PhonePe maintains market leadership in digital payments

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PhonePe said it continues to maintain its market leadership with 97 crore UPI transactions processed in February. In all, it processed 107 crore transactions across UPI, cards and wallets last month.

“PhonePe processed more than a billion transactions for the third consecutive month in February and continues to lead the digital payments market across UPI, credit and debit card and wallets in India,” the company said in a statement.

It attributed its growth to the rapid expansion in offline payments across Tier 2, Tier 3 cities, having already digitised over 17.5 million kiranas.

“The company had previously announced its plans to digitise 25 million kiranas by the end of 2021,” it said.

As many as 229 crore transactions worth ₹4.25 lakh crore were processed through the Unified Payments Interface in February this year, according to data released by the National Payments Corporation of India on March 1.

“I am very proud to report that PhonePe is leading across all core industry metrics – active users, active merchant, total transactions and TPV,” said Sameer Nigam, Founder and CEO, PhonePe.

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Ways To Reduce Tax Outgo Under Income Tax Act 1961

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Exemptions under section 80C

This is among the most popular deductions available under tax law. Section 80C of the Income Tax Act of 1961 allows individuals to claim a tax benefit of Rs 1.5 lakh. You can subtract Rs 1.5 lakh from your gross taxable income if you can disclose annual investments of rs 1.5 lakh. Tax-saving Fixed Deposits, Public Provident Fund (PPF), ELSS, National Saving Certificate (NSC), tuition fees, life insurance premiums, National Pension Scheme (NPS), home loan reimbursement, EPF, Senior Citizens’ Savings Scheme, and Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana are some of the initiatives that are eligible for deduction.

Additional exemptions under section 80CCD (1B)

Additional exemptions under section 80CCD (1B)

You can deduct an additional Rs 50,000 for contributions to the National Pension System under Section 80CCD (1B) in addition to the Rs 1.5 lakh under Section 80C. (NPS). Individuals can invest in both equity and debt funds under this scheme, which lets them create a retirement portfolio. At the age of 60, the entire amount can be withdrawn.

Exemptions under section 80E

Exemptions under section 80E

Under this clause, you can claim a tax exemption for interest paid on an education loan for yourself, your spouse, your children, or any student for whom you are a legal guardian. There is no limit on the amount that can be claimed as a deduction in a given year. You can seek the exemption from the year you begin repaying the education loan and lasting for the next seven years, or until the entire interest is paid, whichever comes first. Furthermore, this tax exemption is only possible if the loan is borrowed by an authorized financial institution rather than a family member or friend.

Exemptions under section 80D

Exemptions under section 80D

An individual or a HUF can seek an exemption of Rs 25,000 for medical insurance premiums paid in a calendar year. Health insurance premiums paid for yourself, your spouse, your children, and your parents can all be deductible. It’s worth remembering that, if your parents aren’t senior citizens, you can get an additional deduction for their insurance up to Rs 25,000. (above the age of 60). The exemption amount is expanded to Rs 50,000 if the parents are over 60 years old. The overall exemption available in a case where both the taxpayer and the parents are above the age of 60 is Rs 1,00,000. In addition, Section 80(D) allows an exemption of Rs 5,000 for preventive check-ups conducted on the taxpayer, spouse, minor children, and parents during the subsequent year. You can also look at some sections for additional deductions, such as Section 80(DD), Section 80(DDB), and Section 80(U) respectively.

Exemptions under section 24

Exemptions under section 24

You can seek an interest payable as a tax deduction under Section 24 of the Income Tax Act if you have an existing home loan. The overall amount that can be claimed as a deduction is Rs 2 lakh per annum. Besides that, under Section 80(EE) of the I-T Act, you can claim an additional deduction of Rs 50,000 in addition to Rs 2,00,000. There are, however, certain requirements that must be fulfilled in order to assert this additional deduction. If the property is rented, and you have not owned it, there is no upper ceiling, and you can subtract the full interest rate as a tax break. The stamp duty value of the house must be less than Rs 45 lakh in order to be eligible for this deduction. In addition, the home loan must be issued between April 1-2019, and March 31, 2020.

