Tax free Rs 20 lakh gratuity for employees may be a reality soon

Payment of Gratuity Amendment Bill 2017 is likely to be passed in the forthcoming Budget session, which will make formal sector workers eligible for tax free Rs 20 lakh gratuity. 

At present formal sector workers with five or more years of service are eligible for Rs 10 lakh tax free gratuity after leaving job or at time of superannuation. "The Payment of Gratuity (Amendment) Bill, 2017 will be passed in the Budget session of Parliament, expected to begin by the end of this month," a source said. The source further said, "The government wants to provide tax free gratuity of Rs 20 lakh to organised sector workers at par with Central government". 

The bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha in winter session of Parliament last month. Once the bill is passed by Parliament, the government will not be required to go to it again for deciding the quantum of tax free gratuity. 

The bill seeks to allow the government to notify the period of maternity leave and gratuity that can be availed by employees under a central law. 

The Payment of Gratuity (Amendment) Bill, 2017 was introduced by labour minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar in the Lok Sabha on December 18, 2017. 

The Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972, was enacted to provide for gratuity payment to employees engaged in factories, mines, oilfields, plantations, ports, railway companies, shops or other establishments. 

The law is applicable to employees, who have completed at least five years of continuous service in an establishment that has ten or more persons.The amendment will also allow the central government to notify the maternity leave period for "female employees as deemed to be in continuous service in place of existing twelve weeks". The proposal comes against the backdrop of the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017 enhancing the maximum maternity leave period for "female employees as deemed to be in continuous service in place of existing twelve weeks". The proposal comes against the backdrop of the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017 enhancing the maximum maternity leave period to 26 weeks. 

With respect to gratuity, the amount is calculated on the basis of a formula which is 15 days of wages for each year of completed services, subject to the ceiling of Rs 10 lakh. This limit was fixed in 2010. 

After implementation of the 7th Central Pay Commission, the ceiling of gratuity amount for central government employees has been increased from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 20 lakh.

Source : Economic times

Budget may set aside more for home-loan sop

In Budget 2018-19, the Centre may have to redo its math on the allocations to the interest subvention scheme on housing loans.

While the credit-linked subsidy scheme (CLSS) under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) [or PMAY(U)] for the middle-income group (MIG) is off to a weak start, the number of beneficiaries for the economically weaker section (EWS) and low-income group (LIG) has shot up in the past year.

MIG beneficiaries numbered a mere 9,944 and received a subsidy of ₹204.6 crore till date, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri told the Lok Sabha last month. However, Budget 2017-18 had allocated a larger sum of ₹1,000 crore as interest subsidy for MIG beneficiaries.

Interestingly, the number of beneficiaries under CLSS for EWS and LIG — the beneficiaries originally envisioned under PMAY(U) — rose sharply from 17,634 in 2016 to over 53,000 accounts in 2017. The ₹400 crore earmarked in last year’s Budget for this segment appears to grossly fall short of the actual disbursement.

With industry players expecting a better response to the scheme in the middle-income category, too, the Centre could end up allocating a far higher amount for CLSS in the upcoming Budget.

BUDGETARY ALLOCATION

In June 2015, the Centre had launched the CLSS under PMAY(U) for EWSs and LIGs. However, to placate the common man reeling under the impact of demonetisation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had extended the scheme to middle-income home buyers.

Budget 2017-18 had reduced the allocation to the EWSs and LIGs to ₹400 crore from ₹475 crore in 2016-17, and instead, apportioned ₹1,000 crore to MIGs under the CLSS.

Given that a total of 80,680 beneficiaries have availed interest subsidy under the CLSS schemes for all categories until now, it would seem that a little over 53,000 EWS and LIG beneficiaries claimed interest subsidy in 2017.

This would imply a subsidy of around ₹1,300 crore disbursed against the budgeted ₹400 crore for the EWS and LIG category (assuming an average of ₹2.5 lakh per beneficiary).

The Centre had recently increased the eligible carpet area from 90 sq m to 120 sq m for MIG I and from 110 sq m to 150 sq m for MIG II.

“Based on the feedback given by industry players, the Centre has fine-tuned the scheme to cover more beneficiaries under the MIG scheme,” says Sriram Kalyanaraman, Managing Director & CEO, National Housing Bank (NHB).

He adds that there has been a significant step-up in the pace of construction of houses under the scheme, which should lead to more takers in 2018.

The NHB, one of the Central Nodal Agencies to channel the subsidy to lending institutions, has covered 42,481 accounts and disbursed ₹906 crore subsidy between April 2017 and 5 Jan 2018 under EWS and LIG.

