HENCY R SHAH AND ASSOCIATES

Consequences of an Inoperative PAN: Financial Transactions You Can't Do Without PAN-Aadhaar Linkage  The government introduced the Permanent Account Number (PAN) to make it easier to access taxpayer information and match it with their investments, loans, and business activities. This helps detect and prevent tax evasion and broaden the tax base. According to the Income Tax Act of 1961, it became mandatory to link Aadhaar number with PAN by June 30, 2023. Failing to do so would render PAN inactive from July 1, 2023. If PAN is not linked with Aadhaar, it can create difficulties in certain transactions. For example, routine banking transactions such as depositing more than Rs. 50,000 in a bank account, paying insurance premiums exceeding Rs. 50,000, or applying for credit/debit cards may be affected. Senior citizens (except those aged 80 years or more) who haven't linked PAN with Aadhaar may also face consequences. However, residents of Assam, Jammu and Kashmir, Meghalaya, non-res...

"RBI Report: Rise in Counterfeit Currency and Digital Fraud Challenges Banking System" According to the annual report for 2022-23 released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), there has been an increase in the detection of counterfeit currency notes in the banking system. The report indicates that there was a rise of 14.4 percent in counterfeit currency notes of ₹500 denomination, while those of ₹20 denomination saw an increase of 8.4 percent. Out of all the fake currency notes detected, 4.6 percent were found at the RBI, while 95.4 percent were detected at other banks. On the other hand, counterfeit notes of ₹10 denomination decreased by 11.6 percent, ₹100 denomination notes declined by 14.7 percent, and ₹2,000 denomination notes decreased by 27.9 percent. In terms of value, the share of ₹500 and ₹2,000 banknotes increased to 87.9 percent of the total value of notes in circulation as of March 31, compared to 87.1 percent from the previous year. In terms of volume, ₹500 bankno...

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has made the decision to withdraw the ₹2000 denomination banknotes from circulation, although they will still be considered legal tender. The RBI has advised banks to immediately stop issuing ₹2000 banknotes. The ₹2000 note was introduced in November 2016 following thxe withdrawal of the ₹500 and ₹1000 banknotes at that time. According to sources cited by news agency ANI, the ₹2000 banknotes will continue to be legal tender even after September 30th. The RBI expects that within the four-month timeframe, most of the ₹2000 notes in circulation will be returned to banks. The RBI emphasizes that this is a routine exercise and urges the public not to panic. The RBI stated that the objective of introducing the ₹2000 banknotes was achieved once banknotes in other denominations became readily available. The printing of ₹2000 banknotes was discontinued in 2018-19. The majority of ₹2000 banknotes, about 89%, were issued prior to March 2017 and have reached their e...

  India's forex reserves ease after hitting over nine-month highs India's forex reserves dropped by USD 2.164 billion to USD 584.248 billion for the week ended April 21, the Reserve Bank said on Friday.  In the previous reporting week, the overall kitty had risen by USD 1.657 billion to USD 586.412 billion.  It can be noted that in October 2021, the country's forex kitty had reached an all-time high of USD 645 billion. The reserves have been declining as the central bank deployed the kitty to defend the rupee amid pressures caused majorly by global developments. For the week ended April 21, the foreign currency assets, a major component of the reserves, decreased by USD 2.146 billion to USD 514.489 billion, according to the Weekly Statistical Supplement released by the RBI. Expressed in dollar terms, the foreign currency assets include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US units like the euro, pound and yen held in the foreign exchange reserves. Gold rese...

₹ to use as foreign trade currency   Use of rupee in foreign trade:  In order to facilitate international trade, Sri Lanka has agreed to utilize ₹. It occurs shortly after the Indian government announced it was looking into ways to include nations who are particularly short on dollars in the Indian rupee trade settlement process. Notably, the Indian government has been attempting to entice nations with dollar shortages to use its rupee settlement system since July of this year. The Indian rupee trade settlement system allows for the use of the Indian rupee in place of dollars and other major currencies in all international transactions. The RBI announced the creation of a system to conduct foreign trade in Indian rupees on July 11. While the market determines the exchange rate between the trading partners, the method will allow all exports and imports to be denominated and billed in Indian rupees. In order to educate stakeholders on the rupee trade, the Indian Fina...

Exploring tech, legal provisions to keep e-Rupee transactions 'anonymous' RBI is exploring technological solutions to keep retail transactions using the digital rupee ‘anonymous’. RBI could also explore legal provisions to keep the transactions anonymous. It will weigh its options as things evolve but will ensure the anonymity of transactions up to a certain limit, which is a basic feature of cash transactions. The basic distinction between Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions and digital rupee transactions is that UPI is a payment mode, which involves the intermediation of banks, and the digital rupee is money. So, all UPI transactions hit banks’ core banking solution (CBS). But in the case of a digital rupee, once the money is withdrawn from the bank and reaches the customer’s wallet, the transaction that takes place following this process is essentially a transfer of money between two wallets. Experts have suggested that when a bank ...

Digital Rupee is the future of money Almost nine months after the Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman first spoke about the digital currency in parliament, the digital rupee was launched in India. The pilot project launched by the RBI is for wholesale transactions in the bond market. The retail phase for the customers, however, will be launched sometime later. Digital Rupee or CBDC is a new digital form of money issued by central banks. The digital rupee rollout is a big step ahead in India’s digital transformation. It will be an excellent opportunity for India since it will potentially increase the ease of doing business, as well as improve resilience and security of the entire payments infrastructure. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has announced that the first pilot in Digital Rupee - Retail segment is planned for launch within a month in select locations. The central bank said that nine banks -- State Bank of India (SBI), Bank of Baroda, Union Bank of India, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank,...