Exemption against interest earned on savings accounts

Exemption against interest earned on savings accounts

An individual or a HUF can claim a total exemption of Rs 10,000 for interest income from a bank, co-operative society, or post office savings account. Clearly speaking, under Section 80TTA of the Income Tax Act, interest on savings accounts is tax-free up to Rs 10,000 annually. And there’s Section 80 (TTB), which enables senior citizens to claim a deduction of up to Rs 50,000 from interest income.

Exemption against donations

To raise your tax benefit you can also contribute or donate to charities. Various contributions listed under Section 80(G) of the Tax Code are liable for a 100% or 50% deduction. Individuals must be aware, though, that cash contributions above Rs 2,000 are not liable for tax deductions. As a result, making contributions via digital forms is preferable since they would be liable for a tax exemption under Section 80. (G).

Exemption under section 80GG

If you do not get a house rent allowance (HRA) as part of your salary or if you are self-employed, you can claim this exemption. To take advantage of this deduction, you need to fill out Form 10BA. This clause enables you to claim a deduction of up to Rs 60,000.



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Reserve Bank of India – Press Releases

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April 14, 2015





Dear All




Welcome to the refurbished site of the Reserve Bank of India.





The two most important features of the site are: One, in addition to the default site, the refurbished site also has all the information bifurcated functionwise; two, a much improved search – well, at least we think so but you be the judge.





With this makeover, we also take a small step into social media. We will now use Twitter (albeit one way) to send out alerts on the announcements we make and YouTube to place in public domain our press conferences, interviews of our top management, events, such as, town halls and of course, some films aimed at consumer literacy.




The site can be accessed through most browsers and devices; it also meets accessibility standards.



Please save the url of the refurbished site in your favourites as we will give up the existing site shortly and register or re-register yourselves for receiving RSS feeds for uninterrupted alerts from the Reserve Bank.



Do feel free to give us your feedback by clicking on the feedback button on the right hand corner of the refurbished site.



Thank you for your continued support.




Department of Communication

Reserve Bank of India


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Reserve Bank of India – Tenders

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The Pre-bid meeting for the captioned tender was held on February 26, 2021 from 12:30 pm to 01:00 PM in DGM, HRMDs cabin, First Floor, RBI, Jammu under social distancing norms. The meeting was chaired by Sh. Pranab Mohanty, Deputy General Manager, HRMD, RBI, Jammu. Officials from HRMD, Reserve Bank of India, Jammu and representative of one prospective bidder participated in the meeting. The list of participants is as per Annex-I.

2. At the outset, DGM welcomed the participants and discussed the agenda points (as per Table). Thereafter, queries were invited from the prospective bidder regarding the captioned tender. The queries raised by the prospective bidders during the meeting along with our clarifications and comments are mentioned in the table below.

S.No. Agenda Points / Query Comments / Clarification
1. Will the wages to be paid to the workers (deployed in tea/coffee canteen) be revised as and when minimum wages are increased or kept same for the period of the contract? It was clarified that as and when the minimum wages are revised by the Government of India, the agency has to notify the Bank and the same will be reimbursed by the Bank.

As per the notification Order dated October 12, 2020 issued by Office of Chief Labour Commissioner (C), Ministry of Labour and Employment, New Delhi, the current wages per day in Area B for semi-skilled workers is Rs. 603/- (Wage Rs. 494 + VDA Rs. 109) and that of unskilled workers is Rs. 534/- (Wage Rs. 437 + VDA Rs. 97/-).

2. Clarification was sought regarding number of persons in the tea/coffee canteen.

Can the number of persons to be deployed in the tea canteen (to whom minimum wages will be paid by the Bank) be increased from three as mentioned in the tender document?

It was clarified that the number of persons to be deployed in the tea canteen shall remain same (i.e three) as mentioned in the tender document.

