The Finance Ministry has called for urgent Covid-19 vaccination for employees of all banks and the National Payments Corporation of India, irrespective of their age.
In a letter, the Department of Financial Services in the Finance Ministry has asked the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, to consider Covid vaccination on a priority basis for bank and NPCI employees, pointing out that “they are on the frontline and deal with customers and critical infrastructure for seamless banking and payment system”.
Bank employees have worked through the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown. Bank unions have been requesting that bank staff be treated as frontline workers and are vaccinated as early as possible.
The letter comes amidst the second wave of the pandemic and concerns over mutant strains.
Data with the Indian Banks’ Association reveals that there have been 600 deaths due to Covid-19 in the banking industry as of December 31, 2020. The sector has about 13.5 lakh workers.
“Bank employees have played a critical role over the past year in ensuring that bank branches remain open and functional, and are providing the complete suite of banking services to their customers,” the DFS noted in its letter.
NPCI staff, too, have played a critical role, it said.
The DFS has also received representations from the IBA, HDFC Bank and NPCI on the issue.
At present, the Covid-19 vaccination is available for those above 45 years of age.
The Department of Financial Services (DFS) in the Finance Ministry has urged the Union Home and Health Ministries to enable Covid-19 vaccination on priority basis to bank, NPCI employees – who are on the “frontline and dealing with customers and critical infrastructure for seamless banking and payment system”.
This will go a long way in assuring them about the safety of themselves and their families and will boost their morale in continuing to provide their best services to their customers, the DFS said in a communication to the Home and Health Secretaries.
‘Priority groups’
Making a case for inclusion of banking sector staff in the “priority groups” for vaccination, the DFS has highlighted that the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs on Management of Covid-19 pandemic had in their 229th report appreciated the efforts taken by the banking sector for providing uninterrupted banking facilities during the Covid-19 outbreak and the consequent lockdown.
The Committee had, therefore, placed on record the good work done by them and recognised them as Covid-19 warriors, the DFS has said. DFS has also now pointed out that many bank officials in their efforts to provide continuous service had lost their lives.
Reliance on digital banking services
Similarity, as people’s reliance on digital modes of payment increased, it was critical to ensure that electronic and digital payments channels were available seamlessly round the clock for a safe and secure customer experience. Here the NPCI staff played a critical role, the DFS has said.
DFS has said that bank employees had played a critical role over the past one year in ensuring that bank branches remain open and functional, and providing the complete suite of banking services to their customers.
This was despite issues on mobility of bank staff to their place of work and issues in adhering to social distancing norms and other precautions. “The effort of bank staff was even more important in view of the disbursal and withdrawal of benefits transferred by the government to beneficiaries under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana,” the DFS has said.
India has so far covered over 9 crore citizens in its vaccination drive and has supplied over 64 million doses to over 84 countries, including 10 million doses as grant. Already Indian Banks Association, HDFC Bank and NPCI had written to the DFS seeking inclusion of bank employees in the priority list for vaccination.
The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) Tamil Nadu region is planning to make ₹40,000 crore of loan disbursal in FY22, according to a senior official of the development bank.
During FY21, loans disbursed by Tamil Nadu Regional Office of the NABARD reached an all-time high of ₹27,104 crore, nearly doubling from ₹14,458 crore disbursed the previous year.
“In FY21, our loan disbursal grew by 87per cent to ₹27,104 crore. If the same level of growth sustains and co-operation from all stakeholders continues, we are confident of disbursing loans worth ₹40,000 crore in FY22,” S Selvaraj, Chief General Manager, NABARD, Tamil Nadu Region said here on Thursday.
He was addressing a press conference in the city to highlight the milestone achieved by NABARD Tamil Nadu region.
Selvaraj said that the growth in loan disbursement of NABARD Tamil Nadu region is higher than the national growth rate and also assumes significance as it came during the pandemic-hit year.
“This growth (in disbursements) is really remarkable since office functioning were severely impacted during the first five months due to Covid-19,” Selvaraj said, adding, “The support from Tamil Nadu government and government institutions and from stakeholders such as commercial banks, co-operative banks, NBFC-MFIs, selfless work and dedication by NABARD officials and transparent and simplified procedures at NABARD are the major reasons that enabled this robust growth.”
