New Rules that takes effect from April 01,2017

Railway Vikalp scheme

From April 01, 2017 waitlisted passengers can avail the opportunity of travelling in premier trains like Rajdhani or Shatabdi even if they have booked tickets in other mail or express trains for the same destination.

As of now, the scheme will be available in online bookings and later extended to counters.

Under this scheme, waitlisted passengers can get confirmed berths in the next alternate train if they opt for it while booking their tickets. There would be no extra charges or any refund provided for the difference of fares.

'Vikalp' envisages to utilise vacant berths in premier trains, including Rajdhani, Shatabdi, Duronto, and special service such as Humsafar and Suvidha trains in all major routes across the country with no extra cost to passengers.

Any waitlisted passenger who has booked ticket online earlier can avail the new scheme now by opting for alternate trains through the IRCTC ticketing site.

As per the scheme, passengers opting for 'Vikalp' scheme while booking tickets will get SMS alert on his/her mobile phone about confirmed accommodation in the next train running on the route.

The name of the passenger, who has been provided berth in the alternative train will not figure in the waitlisted charts of the original train. A separate list of passengers transferred in alternative train will be provided along with the confirmed charts.

SBI ATM transaction and Minimum balance

SBI has decided to levy penalty on non-maintenance of minimum balance, which the bank plans to hike manifold from April 1.

However, the government has asked SBI to reconsider its decision to levy penalty on non-maintenance of minimum balance.

The country's largest lender has announced imposing penalty ranging from Rs 20-100 on non-maintenance of Minimum Average Balance (MAB) in savings bank accounts from April 1. The penalty is as high as Rs 500 in case of current accounts.

The penalty for breach of MAB is being reintroduced after a gap of five years.

SBI has also imposed restrictions on withdrawals of cash from its branches as well as ATMs. These will attract charges after certain specified limits.

Some private banks, like HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank, have started charging a minimum amount of Rs 150 per transaction for cash deposits and withdrawals beyond four free transactions in a month.

New Emmission Norm

The automobile industry is fully geared up to commence production of vehicles compliant with BS-IV emission norms from April 1 across the country.

Implementation of BS-IV norms pan-India had been delayed due to non-availability of BS-IV fuel across the country, forcing some categories of four-wheeled vehicles to remain at the BS-III stage till April 1 2017.

The Indian auto industry will also be the first in the world to leapfrog from BS-IV to BS-VI emission norms by 2020.

Cash transactions limit

Government has decided cap cash transactions at Rs 2 lakh instead of Rs 3 lakh as provided in the Budget. The Cash transactions limit will come to effect from April 1.

A penalty of equal amount would be levied in case of violation of the provision.

The measure  — an extension of the central government’s November 8 decision to invalidate old notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 — is part of the central government’s proposed ban on cash transactions of over Rs 3 lakh that was mooted in Budget 2017-18 to stop “future generations” of unaccounted money from flowing into the financial system.