New Rules 2025: Relief for the elderly in the new year; pension withdrawal from any branch possible

New Delhi| The new year 2025 has arrived. There have been many changes on the economic front in the new year. Information about these changes is important before making financial plans for the coming year. The rules are changing in the new year and pensioners will get their biggest benefit. Now they will be able to withdraw their pension from any branch in the country. In 2025, there are changes in banks’ fixed deposit rules, credit card advantages and visa rules.

Elderly people will get the facility to withdraw pension from any branch
Pensioners are going to get relief in the year 2025. Since January 1, 2025, the Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) has been simplifying the rules for withdrawal of pension money. Now pensioners will be able to collect their pension amount from any bank. For this they will not need any additional verification. This will provide great relief to older pensioners. The Central Pension Payment System (CPPS) is to be implemented as part of EPFO’s IT modernization project, CITES 2.01. It will start from January 1, 2025. 78 lakh members of the Employees’ Pension Scheme will be able to draw their pension from any bank branch in India till January 1, 2025. According to a report, in the new year, the Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) is also going to implement several changes including the facility of withdrawal of PF money from ATMs and abolition of EPF contribution limit.

Change in rules related to fixed deposits
The Reserve Bank of India has changed the fixed deposit rules for non-banking financial companies and housing finance firms. The new FD rules will come into effect in January 2025. RBI guidelines relate to conditions such as accepting public deposits, maintaining minimum percentage of liquid assets and repaying public deposits. According to the new rule, FD holders in NBFCs can withdraw small deposits (less than ₹ 10,000) before maturity. Apart from this, FD holders can withdraw the entire amount in case of suffering from serious illness.

Change in rules related to UPI payment
The Reserve Bank of India will enable UPI payments through third-party full-KYC prepaid payment instruments (PPIs or prepaid cards) from 1 January 2025. This step will bring flexibility to customers from UPI payment perspective. Now people will also be able to make UPI payment through prepet card. This move will enable PPI wallet holders to use third party applications to conduct transactions using UPI. At the same time, the transaction limit has also been increased in the UPI 123pay service launched by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for feature phone users. Earlier, transactions up to a maximum of Rs 5,000 could be done under this service, but now this limit has been increased to Rs 10,000. The facility will be available from January 1, 2025.

Will be able to file revised or delayed ITR till 15 January 2025
The deadline for filing revised and delayed income tax returns for FY 2023-24 earnings has been extended from 31 December 2024 to 15 January 2025. Delayed ITR refers to the process of filing returns after the deadline issued by the Income Tax Department. Taxpayers can also file revised returns by January 15 if there has been a glitch in their returns.

Changes in visa rules
Indians who plan to apply for visas in countries like Thailand, the US and the UK need to be aware of new updates to visa guidelines, changes that are coming into effect in the year 2025.

Changes in Thailand’s visa rules
In 2025 Thailand will implement an advanced e-Visa system that will allow travelers across India to apply online through www.thaievisa.go.th. This system will be made accessible to a large part of the world.

Changes in US visa rules
The U.S. has also announced several changes to its visa policy in 2025, including categories such as H-1 B visas, which will take effect in 2025. Indians who want to apply for a visa in 2025 must fill out a new version of Form I-129 from 17 January 2025. Additionally, the US government has revised the definitions for cap-exempt organizations,. A number of updates have also been made to the regulations for F-1 visa holders attached to.

Changes in UK visa rules
The United Kingdom i.e. Britain has also decided to update the visa rules in the new year. Britain has increased the required percentage of financial reserves for visa applicants. From January 2025, Indians planning to apply for a UK visa must show financial reserves at least 11% higher than the current requirement.

Rules related to credit cards changed
From January 1, the rules related to lounge entry for RuPay credit card holders will change. The guidelines issued by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) K for RuPay credit cardholders will be effective from January 1, 2025. The revised change is linked to earmarking tier-based spending for access to airport lounges.

Change in monthly expiry of Sensex, Bankex, Sensex50
The expiry dates of Sensex, Bankex and Sensex50 index derivative contracts have been revised with effect from January 1, 2025. According to the Bombay Stock Exchange’s announcement released on November 28, Sensex’s weekly contracts will expire on Tuesdays every week instead of ending on Fridays every week from January 1, 2025. All monthly contracts for Sensex, Bankex and Sensex 50 will expire on the last Tuesday after January 1, 2025. Currently, the current expiry days for these are the last Friday, the last Monday and Thursday respectively.

Change in prices of LPG cylinders
Petroleum companies review the prices of LPG on the 1st of every month. Although the price of domestic LPG cylinder (14.2 kg) has not changed for the last several months, the prices of commercial cylinders have been changed several times in the past months. It is feared that the prices of commercial LPG cylinders may change from January 1, 2025 also.

The rules of Amazon Prime membership to change
Amazon Prime membership rules are set to change from 1 January 2025. Under the new rules, programs related to Prime Video can be streamed from one Prime account on only two TVs. If someone wants to watch Prime Video on a third TV, he will have to take a separate subscription. Previously, Prime members could view programs on five devices from a single account.

There will be an increase in the prices of cars
Buying a car in the new year can be expensive. From January 1, 2025, major automobile companies such as Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai, Mahindra, Honda, Mercedes-Benz, Audi and BMW have announced an increase in car prices by up to 3%. Companies have attributed this to the increase in production cost. In such a situation, if you are planning to buy a car in the new year, your pocket may become more loose.

There may be a change in the economic relations between India and America
The second term of President-elect Donald Trump will begin in America on the first month of the year 2025, i.e. on 20 January 2025. During this tenure, Trump will try to create an environment at the domestic level in which the emphasis will be on development and the focus will be on creating new jobs. Along with this, changes may be seen in America’s trade policies with many countries including India. This will also affect the economy of both the countries. It is expected that Trump will also take initiative towards ending the ongoing tension in different parts of the world. If this happens, the ongoing challenges in the global economy may reduce to a great extent.