At pan-India level, Loans and advances of NABARD grew by 25 per cent to to ₹6.03-lakh crore in FY21 as against ₹4.81-lakh crore in the previous year.
Of the total disbursement in Tamil Nadu during FY21, refinancing of loans to eligible financial institutions increased by 89 per cent to ₹23,062 crore while support for rural infrastructure stood at ₹4,042 crore. The development bank also extended a grant assistance of ₹31 crore to various innovative projects to Agri and allied sectors.
Of the total refinancing, Cooperative banks accounted for a major share at ₹8,761 crore (38 per cent) followed by Commercial Banks (₹6,602 crore), Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) – ₹4,840 crore and NBFC / NBFC-MFIs at ₹2,858 crore.
The ratio between loan refinancing and rural infrastructure support stood 85-15 per cent in FY21. Selvaraj said in FY22, the share of rural infrastructure may go up to 25 per cent as per the demand.
To aid the economic revival, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday extended a fresh support of ₹50,000 crore to the All-India Financial Institutions for new lending in FY22. Out of which, NABARD will be provided a special liquidity facility (SLF) of ₹25,000 crore for one year to support agriculture and allied activities, the rural non-farm sector and non-banking financial companies-microfinance institutions.
“RBI has announced a SLF window to address liquidity problems faced by banks due to the pandemic. Last year, we released ₹1,500 crore to banks in Tamil Nadu under this facility. This year also we expect to extend around ₹2,000 crore to Cooperative Banks and RRBs to meet liquidity challenges, if any,” Selvaraj said.
This joint initiative aims at encouraging users of SBI’s banking and lifestyle platform YONO to opt for UPI payments. Apart from this, the campaign will also help in educating them about UPI’s benefits so that there are more and more UPI users in the ecosystem.
Ravindra Pandey, Strategy & Chief Digital Officer, SBI said, “UPI has been witnessing a strong month-on-month growth which is a testament of customers’ willingness to adopt digital payments. In this FY, the YONO platform recorded 5.30 million transactions worth Rs. 2086 crore. UPI is currently one of the most preferred digital payment modes in India with around 207 banks linked to it and SBI was leading the segment with 664.75 million transactions, as of January 2021.”
YONO has observed 34 lakh UPI registrations since its inception in 2017, with over 62.5 lakh transactions worth more than Rs. 2,520 crore at current daily average of nearly 27,000 transactions (in last 30 days).
Praveena Rai, COO, NPCI said, “We are pleased to partner with SBI to strengthen the digital payments ecosystem by promoting UPI awareness among YONO users. Customers just need to know their UPI ID and use it so they can enjoy the convenience of making or receiving payment from their YONO app to any other bank or payment app.”
U GRO Capital on Thursday announced its partnership with SBM Bank India for the launch of GRO Smart Business credit card.
Powered by RuPay, along with EnKash, these are a range of secured credit cards specially designed for under-banked micro, small and medium enterprises, it said in a statement.
These can be availed by U GRO Capital borrowers against a fixed deposit (FD) with SBM Bank India.
MSMEs eligible for the business loans from U GRO Capital would be extended incremental funds to open an FD account with SBM Bank and the credit card would be offered against the security of an FD maintained by the applicant in his name, it further said.
IndiaFirst Life Insurance recorded a growth of five per cent or ₹894 crore in individual new business annual premium equivalent in 2020-21.
“This was the highest ever since its inception. This translates to a year on year growth of five per cent which, on the back of an industry leading 25 per cent year on year growth in 2019-20, is satisfying,” said Rushabh Gandhi, Deputy CEO, IndiaFirst Life Insurance.
The private sector life insurer also crossed ₹4,000 crore of gross premium in 2020-21 and registered a growth of six per cent in total new business APE of ₹995 crore last fiscal, it said in a statement on Thursday.
Renewal premium income crossed ₹2,000 crore in 2020-21. Individual 13th month persistency also improved to 78.7 per cent last fiscal from 75.8 per cent in 2019-20.
