Maternity expenses can be high, with the costs covering everything from prenatal visits to the hospital delivery charges and post-natal care but choosing the right maternity cover can help overcome these issues, says Bhaskar Nerurkar
Without changes to the taxation rules, buybacks are expected to remain scarce.
The Maharashtra government has ordered a probe into the death of a pregnant woman after a hospital in Pune allegedly denied her admission due to non-payment of Rs 10 lakh as advance deposit. The woman, Tanisha Bhise, died after giving birth to twin girls at another hospital. The incident sparked protests outside the Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital, with opposition parties alleging negligence and demanding action against the hospital.
'For smaller merchants, there should be a process that is digital and a minimum KYC journey should be allowed.'
PhonePe wants to dethrone its Alibaba and SoftBank-backed rival, Paytm, claiming that additional capital that Walmart will bring to the table will help it grow much faster
Cracking down on repeated non-compliance of IT norms, the RBI on Wednesday barred Kotak Mahindra Bank from onboarding new customers through its online and mobile banking channels and issuing fresh credit cards with immediate effect after the regulator found "serious deficiencies" in the lender's IT risk management. These actions, the RBI said, are necessitated based on significant concerns arising out of Reserve Bank's IT examination of the bank for the years 2022 and 2023 and the continued failure on part of the bank to address these concerns in a comprehensive and timely manner.
The Lok Sabha on Tuesday passed the Finance Bill 2025, along with 35 government amendments, including one that abolishes a 6 per cent digital tax on online advertisements.
'LAP is suited for borrowers with a steady income, sound repayment discipline, and a clear repayment plan.'
Payment aggregators should have a minimum net worth of Rs 100 crore and if they don't manage to arrange that money within one year of putting out final guidelines, they should stop doing their business, says central bank's draft paper.
Digital payments across the country registered a growth of nearly 29 per cent in a year through March 2022, as per the RBI's latest index that measures the adoption of online transactions. The newly constituted RBI's digital payment index (RBI-DPI) stood at 349.3 in March 2022 against 304.06 in September 2021 and 270.59 per cent in March 2021. "The RBI-DPI index has demonstrated significant growth, representing the rapid adoption and deepening of digital payments across the country in recent years," the RBI said in a statement on Wednesday.
In today's rapidly evolving digital payment landscape, security concerns remain a top priority for stakeholders across sectors.
The violence broke out at Maharajganj under Mahsi tehsil on Sunday over the alleged playing of loud music outside a place of worship during a Durga Puja immersion procession, in which Ram Gopal Mishra (22) died of gunshot injuries.
To push digital transactions in rural and semi-urban areas, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday issued a framework allowing offline payments up to Rs 200 per transaction, subject to an overall limit of Rs 2,000. An offline digital payment means a transaction that does not require internet or telecom connectivity. Under the offline mode, payments can be carried out face-to-face (proximity mode) using any channel or instrument like cards, wallets, and mobile devices.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), in a circular dated April 11, 2025, warned investors about rising fraud and manipulation linked to the securities market on social media platforms.
Indian startups raised a total of $1.65 billion (about Rs 14,418 crore) in funding at a median valuation of $83.2 million in February 2025, according to data from Traxcn. This brings the total funding in FY25 (April-February) to $25.4 billion, spread across 2,200 rounds, the data showed.
SBI Cards on Tuesday launched a credit card especially meant for transactions on e-commerce websites.
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved changes to GST laws to levy a 28 per cent tax on the full face value of bets in online gaming, casinos and horse race clubs, sources said. The amendments to the Central GST (CGST) and Integrated GST (IGST) acts, which were approved by the GST Council last week, are likely to be introduced in the ongoing monsoon session of Parliament, which will end on August 11. The GST Council in its 51st meeting on August 2 recommended amendments to the Schedule III of the CGST Act, 2017, to provide clarity on the taxation of supplies in casinos, horse racing and online gaming.
With rising disposable incomes in cities beyond metros, the penetration of credit cards - and consequently, credit card spending - is growing at a much faster pace than in traditional metro cities, primarily driven by e-commerce spending.
