Clarification regarding News Report of Arrest of Tax Defaulters
Certain sections of the press have been carrying news reports today that Income Tax Department is going to arrest wilful defaulters of tax.
In this regard, it is clarified that no such statement has been authorised by the Income-tax Department. Though the provisions for arrest and detention by the Tax Recovery Officers in respect of the non-compliant tax defaulters are contained in the Income-tax Act, these are used extremely sparingly.
In this regard, it is clarified that no such statement has been authorised by the Income-tax Department. Though the provisions for arrest and detention by the Tax Recovery Officers in respect of the non-compliant tax defaulters are contained in the Income-tax Act, these are used extremely sparingly.
20-June-2016 17:11 IST
On the basis of the decision of the Government, interest rates for small savings schemes are to be notified on quarterly basis
Quarterly Revision of Interest Rates for Small Savings Schemes
On the basis of the decision of the Government, interest rates for small savings schemes are to be notified on quarterly basis. Accordingly, the rates of interest on various small savings schemes for the second quarter of financial year 2016-17, on the basis of the interest compounding/payment built-in in the schemes, shall be as under:
Instrument
|
Rate of interest w.e.f. 01.04.2016 to 30.6.2016
|
Rate of interest w.e.f. 01.07.2016 to 30.9.2016
|
Compounding frequency
|
Savings Deposit
|
4.0
|
4.0
|
Annual
|
1 Year Time Deposit
|
7.1
|
7.1
|
Quarterly
|
2 Year Time Deposit
|
7.2
|
7.2
|
Quarterly
|
3 Year Time Deposit
|
7.4
|
7.4
|
Quarterly
|
5 Year Time Deposit
|
7.9
|
7.9
|
Quarterly
|
5 Year Recurring Deposit
|
7.4
|
7.4
|
Quarterly
|
5 Year Senior Citizens Savings Scheme
|
8.6
|
8.6
|
Quarterly and paid
|
5 year Monthly Income Account Scheme
|
7.8
|
7.8
|
Monthly and paid
|
5 Year National Savings Certificate
|
8.1
|
8.1
|
Annual
|
Public Provident Fund Scheme
|
8.1
|
8.1
|
Annual
|
KisanVikasPatra
|
7.8 (will mature in 110 months)
|
7.8 (will mature in 110 months)
|
Annual
|
SukanyaSamriddhi Account Scheme
|
8.6
|
8.6
|
Annual
|
*****
AR/KA
Study-loan defaulters get harsh life lesson from ARC-The Hindu Business Line
Coimbatore, June 20:
Last month, J Padmapriya, a Coimbatore-based widow and mother of two, received a letter from Reliance Asset Reconstruction Company that had her reeling in shock.
The letter stated coldly that her son Radhakrishnan was in default on the ₹90,000 education loan he had taken from SBI in 2012 (for which she was guarantor), and that SBI had assigned all rights on the loan, which had been declared an NPA, to Reliance ARC. It directed Radhakrishnan to settle the outstanding amount of ₹1.22 lakh (including accrued interest) at one go, within 15 days.
Padmapriya acknowledges she and her son are in default, but says she was unable to repay the loan: her son was jobless for a year after completion of the course, by which time the moratorium on repayment expired, and interest began to accrue. She earns ₹6,000 a month and, struggling to survive, she fell behind on the EMI of ₹3,315. And, now, to be asked to pay ₹1.22 lakh in full is way beyond her capability, she laments.
Indigent borrowers
Nor is Padmapriya alone in her predicament. Other defaulters on education loans from SBI, many of whom are in indigent circumstances, are in a similar fix, with Reliance ARC hustling them to repay their outstandings within 15 days.
Nirmala (name changed on request), 23, whose mother works as a domestic helper, availed of a ₹2 lakh education loan in 2006, but secured a job placement only in 2011. By then, her loan outstanding had more than doubled, and although she has since made part-repayments, she still owed SBI ₹1.2 lakh last November, when she received a letter from Reliance ARC that claimed, shockingly, that she owed it ₹2.25 lakh.
A tearful Nirmala says that Reliance ARC is now “putting pressure” on her mother to settle immediately.
Foootnotes to a deal
Pitiful though their plight is, Padmapriya and Nirmala (and many others) are mere footnotes to larger, emotionless corporate deals that have touched their lives. In three tranches spread over 2015-16, SBI sold to Reliance ARC some 43,000 Education Term Loans (ETLs), corresponding to a total loan of ₹848 crore.
The bank’s ETL portfolio shrunk by ₹287 crore to ₹15,177 crore in FY 2016.
An SBI officer, who did not wish to be named, said the bank no longer had ownership of the ETL accounts, and so when the borrowers approached the branches, they were directed to Reliance ARC.
A communication from the SBI Corporate Office states: “While branches can accept the repayment and credit the amount into the Trust account of Reliance ARC, borrowers will have to obtain loan closure certificate from Reliance ARC only.”
Padmapriya says that when she sought an appointment with Reliance ARC staff, she was fobbed off. “When I explained that it would be impossible to settle the entire amount at once, he said, ‘we do not accept payment in monthly instalment. That is our policy’,” she recalls.
Financial illiteracy
A lack of understanding of how the education loan repayment schedule is structured has compounded the borrowers’ problems. Nirmala says she was unaware that she had to make a token remittance every month beyond the moratorium period so as not to be in default.
In other cases, SBI appears to have unfairly shifted the goalposts. “While the scheme provides for a 10-year repayment period for loans up to ₹10 lakh, SBI had fixed it at five years,” noted a banker, seeking anonymity.
Right now, a clutch of defaulters, caught between an SBI that has washed its hands of them and a stern-sounding Reliance ARC, is running around seeking help from any quarter. They are not sure which regulator or consumer court can help them.
And since even the overall mood has turned against defaulters of bank loans, even sympathy is in short supply for those in this predicament.
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