Cabinet approves introduction of the Payment of Gratuity (Amendment) Bill, 2017 in the Parliament

Cabinet approves introduction of the Payment of Gratuity (Amendment) Bill, 2017 in the Parliament

Press Information Bureau
Government of India
Cabinet

12-September-2017 16:53 IST

Cabinet approves introduction of the Payment of Gratuity (Amendment) Bill, 2017 in the Parliament 

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given its approval for introduction of the Payment of Gratuity (Amendment) Bill, 2017 in the Parliament.

The Amendment will increase the maximum limit of gratuity of employees, in the private sector and in Public Sector Undertakings/ Autonomous Organizations under Government who are not covered under CCS (Pension) Rules, at par with Central Government employees.

Background:

The Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 applies to establishments employing 10 or more persons. The main purpose for enacting this Act is to provide social security to workmen after retirement, whether retirement is a result of the rules of superannuation, or physical disablement or impairment of vital part of the body. Therefore, the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 is an important social security legislation to wage earning population in industries, factories and establishments.

The present upper ceiling on gratuity amount under the Act is Rs. 10 Lakh. The provisions for Central Government employees under Central Civil Services (Pension) Rules, 1972 with regard to gratuity are also similar. Before implementation of 7th Central Pay Commission, the ceiling under CCS (Pension) Rules, 1972 was Rs. 10 Lakh. However, with implementation of 7th Central Pay Commission, in case of Government servants, the ceiling now is Rs. 20 Lakhs effective from 1.1.2016.

Therefore, considering the inflation and wage increase even in case of employees engaged in private sector, the Government is of the view that the entitlement of gratuity should be revised for employees who are covered under the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972. Accordingly, the Government initiated the process for amendment to Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972

Cabinet approves release of additional 1% Dearness Allowance to Central Government employees and Dearness Relief to pensioners w.e.f. 01.07.2017

Cabinet approves release of additional 1% Dearness Allowance to Central Government employees and Dearness Relief to pensioners w.e.f. 01.07.2017

Press Information Bureau
Government of India
Cabinet

12-September-2017 16:58 IST

Cabinet approves release of additional 1% Dearness Allowance to Central Government employees and Dearness Relief to pensioners w.e.f. 01.07.2017 

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given its approval for release of additional 1% Dearness Allowance (DA) to Central Government employees and Dearness Relief (DR) to pensioners. It will be applicable from 01.07.2017.

The release of the additional instalment of DA represents an increase of 1% over the existing rate of 4% of the Basic Pay/Pension, to compensate for price rise. This increase is in accordance with the accepted formula, which is based on the recommendations of the 7th Central Pay Commission.

The combined impact on the exchequer on account of both DA and DR would be Rs.3068.26 crore per annum and Rs.2045.50 crore in the financial year 2017-18 (for a period of 8 months from July, 2017 to February, 2018). This will benefit about 49.26 lakh Central Government employees and 61.17 lakh pensioners.

All 1.55 lakh post offices to offer payments bank service

All 1.55 lakh post offices to offer payments bank service

NEW DELHI: India Post Payments Bank is gearing up to provide its financial services through all of 1.55 lakh post offices and 3 lakh employees by the end of 2018 -- which will create India's second-largest payments bank in terms of reach. 
"We will have post bank footprint in every district by March 2018, and before the end of the calendar year, all 1.55 lakh post offices and every postman and grameen dak sevak, which is another 3 lakh, will be equipped with a device which will provide full range of payment solutions that we will be hosting," India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) Chief Executive Officer A P Singh said at an event organised by United Nationson Financial Inclusion. 
In the private space, AirtelBSE -0.70 % Payments Bank, launched in January this year, started operations with a network of 2.5 lakh merchants. 
Payments banks can accept deposits of up to Rs 1 lakh per account from individuals and small businesses. 
The new model of banking allows mobile firms, supermarket chains and others to cater to banking requirements of individuals and small businesses. It will be set up as a differentiated bank and will confine its activities to acceptance of demand deposits, remittance services, Internet banking and other specified services. 
IPPB offers an interest rate of 4.5 per cent on deposits up to Rs 25,000, 5 per cent on Rs 25,000-50,000 and 5.5 per cent on Rs 50,000-1,00,000.

"While our private sector counterparts will, I take it very positively, skim the market from the top, you need someone who works bottoms up. That is our choice," Singh said. 
He said that similar to State Bank of IndiaBSE 0.20 % that was created to take banking to people, IPPB is going to take digital payments to masses. 
At the event, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Chairman R S Sharma said transaction cost on digital payment should be very minimal and it should be made affordable. 
IPPB, according to Singh, will use Aadhaar as payment address of an individual, indicating that the postal bank may bring the transaction charge close to 1 paisa. 
"We will convert it (Aadhaar) into payment address. We will get this activated by offering a host of payment services," Singh said. 
"We have taken up the challenge on ourselves as to how we make a Rs 10 transaction viable. Aadhaarauthentication cost less than 1 paisa. There is no reason why a payment transaction should be transacting anything more," Singh said. 
At present, private players and even public banks charge transaction fee even on digital payments, depending on the nature of the transaction. 

Source :  http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/

IPPB Savings Account Charges and Remittance Charges Published

IPPB - Schedule of Charges

(Tariffs are excluding applicable taxes)

Savings account charges and features

Notes:

1. The above charges are in addition to the transaction charges (e.g. charges for AEPS are not included above). Please refer to the respective sections for transaction charges
2. The higher of financial and non-financial transaction charges for doorstep banking will be levied in case a customer avails both the facilities in a single visit (e.g. If a customer avails cash deposit of INR 10,000 and balance enquiry in a single doorstep visit, the customer will be charged INR 20 for that visit)
3. Only three transactions are allowed per visit. Fourth transaction would be treated as another visit, and charges would apply accordingly

Chip Based ATM cum Debit Card from IPPB (India Post Payments Bank)

Chip Based ATM cum Debit Card from IPPB (India Post Payments Bank)

The India Post Payment Bank will issue chip-based ATM cum debit card to its customers in lieu of conventional magnetic tape based cards. A microchip is embedded on the card and contains all information in an encrypted format. It also comes with a personal identification number (PIN). 

When a chip-based card is used at the point of sale (POS) terminal, the terminal reads the encrypted format on the card and asks for a PIN and only then is the transaction processed. A chip-based card cannot be read unless you punch in the PIN.

Following is the first look of Rupay Debit of IPPB to be supplied to its account holders.

So far, only Axis Bank Ltd, HDFC Bank Ltd, State Bank of India (SBI), ICICI Bank Ltd and Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd have launched chip-based cards in India. Some banks offer chip-based cards without a PIN; they use your signature for authentication.

The pilot branches of IPPB will be inaugurated at Raipur and Ranchi through video conferencing by Arun Jaitely and Manoj Sinha on 30th January 2017, at 5PM.