New Delhi: A New Year is set to dawn. From January 1, 2023 a slew of changes with regard to banking, insurance, pension and even overseas travel will come into effect. A hike in the interest rates on time deposits with banks will also come into effect from the New Year's Day.

The interest rate on the deposit scheme for senior citizens will increase from 7.6% to 8% and for time deposits, the increase will be 1.1%.

The deposits that will not have any change in the interest rates are: savings accounts (4%), recurring deposits (5.8%), Public Provident Fund (7.1%), and Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana (7.6%).

Other changes from New Year:

COVID-negative certificate

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A negative RT-PCR certificate for COVID-19 has been made mandatory for all those arriving in India from Hong Kong and the countries of China, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore. The test should have been conducted 72 hours  prior to the journey. The negative certificate should be uploaded on the Air Suvidha portal.

NPS withdrawal

Government employees desiring to make partial withdrawal from the National Pension Scheme (NPS) should submit the application only through the nodal offices concerned from January 1, 2023. Taking into account the COVID situation, the applications were required to be self-attested till now. Applicants who are not government employees may continue to do self-attestation.

KYC for insurance policies

The Know Your Customer (KYC) procedure has been made mandatory for taking new insurance policies from tomorrow. This is applicable to all types of policies. At present, KYC is mandatory only for policies above Rs. 1 lakh. The aim is to prevent insurance fraud.

Renewal of bank locker agreement

According to the directives issued by the Reserve Bank of India, January 1, 2023 is the last date for renewing the agreement for bank locker services. The customers must reach the bank branch and complete the process.

IT, GST returns

Today, Dec 31, 2022 is the last day for submitting the annual GST return. Penalty will be imposed from tomorrow. Delayed income tax returns and revised returns can be filed today too. 

This time window for filing income tax returns has been given for those who have not filed the returns yet. Those who file the return late should pay the late fee. There is no penalty for those who have filed the return earlier but file the revised return now.

Star rating for ceiling fans, refrigerators

As in the case of air conditioners and refrigerators at present, star rating indicating the energy efficiency has been made mandatory for ceiling fans from the New Year. There will also be a change in the star rating system for refrigerators. According to the new stipulations, in order to get 3-star rating for frost-free and direct cool models, they must have greater energy efficiency. Those appliances which have a 3-star rating at present will lose 1 star. Models with a 3-star ratings will become costlier too.

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