From tomorrow i.e April 1st, 2025, the new tax year will begin, ushering in a raft of changes that will impact you directly. There are some key money changes as well as some policy reforms that will kick in from Tuesday. The start of the fiscal year will mean a new tax slab for salaried people. Your home budget will be impacted as price revision of LPG cylinders is expected. Companies may also revise the PNG rates as well. Travelling by road may get expensive as the National Highway Authority of India us likely to introduce new toll rates on crucial routes. With the fiscal ending today, check out top ten major changes to make a better financial plan to battle inflation:
NHAI Toll Revision: If you're planning a quick getaway for the long weekend, read this first. Starting tomorrow, you may have to pay extra due to revised toll rates on major highways. While the minimum rate hike is expected to be Rs 5, the maximum increase could go up to Rs 10, according to the latest reports. This means that fares for public transport and other modes of transportation will also be revised. As per media reports, key routes in Uttar Pradesh, such as Lucknow-Kanpur, Varanasi-Gorakhpur, and Lucknow-Ayodhya, will see increased toll charges. Similarly, NHAI will formally announce revised rates for Delhi-NCR, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Karnataka, and other states tomorrow.
LPG Rates: Every month, oil marketing companies announce the revision in the rates of LPG cylinders. While there has been lots of volatility in the 19kg category of LPG cylinders, the situation of kitchen cylinders remains static. On March 1, 2025, the rate of commercial LPG cylinder was hiked to Rs 1,803. Price revision doesn’t always mean a hike. For example, in February this year, the commercial LPG cylinder prices were lowered by Rs 7 per unit. There are reports that there will be some prices cut in 14 kg category of LPG cylinders.
ATF, CNG and PNG Rates: Just like LPG rate revision, there will be an announcement regarding the CNG, PNG as well as ATF. While revision in CNG rates may help you in managing travel expenses, a hike in ATF can spike the air ticket prices.
New Income Tax Slabs: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced the new income tax slabs in her budget speech on February 1s, 2025. Starting this fiscal, the new tax slabs will come into effect. So, from tomorrow, if a salaried individual with a CTC of Rs 12 LPA opts for new tax regime, she/he will not be liable to pay any tax. Also, in case one’s income is little over Rs 12 lakh, she/he can still be out of tax ambit due to standard deduction of Rs 75,000. This new tax slab will be applicable to only those who opt for new tax regime. All standard deductions under old tax regime will stay as usual.
UPI Payment Changes: Digital payments will have a new change starting tomorrow. From Tuesday, all UPI-linked mobile numbers, which have remained inactive for a very long time will be removed from the bank records. This means that no UPI payment for those mobile numbers due to prolonged inactive status.
UPS Portal Launch: The new fiscal year will witness the launch of the Unified Pension Scheme. According to the latest reports, all central government employees will be able to apply for UPS once the portal goes live tomorrow. It is estimated that around 23 lakh government employees may opt for the scheme. A minimum pension of Rs 10,000 will be provided to any beneficiary who has completed at least 10 years of service.
Debit Card Changes: From tomorrow, all customers with RuPay Debit Select Card will see a slew of features launched by the National Payments Corporation of India. the features will include spa sessions, personal accident insurance, golf lessons, access to domestic as well as international airport lounges, OTT memberships, complimentary gym memberships, health check-ups, cab coupons among other things.
Credit Card Changes: Not just debit cards, credit cards will see some changes as well. For example, if you have Air India SBI Platinum Credit Card or SBI SimplyCLICK credit card, you may see changes in reward structure. Furthermore, effective from April 1st, Axis Bank will announce benefit revision for its Vistara Credit Card users. This was necessitated after the Air India-Vistara merger. travel perks will be something users should be watching out for.
Bank changes: Be it State Bank of India or any other private bank, everyone is launching a new norm for minimum balance for the saving accounts. Starting from April 1st, all bank customers will be needed to have some minimum balance in their accounts. Failing to do so may invite heft penalty.
DigiLocker and GST Changes: Effective from April 1, 2025, all investors will get the facility to store holding statements of their CAS as well as demat accounts directly in DigiLocker. Other key change that's kicking in from tomorrow is how taxpayers will have to submit more details to log in GST portal. Multi-Factor Authentication will go live from tomorrow. This is being done to secure the critical data on the portal.
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