SME lender NeoGrowth Credit on Thursday announced the launch of NeoCash Insta Loan to meet immediate fund requirements of retailers and small businesses.
“The NeoCash Insta Loan for retailers is a ₹1 lakh collateral free loan product, with just KYC documents without any financial or bank documents, instant online approval, and daily repayment amount of ₹250,” it said in a statement.
Small business owners can visit the NeoGrowth website and get immediate approval for the loan by filling in only basic details, it further said, adding that exhaustive digital checks for underwriting and usage of digitally verified alternate sources of data will be used to ensure risk mitigation and governance.
After the end of each fiscal year, specified individuals are required to file an ITR. To facilitate prompt filing of returns, the Income Tax Department has set a deadline by which an individual can file a return without incurring late fees. This last date is referred to as the ITR filing deadline or due date. The ITR filing deadline differs based on the type of assessee i.e. HUF, firm, LLP, company, trust, individual etc, and whether or not an audit is required. Individuals and entities who must conduct audit generally have a later date than people who fill out ITR without audit. Taxpayers in India must conform with the Indian government’s proposed tax-related compliance. Non-compliance with set deadlines of income tax-related laws may result in the government enforcing strict penalties. Hence, all Income Tax related compliances for FY 2021-22 are listed below.
April 2021
14th April 2021: Deadline for the issue of TDS Certificate for tax deducted under sections 194-IA, 194IB, and 194M in the month of February 2021.
15th April 2021: Due date for a stock exchange to file a Form 3BB declaration for transactions in which client codes were changed after engaging in the system for the month of March 21.
15th April 2021: Quarterly statement in Form No. 15CC regarding foreign remittances for the quarter ending March 2021.
30th April 2021: Due date for the challan-cum-statement for tax withheld under sections 194-IA, 194IB, and 194M on March 21.
30th April 2021: Due date for submitting declarations received from recipients in Form 15G/15H for the quarter of March 2021.
30th April 2021: For the month of March 2021, the deadline for depositing tax withheld by an assessee other than a government office.
30th April 2021: Due date for electronic filing of a declaration in Form No. 61 bearing details of Form No. 60 received between October 1, 2020, and March 31, 2021.
30th April 2021: Deadline for deposit of TDS for the quarter March 21 when the Assessing Officer has allowed quarterly deposit of TDS under sections 192, 194A, 194D, or 194H.
May 2021
7th May 2021: TDS payment for the month of April
15th May 2021: Due date for the issue of TDS Certificate for tax deducted under sections 194-IA, 194IB, and 194M for in March 2021.
15th May 2021: Due date for an office of the government to submit Form 24G if TDS/TCS for the month of April 2021 were paid without the issuance of a challan.
15th May 2021: Due date for a stock exchange to file a Form 3BB declaration for transactions in which client codes were changed after engaging in the system for April 2021.
15th May 2021: TCS deposited quarterly statement for the quarter ended March 31, 2021
30th May 2021: Non-residents with a liaison office in India must file a declaration by this date (in Form No. 49C) for the fiscal year 2020-21.
30th May 2021: Due date for the challan-cum-statement for tax withheld under sections 194-IA, 194IB, and 194M on April 2021.
30th May 2021: TCS certificates will be issued for the fourth quarter of the fiscal year 2020-21.
31st May 2021: TDS deposited for the quarter ended March 31, 2021.
31st May 2021: Due date for filing a declaration of financial transactions (in Form No. 61A) as prescribed under sub-section (1) of section 285BA of the Act in respect of the fiscal year 2020-21.
31st May 2021: Due date for reporting financial institutions to e-file the annual statement of reportable accounts required to be furnished under section 285BA(1)(k) (in Form No. 61B) for calendar year 2020.
June 2021
7th June 2021: Payment of TDS for the month of May 2021
14th June 2021: Deadline for the issue of TDS Certificate for tax deducted under sections 194-IA, 194IB, and 194M in the month of April 2021.
15th June 2021: Quarterly TDS certificates for tax withheld on non-salary payments for the month ended March 31, 2021.
15th June 2021: Advance tax payment for the quarter of April-June 21
15th June 2021: Due date for an office of the government to submit Form 24G if TDS/TCS for the month of May 2021 were paid without the issuance of a challan.
