its marginal cost of funds-based lending rates (MCLRs) by 10-15 basis points (bps). Its one-year MCLR increased by 10 bps to 8.5 per cent. IDBI Bank also revised its MCLR by 5-10 bps across various tenors while Syndicate Bank and Allahabad Bank raised their one-year MCLR by 5 bps to 8.5 per cent and 8.3 per cent, respectively. Big players such as SBI, PNB, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank had earlier upped their lending rates. As a result, both new borrowers and existing ones paying floating rates will have to shell out more. Lending rates are going up as banks have raised their deposit rates. Other factors include rising oil prices, large government borrowing targets, tight liquidity condition, higher inflation expectation and interest rate hike by the US Federal Reserve.
1.1 crore
Number of subscribers for Atal Pension Yojana (APY), as per Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority. It was launched in May 2015 and the total premium received to date is `3,950 crore while the CAGR, till March 2018, stands at 9.1 per cent. The scheme aims to provide social security to a large labour pool from the unorganised sector by giving a guaranteed minimum pension of `1,000 per month at the age of 60. The amount may go up depending on the individual's contribution. ibc CHANGES
Homebuyers To Get Relief From Defaulting Builders
The government has made amendments in the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) through an ordinance and proposed that homebuyers be classified as "financial creditors". This will bring homebuyers on a par with the lenders. "It is a big relief for homebuyers as they will now have legal rights to claim their hard-earned money back from builders in case the builder goes bankrupt. This is in line with the governments agenda to protect common taxpayers wealth," says Taranpreet Singh, Partner, TASS Advisory. The amendment came 16 months after the IBC was introduced. The Cabinet took the decision on the basis of the recommendations of a government committee that was assigned the task of finding ways to address the difficulties of homebuyers and suggest measures so that it is easier to recover dues from defaulting real estate promoters.
Rupee slides again
The rupee stumbled again, hitting a low of 68.0883 against the U.S. dollar on May 21, 2018, the worst-ever slide since February 2017, according to RBI data. It had earlier breached the 68 level on several occasions. On August 28, 2013, its value fell to 68.3611 a dollar, but it had recovered immediately. Next, it reached a new bottom of 68.7775 on February 26, 2016. There was another slide on November 28, 2016 (right after the demonetisation on November 8), when it reached 68.7235. The key reasons behind the current slide are attributed to rising oil prices and the expected rise in current account deficit due to that, interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve, rising inflation and large government borrowings.