However, increasing the number of persons to be deployed in tea/coffee canteen may be considered at a later stage depending upon the requirements of the office.


Annex-I

Details of Participants: Pre-bid meeting held on February 26, 2021

The following Bank’s officials and representative of prospective bidder were present during the pre-bid meeting:

Sr No. Name and Designation of RBI Officials
1. Sh. Pranab Mohanty, Deputy General Manager
2. Sh. Debojit Barua, Manager
3. Sh. Anuj Raina, Assistant Manager

Prospective Bidders’ Representatives present during the pre-bid meeting:

Sr No. Prospective Bidder firm Representative Name
1. M/S Ranjeet Caterers. Sh. Kiranjeet Singh

Note: This document shall form a part of the tender. All other terms & conditions will be as per the tender document.

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UPI volume, value contract for first time in 10 months even as YoY growth nearly doubles

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UPI transactions had exited 2020 with the Rs 4-lakh-crore value mark in December.

Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transaction volume and value have witnessed a contraction in February 2021 — the first time since April last year. From 2302.73 million transactions involving Rs 4,31,181.89 crore processed in January 2021, the number of transactions declined to 2,292.90 million worth Rs 4,25,062.76 crore in February 2021, according to the data from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). UPI transactions in April last year had declined to 999.57 million amounting to Rs 1,51,140.66 crore from 1,246.84 million transactions worth Rs 2,06,462.31 crore in the preceding month.

However, the year-on-year growth in UPI transactions stood at 73 per cent in February 2021 even as the value nearly doubled by 91 per cent. February 2020 volume stood at 1,325.69 million transactions worth Rs 2,22,516.95 crore. The number of banks going live on UPI also increased from 146 in February 2020 to 213 in February 2020. UPI transactions had ended 2020 on a high note with the total value storming past the Rs 4-lakh-crore mark in December to Rs 4.16 lakh crore across 2,234.16 million transactions.

Also read: IPO-bound Flipkart rejigs leadership; appoints Unilever veteran Hemant Badri as Senior VP Supply Chain

While the NPCI is yet to release bank and app-wise data for their February UPI transactions, Walmart-owned PhonePe had remained the leading UPI-app in terms of volume and value in January 2021. The company had processed 968.72 million transactions involving nearly Rs 1.92 lakh crore. In fact, PhonePe’s volume was over 100 million transactions higher than Google Pay’s 853.53 million transactions worth Rs 1.77 lakh crore. On the other hand, Paytm Payments Bank had remained the distant third player with a volume of 332.69 million worth Rs 37,845.76 crore. The combined transaction volume of the three leading UPI apps stood at 93.5 per cent share of the total January volume of 2,302.73 million while the value share stood at 94.5 per cent of Rs 4.31 lakh crore.

Importantly, among India’s top 30 UPI remitter banks witnessing UPI transaction failures due to technical reasons, public sector lender Union Bank of India had the highest failure in January. From 10.75 per cent technical decline (TD) in December, the failure rate jumped to 12.89 per cent in January for Union Bank of India. Andhra Bank and Indian Bank recorded the second and third highest TD rate of 10.40 per cent and 9.83 per cent respectively in January.

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Ten reasons why banks are reluctant to lend to big corporate houses, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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A few years back, big corporates were the cynosure of the banking sector and were given red carpet treatment while the small borrowers had to fret it out.

However, the ballooning of bad loans by big corporates and the opening up of other lending avenues have turned tables on India Inc.

Credit to industry contracted by 1.3 per cent in January 2021 as compared to 2.5 per cent growth in January 2020 mainly due to contraction in credit to large industries by 2.5 per cent (2.8 per cent growth in January 2020). The outstanding bank credit to large industries declined by Rs 59,610 crore on a year-on-year basis to Rs 22.78 lakh crore as on January 29, 2021, according to the latest RBI data.

So what makes banks shun large corporates?