15th June 2021: Due date for a stock exchange to file a Form 3BB declaration for transactions in which client codes were changed after engaging in the system for May 2021.
30th June 2021: Due date for the challan-cum-statement for tax withheld under sections 194-IA, 194IB, and 194M on May 2021.
30th June 2021: Quarterly return of a banking company’s non-deduction of tax at source from interest on time deposits for the quarter March 2021.
30th June 2021: Due date to file DPT 3 form for companies
30th June 2021: Quarterly TCS certificate for the quarter of June 30, 2021.
July 2021
7th July 2021: TDS payment for the month of June
14th July 2021: Deadline for the issue TDS Certificate for tax deducted under sections 194-IA, 194IB, and 194M in the month of June 2021.
15th July 2021: TCS Payment for the quarter April-June 2021
30th July 2021: Quarterly TCS certificate for the quarter ending June 2021.
31st July 2021: TDS filing for the quarter ending June 30, 2021
31st July 2021: Income Tax Returns for Individuals and Non-Corporates who are not subject to a tax audit for the AY 2021-22.
31st July 2021: Due date for the challan-cum-statement for tax withheld under sections 194-IA, 194IB, and 194M on June 21.
August 2021
7th August 2021: TDS Payment for the month of July 2021
14th August 2021: Deadline for the issue of TDS Certificate for tax deducted under sections 194-IA, 194IB, and 194M in the month of July 2021.
15th August 2021: Quarterly TDS certificate (other than salary) for the quarter ending June 30,2021
31st August 2021: Due date for the challan-cum-statement for tax withheld under sections 194-IA, 194IB, and 194M on July 2021.
September 2021
7th September 2021: TDS payment for the month of August 2021
14th September 2021: Deadline for the issue of TDS Certificate for tax deducted under sections 194-IA, 194IB, and 194M in the month of August 2021.
15th September 2021: Payment of advance tax for July to Sep 2021
30th September 2021: Due date for the challan-cum-statement for tax withheld under sections 194-IA, 194IB, and 194M on August 2021.
30th September 2021: Audit report for in the case of an assessee who has not entered into an international or specified domestic transaction during the fiscal year 2021-22.
October 2021
7th October 2021: TDS payment for the month of September 2021
14th October 2021: Deadline for the issue of TDS Certificate for tax deducted under sections 194-IA, 194IB, and 194M in the month of September 2021.
30th October 2021: Due date for the challan-cum-statement for tax withheld under sections 194-IA, 194IB, and 194M on Sept 2021.
30th October 2021: Quarterly TCS certificate for the quarter ending September 2021
30th October 2021: Statement of TDS for the quarter ended September 30, 2021
31st October 2021: Audit report for in the case of an assessee who has not entered into an international or specified domestic transaction during the fiscal year 2021-22.
31st October 2021: TDS filing for the JULY-SEP 2021
November 2021
7th November 2021: TDS payment for the month of October 2021
14th November 2021: Deadline for the issue of TDS Certificate for tax deducted under sections 194-IA, 194IB, and 194M in the month of October 2021.
15th November 2021: Quarterly TDS certificate (other than salary) for the quarter ending September 2021.
30th November 2021: Audit report for in the case of an assessee who has not entered into an international or specified domestic transaction during the fiscal year 2021-22.
30th November 2021: Due date for the challan-cum-statement for tax withheld under sections 194-IA, 194IB, and 194M on Oct 2021.
December 2021
7th December 2021: TDS Payment for the month of November 2021
14th December 2021: Due date for issue of TDS certificate for tax withheld under sections 194-IA, 194IB, and 194M on Nov 2021.
15th December 2021: Advance tax Payment for the quarter ending December 2021
31st December 2021: Due date for the challan-cum-statement for tax withheld under sections 194-IA, 194IB, and 194M on Nov 2021.
31st December 2021: Belated / Revised ITR for AY 2021-22 for all assesses except corporate assesses, non-corporate assesses who are required to have their accounts audited, and assesses who have entered into an international or listed domestic transaction.
January 2022
7th January 2022: TDS payment for the month of December 2021
14th January 2022: Due date for issue of TDS certificate for tax withheld under sections 194-IA, 194IB, and 194M on Dec 2021.
