Outlook Money
The US has declared changes to its visa regulations, including the H-1B visa, and Indian applicants will be required to complete a revised Form I-129 starting January 17, 2025. The UK has raised the financial reserve requirements for visa applicants, mandating that Indians demonstrate at least 11 per cent more than the existing requirement.
The Reserve Bank of India has revised fixed deposit regulations for non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) and housing finance companies (HFCs). The new rules cover accepting public deposits, maintaining a minimum liquid asset percentage, and repaying public deposits.
The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) introduced tier-based spending criteria for exclusive airport lounge access for RuPay credit cardholders on January 1, 2025.
The Central Pension Payment System (CPPS) is set to be introduced as a part of the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO)'s IT upgrade initiative, CITES 2.01. This system will allow 7.8 million members of the EPS to receive their pensions from any bank branch in India.
RBI has enabled Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions for full-KYC Prepaid Payment Instruments (PPIs) via third-party UPI apps, offering customers increased flexibility and enabling PPI wallet users to conduct transactions using UPI.