Here are the top personal finance news of the day.
Property prices rise 8% YoY in Q1 CY23
In last one year, real estate prices in the country have risen by 8% in the January-March quarter of calendar year 2023. During this period, Delhi NCR has seen biggest jump of 16% in property prices. In Delhi NCR, Dwarka Expressway witnessed highest jump of close to 59% in just one year. After this, property prices have risen the most in Golf Course Road, Gurugram. The prices in Golf Course Road are now highest in the NCR region, surpassing the rates even in Delhi. Property prices are continuously rising in the country because of rise in construction cost and strong demand. Surprisingly, during the same period, property prices fell in Mumbai Metropolitan Region by 2% to 19,219 rupees per square feet. This report was prepared by Realtors’ apex body CREDAI in collaboration with other real estate consultants.
Miss it at your own risk, tweets IT Deptt
Miss it at your own risk. The IT department has tweeted this tag line to warn citizens of repercussions of missing Aadhaar-PAN linking deadline. The deadline to link the two databases is June 30, 2023 on penalty of 1,000 rupees. To link PAN with Aadhaar, citizens can visit income tax department’s portal which is www.incometax.gov.in/iec/foportal. Then, they need to click on ‘Quick Links’ section. And, then, they will have to click on the ‘Link Aadhaar’ option. Following which they can link the two databases. The IT department has warned in the tweet that those who would miss this deadline shall not be able to file income tax return, would not be able to avail of various tax benefits, their PANs would become invalid, their returns would not be processed. Plus, today was also the last date for free update of Aadhaar details. From tomorrow, citizens will have to pay 25 rupees fees for the same.
MG Motors may become Indian co
And, ‘Make In India’ movement for Chinese auto manufacturer, MG Motors. The company is all set to walk the Atma Nirbhar Bharat Path as according to media reports, JSW Group’s owner, may buy majority stake in MG Motors. Currently, Shanghai-headquartered SAIC Motor owns the automobile company. But if Sajjan Jindal, chairman and MD of JSW group, completes the acquisition, Chinese investors will be left with only minority stake in the company.
VI submits Rs 14,000-cr revival plan
Next news if for Vodafone Idea investors. According to media reports, the debt laden telecom had submitted a report to the government earlier this month that UK’s Vodafone Group and Aditya Birla Group will infuse 14,000 crore rupees in the telecom. For this, both the parent companies will further buy Vodafone Idea’s equity and will also be raising capital. Well, in this turbulent times, Vodafone’s parent companies have come forward to help revive the debt laden telecom. This is a sigh of relief for all those retail investors who have invested in the telecom. On this news, Vodafone’s counter closed almost 3% higher on Wednesday at 7.92 rupees apiece on the BSE.
Airfares have begun to come down: DGCA
Aviation regulator DGCA has said airfares on certain domestic routes in India have begun to reduce after government directed airlines to take note of soaring airfares following the Go First debacle. According to the aviation regulator, airfares have already begyto fall on some domestic routes like Delhi-Srinagar, Delhi-Ahmedabad, Delhi-Pune, etc. Earlier, in a series of tweets on Monday, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, had said fares have been reduced by up to 60 per cent and are likely to decline further on certain routes. Falling airfares will give relief to regular fliers.
Loans to remain costlier in near term
Loans will continue to be costlier in the county as RBI governor, Shaktikanta Das has hinted that there is no possible indication of reduction of interest rates in the near term. RBI had hiked the repo rate to 6.50%. Rate of interest at which banks sanction loans are tied up with repo rate. Surge in repo rate had forced banks to increase lending rates as well. RBI didn’t hike rates in the last MPC meet held earlier this month. Plus, after retail inflation fell to 25 months low of 4.25%, speculations were rife that RBI could finally reduce the repo rate. But, a statement from the governor in London that India’s disinflation process is going to be gradual and slower.
Hop Electric hikes Leo prices, cuts that of Oxo
Electric vehicle startup Hop Electric has hiked prices of its electric scooter Leo. Customers will now have to pay 97,500 rupees to buy low speed variant of Hop Leo. While, they will have to pay 84,000 rupees for high speed variant of the two-wheeler. This is due to FAME-II subsidy cut by the central government for electric two wheelers. Although, the Jaipur based Hop Electric has cut prices of its electric bike the Oxo. The bike has become cheaper by 17,000 rupees. Customers will now have to pay 1.48 lakh rupees for the electric motorcycle.
Infinix launches new smartphone with 108MP camera at Rs 14,999
Chinese smartphone manufacturer Infinix has launched Infinix Note 30 5G with 108 mega pixel cameras. There are two variants of this smartphone. The lowest variant houses 4GB RAM and 128 GB storage capacity and costs 14,999 rupees. While, the higher variant will cost 15,999 rupees. Axis Bank debit and credit card holders will get 1,000 rupees discount. Both the variants sport 6.78 inch screen, 16 mega pixel front camera and 5,000 mAh battery.
Banks to report lowest NPA in a decade: ICRA
Showering praise on improving condition of banking industry of the nation, domestic credit rating agency, ICRA, has said, in FY24, the overall Gross NPA and Net NPA of all the banks in country is likely to fall to lowest levels in last 10 years. ICRA expects banks to report GNPA of 2.63% and NNPA of 0.83% in FY24. Further, the credit rating agency said, overall GNPA has continuously reduced in last 5 years. The ROE of public banks has inched closure to that of private banks. Public banks ROE has improved to 13.4%. While, private banks’ ROE is 14%. Going forward, ICRA expects credit and asset quality of banks to keep improving. In FY23, banks registered strong loan growth of 15%. ICRA expects banks to clock loan growth of 11 to 14%in current financial year. Favourable outlook towards banking industry is expected to impact performance of share prices of banking stocks.
Investing in direct plans to become safer
If you invest in direct plans of mutual funds then here is a good news for you. Investing in direct plans is going to become all the more safe and convenient for retail investors. As, capital market regulator, SEBI, has introduced a framework to regulate platforms where retail investors invest in direct plans. Now these platforms will be either registered as a stock brokerage firm or as an agent of asset management companies registered in India. Now, SEBI will decide how much charges such platform can levy on retail investors. Their fund will be protected from cyber security threats.