January 15, 2022: TCS Payment for the quarter of Oct-December 2021
31st January 2022: Due date for the challan-cum-statement for tax withheld under sections 194-IA, 194IB, and 194M on Dec 2021.
31st January 2022: Quarterly TCS certificate for the quarter of Oct-December 2021
31st January 2022: Quarterly statement of TDS deposited for the quarter Oct-December 2021
February 2022
7th February 2022: TDS payment for the month of January 2022
14th February 2022: Due date for issue of TDS certificate for tax withheld under sections 194-IA, 194IB, and 194M on Jan 2022.
15th February 2022: Quarterly TDS certificate (other than salary) for the quarter of Oct-December 2021
28th February 2022: Due date for the challan-cum-statement for tax withheld under sections 194-IA, 194IB, and 194M on Jan 2022.
March 2022
7th March 2022: TDS payment for the month of February 2022
14th March 2022: Due date for issue of TDS certificate for tax withheld under sections 194-IA, 194IB, and 194M on Feb 2022.
15th March 2022: Advance Tax Payment for the quarter of January-March 2022
31st March 2022: Due date for the challan-cum-statement for tax withheld under sections 194-IA, 194IB, and 194M on Feb 2022.
31st March 2022: Due date for filing belated/revised ITR for AY 2021-22.
31st March 2022: Quarterly declarations of TDS/TCS paid for Q1 & Q2 of FY 2020-21
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The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has asked all lenders to compensate borrowers with interest on interest charged between March 1, 2020, and August 31, 2020.
This will apply to all borrowers irrespective of whether the moratorium had been fully or partially availed, or not availed.
An RBI notification said that all lending institutions must immediately put in place a board-approved policy to refund or adjust the ‘interest on interest’ charged to the borrowers during the moratorium period as per the Supreme Court judgement.
In order to ensure that the above judgement is implemented uniformly in letter and spirit by all lending institutions, methodology for calculation of the amount to be refunded or adjusted for different facilities shall be finalised by the Indian Banks Association (IBA) in consultation with other industry participants and bodies, which shall be adopted by all lending institutions.The Reserve Bank of India (RBI)
“Borrowers who availed working capital facilities during the moratorium, whether they availed moratorium or not, should also receive refunds or adjustment. Lenders must disclose the aggregate amount of interest-on-interest refunded or adjusted by them in their financial statements for FY21,” the notification said.Earlier, the Indian Banks Association (IBA) had asked banks to refund interest on interest to those who have been charged.
Asset classification
The central bank also clarified that asset classification of borrower accounts by all lending institutions following the judgment by the Supreme Court should continue to be governed by the extant instructions: For borrowers who did not avail the moratorium, banks must follow extant income recognition and asset classification norms, for accounts which availed moratorium, lenders must remove the period between 1st March to 31 August 2020 for asset classification and for the period commencing 1 September 2020, lenders must follow asset classification as per extant norms.
The SC order
Last month, the Supreme Court had barred banks from charging penal interest on any borrower during the loan moratorium period.
“There should be no interest on interest or penal interest on the instalments which were due during the loan moratorium period from 1st March to 31 August 2020 on any borrower, irrespective of the loan amount. If such interest has already been collected, it should either refunded to the borrower or adjusted towards the next instalments,” the order had said
The calculations
As per rating firm ICRA, compound interest for six months of moratorium across all lenders is estimated at Rs 13,500-14,000 crore.
With the SC order, borrowers excluded earlier may get additional relief of Rs 7,000-7,500 crore in the form of compound interest benefit. Even before the SC order, the government had said that it would compensate lenders for refunding interest on interest on small loans below Rs 2 crore, which has already been done.
Who will pick the tab?
It is not clear who will bear the additional burden of refunding compound interest or penal interest to borrowers with loans above Rs 2 crore, though the banks have been asked to refund it.
The banks, accounting for 70 per cent of the loan market, have operating profits of over Rs 3 lakh crore.
So, Rs 7,000 crore on Rs 3 lakh crore will be like 2 per cent of their operating profits, according to the rating firm.