1. The binding constraint for lending has not been liquidity or interest rates, but risk aversion by bankers, who have been burnt in episodes like DHFL, HDIL, where thousands of crores went kaput.

2. Indian banks are already saddled with one of the world’s worst bad-loan ratios, and are naturally reluctant to add to those risks.

3. Economic activity is still in the doldrums, though it is showing signs of improvement of late, which makes risk assessment difficult.

4. Fresh slippages in the December quarter have risen sequentially, with the top ten lenders by the size of their loan book, adding close to Rs 80,000 crore in slippages during the December quarter.

5. Banks have other avenues to lend. Disbursements under the emergency credit line guarantee scheme was at Rs 1.6 lakh crore, and banks deployed around at Rs 1.4 lakh crore through the targeted long-term repo operation and partial credit guarantee scheme, which served as credit substitutes. These credit is guaranteed by the government and less risky.

6. Fear of prosecution of bank officials if the credit decision goes wrong has also kept banks away from lending huge amounts to corporates.

7. Long gestation periods, the uncertainty of returns and cost overruns that saw fortunes of many top corporate houses dwindle is also keeping banks away.

8. Having burnt their fingers by lending astronomical amounts to large business groups, lenders such as YES Bank intend to stay away from large corporate businesses and rebuild loan book in the mid- and small-corporate segment.

9. Also, there are not enough opportunities as the corporate sector, which account for 49% of the overall bank credit, has put their capital expenditure plans on the back burner.

10. Success of the likes of HDFC Bank in building retail loans has drawn other banks to it. Retail loans are typically secured and risk is evenly spread.



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Reserve Bank of India – Tenders

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1. Applications are invited from suppliers having permanent establishment or agency at Jammu, who are engaged in supply of stationery items, computer consumables, printed materials and rubber stamps etc. for a period of not less than 5 years. The applicant should have valid GSTIN and PAN etc.

2. Application form can be obtained from Central Receipt and Dispatch Section, HRMD, Reserve Bank of India, Railhead Complex, Jammu-180012 from 10.00 am to 4.00 pm on week days (Monday to Friday). It can also be downloaded from the Bank’s website www.rbi.org.in under the link ‘Tenders’.

3. Applications may be submitted in the prescribed format in sealed covers titled “Empanelment for supply and Printing of stationery- 2021-2024” to The Regional Director, Reserve Bank of India, Railhead Complex, Jammu. Last date of submission of application is 23.03.2021 up to 04.00 pm.

4. Corrigenda or clarifications, if any, shall be hosted on the above-mentioned website only. RBI reserves the right to accept or reject any/all the applications without assigning any reason.

Regional Director
Reserve Bank of India
Jammu

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Bank loan growth likely to double next fiscal, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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Bank loans are growing at a slower pace while deposits are clipping ahead fast.

The non-food bank credit grew at 5.7% in January 2021 as against an increase of 8.5 per cent in the same month last year, according to RBI data.

As on February 12, outstanding bank loans stood at over Rs 107 lakh crore, which was up 6.6% on year. However, on a fortnightly basis, outstanding loans fell by Rs 1,040 crore between January 29 and February 12.

The contraction

Loans to industry contracted by 1.3% in the reporting month as compared to 2.5%growth in the same period last year, mainly due to contraction in credit to large industries, the data showed.

Credit growth to the services sector decelerated year-on-year moderately to 8.4% in January 2021 from 8.9%.

However, credit to transport operators and trade continued to perform well during the month, registering accelerated growth.

Personal loans growth decelerated by 9.1% in January 2021 compared to 16.9% a year ago, the data showed.

Deposits

However, deposits are going strong as people tend to save money during uncertain times.

As on February 12, bank deposits stood at nearly Rs 148 lakh crore, up 11.8% on year, while investment by banks was 17.9% higher at close to Rs 45 lakh crore.

Due to lower credit demand, banks were forced to park their surplus deposits in investments such as government bonds and corporate debt papers.

Why the drop?