Sudhin Choksey, Managing Director, Gruh Finance says: “The CLSS under PMAY (Urban) has been a vast improvement over the earlier schemes. Higher awareness and increase in supply of houses should see more beneficiaries being covered under the scheme”.

Gruh Finance continues to focus on the EWS and LIG segment, which constitutes 85 per cent of their loans. In 2017-18 (so far), it disbursed 25,768 loans, of which 40 per cent have availed of the interest subsidy under CLSS.

Source:Hindu Business line

Beware: New Android malware targeting banking apps from SBI, HDFC and more

The newly discovered Android malware is targeting 232 banking apps including several Indian banks. Some of the banking apps being targeted by new Android malware include Axis Mobile, HDFC Bank MobileBanking, SBI Anywhere Personal, HDFC Bank MobileBanking Lite, iMobile by ICICI Bank, IDBI Bank GO Mobile+, Abhay by IDBI Bank Ltd, IDBI Bank GO Mobile, Baroda mPassbook, Union Bank Mobile Banking, and Union Bank Commercial Clients. 

The new Android Banking Trojan known as "Android.banker.A9480" was discovered by Quick Heal Security Labs and it is claimed to be designed for stealing login credentials, hijacking SMSs, uploading contact lists and SMSs on a malicious server. 

"Android.banker.A9480 is being distributed through a fake Flash Player app on third-party stores. This is not surprising given that Adobe Flash is one of the most widely distributed products on the Internet. Because of its popularity and global install base, it is often targeted by attackers," Quick Heal explains in a blog post. 

Explaining how the new Android malware disgiuses as a Flash Player, the malicious app after being installed asks the user to activate administrative rights. In case, user denies the request or kills the process, the app will keep throwing continuous pop-ups until the user activates the admin privilege. Once this is done, the malicious app hides its icon soon after the user taps on it. 

After getting admin rights, the malicious ap in the background carries out tasks like keep checking the installed app on the victim’s device and particularly look for 232 apps which include banking and some cryptocurrency apps. 

"If any one of the targeted apps is found on the infected device, the app shows a fake notification on behalf of the targeted banking app. If the user clicks on the notification, they are shown a fake login screen to steal the user’s confidential info like net banking login ID and password," explain Quick Heal. 

The report further adds that the malware can intercept all incoming and outgoing SMSs from the infected device. This enables attackers to bypass SMS-based two-factor authentication on the victim’s bank account (OTP).  

Quick Heal claims that apart from banking apps, Android.banker.A9480 malware also targets cryptocurrency apps. We recommend our readers to stay safe from Android Banking Trojans by avoiding downloading apps from third-party app stores or links provided in SMSs or emails. Users should also keep the Setting for "Always keep ‘Unknown Sources’" disabled. As expected, enabling this option will allow installation of apps from unknown sources. 

Android users with banking apps installed on their devices should also verify app permissions before installing any app even from official stores such as Google Play. Users should always keep device OS and mobile security app up-to-date. 

Source: Timesnow

Real estate still remains desirable asset for all India: Report

NEW DELHI: In a year marked with a series of policy changes to bring in more transparency, real estate remained a desirable asset for Indians as more than 15 lakh people actively searched to buy property in 2017, according to a report released on Wednesday.

"How India searched for Homes in 2017", prepared by online realty site Magicbricks, analyzed consumer behavior over the last 12 months to capture interesting consumer trends in 2017.

According to it, Maharashtra occupied the top spot with seven of its localities being the most preferred localities around the country. New Delhi remains a winner when it comes to rented properties while Navi Mumbai and Hyderabad are high on the buying meter.

"In a year marked with several policy changes, the fact that there was more than 15 lakh active searches for a property in 2017 debunks the myth that buyers have exited the market and establishes that real estate continues to be a desirable asset for Indians," said the property site's Head Marketing Prasun Kumar.

With prices remaining flattish over the last one year and demand-supply equation balancing out due to fewer project launches, it is certainly the right time for home buyers to invest in their home, he said.

The report also revealed that residents are also especially particular about the type of property.

Bengaluru is the one city open to mostly all building types. When it comes to specific choices, Hyderabad and Chennai prefer residential houses, plots, and villas. multi-story apartments are popular in Pune and Navi Mumbai, whereas Delhi, Ghaziabad, and Chennai prefer builder floors. Metro cities like Ahmedabad and Mumbai favour penthouses, the report said.

Source: ET Realty