In 2023-2024, 95 scheduled commercial banks received over 10 million complaints from their customers. The process of KYC at many banks has become 'HYC' -- harass your customer, points out Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
Ask rediffGURU and PF expert Milind Vadjikar your insurance, stocks, mutual fund and personal finance-related questions.
Kunal Shah has funded over 266 startups including Razorpay, Snapdeal, Zetwork, BlueSmart, Unacademy, Bliss Club, and Spinny, amongst others.
UPI-related frauds have accounted for a cumulative loss of Rs 2,145 crore across 2.7 million reported incidents.
The move would help tax authorities get leads on evasion.
Ask rediffGURU and PF expert Milind Vadjikar your insurance, stocks, mutual fund and personal finance-related questions.
'Dear Business Partner, Kindly note and inform your all customers that Digital Cashback has been revised from 0.75 per cent to 0.25 per cent with effect from August 1, 2018 across oil industry for all loyalty customers,' said the text message sent by State-owned oil companies to petrol pump operators.
Ask rediffGURU and PF expert Milind Vadjikar your insurance, stocks, mutual fund and personal finance-related questions.
Online food delivery aggregator Zomato on Wednesday said it has received a GST demand order along with interest and penalty amounting to Rs 17.7 crore from the Assistant Commissioner of Revenue, West Bengal. The demand order, received by the company on Tuesday, is with respect to non- payment of GST on delivery charges and interest, penalty thereon.
Neighbourhood stores have the ability to adapt to changes.
India and New Zealand have signed a pact to institutionalize their defence ties and vowed to boost cooperation in the Indo-Pacific. Prime Minister Narendra Modi raised concerns about anti-India activities by some illegal elements in New Zealand with his Kiwi counterpart Christopher Luxon. The two sides also signed six agreements to enhance cooperation in areas including education, sports, agriculture, and climate change. They also agreed to prepare a roadmap for cooperation in the defence industry sector and explore early implementation of cooperation in the digital payments sector.
Edtech major Byju's on Tuesday said it has filed a complaint in the New York Supreme Court to challenge acceleration of the $1.2 billion Term Loan B (TLB). The company is also seeking the disqualification of Redwood, who contrary to the terms of TLB, purchased a significant portion of the loan while primarily trading in distressed debt. "Byju's has had to take these measures following a series of predatory tactics by the lenders, led by Redwood," the company said in a statement.
Ask rediffGURU and PF expert Milind Vadjikar your insurance, stocks, mutual fund and personal finance-related questions.
Once implemented, customers making payments using Rupay card or BHIM UPI will get a cashback of 20 per cent of the total GST amount, subject to a maximum of Rs 100.
Bisht used the fake profiles to connect with women aged between 18 and 30 years on various onlione dating platforms.
'We are running this initiative to find good job opportunities for military wives, which should be remote because then they can stay with their husbands and be part of the corporate world,' Supriya Parashar tells Prasanna D Zore/Rediff.com.
Most public sector banks, flush with deposits now, offer 3-4% interest on savings deposits, while a few private sector banks go up to 6%.
Will allowing business correspondents to hawk insurance products help in reviving 5-lakh strong field agents as a viable channel?
Has Vijay Shekhar Sharma given up on the bank? For now, he seems to be on a save-OCL mission. The bank will face its logical end, observes Tamal Bandopadhyay.
Chandrakar along with another promoter of the app, Ravi Uppal was detained and put under "house arrest" in that country late last year following the ED's request for issuance of a Red Notice (RN) against them.
Private sector lender Axis Bank on Wednesday launched the country's first contactless wearable payment devices to allow customers make on-the-go transactions more conveniently. Announcing the 'Wear N Pay' wearable devices brand, Axis Bank said it is the first bank in India to offer such a service. The bank has partnered with Thales and Tappy Technologies to design and create these products, which are exclusively available on the Mastercard platform, it said in a release.
Tech giant Apple has stopped accepting payments via debit and credit cards in India. Apple has stopped accepting cards for subscriptions, and purchases using credit cards issued by banks in India. Apple will also not accept payments for ad campaigns on Apple Search using credit cards issued by Indian banks. All campaigns will be put on hold from June 1.