Experts say credit growth has been supported for the last few months by retail loans, especially home loans, along with disbursements to micro, small and medium enterprises under the government’s Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme.

However, companies have restricted their borrowing from banks and some are tapping the bond market for their credit requirements.

Also, the availability of low-cost funds under the RBI’s targeted long-term operations has hit credit growth.

According to CRISIL Ratings, corporate credit growth is likely to contract this financial year as the companies have put capital expenditure on the back burner.

The silver lining

Bank credit is expected to grow at a higher pace during the next fiscal by at least 9% to 10%. This is in contrast to the bank credit growth which was seen rising at around 4% to 5%, despite the Covid-induced contraction.



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Kotak Mahindra Bank cuts interest rate on home loans by 10 bps to 6.65 per cent

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Kotak Mahindra Bank has announced a further reduction in its home loan interest rates by 10 basis points to 6.65 per cent per annum. This came into effect from March 1.

“This is a special rate that is applicable till March 31, 2021 and is the lowest rate in the home loan market,” the bank said in a statement, adding that the rate is applicable across all loan amounts.

Ambuj Chandna, President, Consumer Assets, Kotak Mahindra Bank said, “Kotak continues to set the pace as the price leader in the home loan market and we are delighted to offer consumers a special year-end bonus in the form of even lower home loan interest rates. This is indeed the best time to buy a home.”

Earlier on Monday, State Bank of India had cut rates by up to 70 basis points with interest rates starting from 6.70 per cent onwards till March 31, 2021.

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Reserve Bank of India – Tenders

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E-Tender No. RBI/Kochi/Estate/383/20-21/ET/586

The pre-bid meeting for the captioned Tender was held at 15:00 hrs on February 26, 2021 as per the schedule of tender at the Conference hall in the Office Building of Reserve Bank of India, Ernakulam North, Kochi – 682018, by maintaining social distancing and as per COVID-19 protocols.

Shri. S Ravindran, Assistant General Manager (Premises), Shri. Baby Mathew, Manager (HRMD), Shri. Harikrishnan P M, Assistant, and Smt. Reshma Sajeev, Assistant, were present from Bank’s side and the representatives from the companies / agencies as per the list attached in Annex, participated in the meeting.

Shri. S Ravindran, Assistant General Manager (Premises), welcomed all participants to the meeting and invited for queries, if any, from the prospective bidders regarding the captioned tender.

Details of queries raised by representatives of various companies / agencies and clarification / comments / corrigendum of the Bank are tabulated below.

Sl. No. Query Comments / Corrigendum by the Bank
1. What are the different categories under which the workers are considered for Basic Wages and variable Dearness Allowance Minimum wages and / or Variable Dearness Allowance will be revised as per the Notification issued by the Chief Labour Commissioner (Central), Ministry of Labour & Employment from time to time with i.e. effective from 1st April and 1st October every year, for ‘Industrial Workers’ – ‘CONSTRUCTION OR MAINTENANCE OF ROADS OR RUNWAYS OR IN BUILDING OPERATIONS INCLUDING ….….’ for ‘Area B’. The ‘Supervisor / Dy. Supervisor’ shall be considered under the category ‘Skilled / Clerical’; the ‘Cooks’ shall be considered under the category ‘Semi-Skilled / Unskilled Supervisory’ and the ‘Helper cum Housekeeper cum Attendants’ shall be considered under the category ‘Unskilled’ based on the nature of duties entrusted to them. The bidders shall keep in mind the latest wage structure while offering rates.
2. Whether Bank will revise the amount quoted under Serial Number 1 of the Financial Bid i.e. Amount for Basic Wages and Variable Dearness Allowance (VDA) The Bank will accept the Contractor’s claim for revision of the amount quoted only under Serial Number ‘1’ of the Financial bid only when changes in the components of Minimum rates of wages viz. the Basic rates and Variable Dearness Allowance (VDA), are announced by the Government of India under the Minimum Wages Act / The Code on Wages, 2019, whichever is relevant. Refer para “4.49” of the tender document for more details. However, there will not be any limit in revision of the amounts quoted under serial number 1 of the financial bid.

Accordingly, para “4.49” in page number 23 of 46, stands corrected / amended as given below:

“The quote offered by the contractor in the financial bid shall be firm and final and the Bank will not entertain the Contractor’s claim for revision of rates during the currency of contract except when changes in the components of Minimum rates of wages viz. the Basic rates and Variable Dearness Allowance (VDA), are announced by the Government of India under the Minimum Wages Act / The Code on Wages, 2019, whichever is relevant. The amount of such hike in monthly contract amount, proportional to the monthly duties, will be restricted only to the increase in Basic rates and Variable Dearness Allowance (VDA). Any other components which form part of wages or allowance which are statutory in nature viz. EPF, ESI, Bonus etc. which are dependent on the Basic rates and/or Variable Dearness Allowance (VDA) will not be considered by the Bank for the revision in monthly contract. The contractor shall keep in mind the possible escalation of these statutory components other than Basic rates plus VDA and offer their best rates in such a way as to accommodate these incremental costs under Serial number ‘2’ of the financial Bid. The revision in monthly bill amount will be restricted to the amount quoted under serial number ‘1’ of the financial bid and the revision will be done only proportionally to the increase in basic rates and variable dearness allowance (VDA) parts of the wages. The decision of the Bank in the matter will be final.”

3. Whether Bank will revise the amount quoted under Serial Number 2 of the Financial Bid. The Bank will not revise the amount quoted under Serial Number 2 of the Financial Bid, during the currency of the contract. However, at the time of renewal of the contract, if any, the Bank may consider revision in service charge component (Serial No. 2 of the Financial Bid) of the contract amount, and it will be restricted based on Consumer Price Indices for Industrial Workers (CPI-IW).
4. The cost for which all materials will be reimbursed by the Bank. The cost of Welcome Kit, Mineral Water, Newspapers and Tea/Coffee Kit only will be reimbursed by the Bank. Refer para 5.16 of tender document for more details.

All other materials like cleaning materials, detergents, disinfectants, equipment, machinery, cooking gas etc. must be procured at the contractor’s cost. The charges for the same shall be included under serial number ‘2’ of financial bid.

5. Which brands of cleaning materials etc are to be used. The Contractor may utilize only the approved (by the Bank) brands of cleaning materials / chemicals for housekeeping / cleaning works as detailed below.
a) Cleaning of floors, tiles, water closets / toilet bowls, urinal pots, washrooms and other surfaces: Halide Chemicals, Lizol, Presto, Domex, Care Clean, Harpic, RevaChem, Tasky/Diversey, Schevaran, Sanifresh or any equivalent BIS certified and eco-friendly products.
b) Hand Wash Liquid: Godrej, Palmolive, Dettol, Lifebuoy or equivalent.
c) Air Fresheners: Godrej, Odonil, Airwick or equivalent.
d) Glass cleaners: Halide Chemicals, Colin or equivalent.
e) All other consumables / detergents / chemicals, for any other housekeeping / cleaning works, shall be of standard quality and approved by the Bank.
f) The quantity used for the same may be as per the manufacturer’s specifications.
g) It may be noted that the Bank reserves the right to amend the list of approved brands and also instruct to use any other brands other than the ones specified above for any of the housekeeping / cleaning works from time to time.

In this connection, the following amendments / corrigenda in the Tender document is notified:

1. The wordings and figures under Para “5.5.6.” in page number 28 of 46, of the tender document, shall be replaced by the following:

“Room fresheners and deodorants (of reputed and approved brands) are to be made available in all the rooms, toilets, lounges and all common toilets. Hand wash liquids of approved brands also has to be made available in all common wash basins. All the above may be replenished immediately by the Agency whenever required and the cost may be borne by the agency.”

19. Whether any relaxation in EMD available for NSIC / MSME / MSE registered agencies No.

The meeting concluded by 15:30 hrs.

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