Provident Financial News

By Fabio Teixeira and Ricardo Brito

EPFO added a net 16.02 lakh subscribers in January 2024, according to payroll data released on Sunday. Around 8.08 lakh members were enrolled for the first time in January 2024, a labour ministry statement said on Sunday. The Employees'' Provident Fund Organization's (EPFO) provisional payroll highlighted that the EPFO has added 16.02 lakh members on a net basis in January 2024, the ministry said. A noticeable aspect of the data is the dominance of the 18-25 age group, constituting a significant 56.41 per cent of the total new members added in January 2024 indicating the majority of individuals joining the organized workforce are youth, primarily first-time job seekers.

₹350-400 crore." The manufacturing business is projected to grow 20-30% in FY25, buoyed by the around ₹2 trillion worth of central sector transmission projects in India. The company is also in talks with private equity investors for raising funds for its transmission business, he said. “That is the business where we operate like a highway operator, where we build, own and operate transmission lines, providing transmission services to end users, generators, and consumers.

Mint had reported in January that the department of promotion of industry and internal trade (DPIIT) had asked for details of its shareholding patterns. The company is learnt to have cited US regulations for not providing the details of complete disclosure of ownership, as required by the commerce ministry, in this case.

Skywatchers around the world are gearing up for the first lunar eclipse of 2024, set to grace the skies on March 25th. This penumbral lunar eclipse offers a unique viewing experience, coinciding with the festival of Holi in India. Here's all you need to know about this celestial event and how to make the most of it. What is a Penumbral Lunar Eclipse? Unlike a total lunar eclipse, where the Moon is fully shadowed by the Earth, a penumbral eclipse occurs when the Moon passes through the Earth's faint outer shadow. This results in a subtle dimming of the Moon's surface, which may be challenging to observe without keen attention.

HOUSTON—Every March, thousands of executives take over a downtown hotel here to reach oil and gas deals and haggle over plans to tackle climate change. This year, the dominant theme of the energy industry’s flagship conference was a new one: artificial intelligence. Tech companies roamed the hotel’s halls in search of utility executives and other power providers.

—Name withheld on request Form 15H is a self-declaration for non-deduction of taxes at source which can be submitted by an eligible person to the payor of specified incomes. Specified incomes includes income from provident fund withdrawal, dividend incomes, interest on securities, other interest incomes, national savings scheme, insurance commissions, life insurance policies, etc.

IPOs this week: One mainboard, 12 SME public issues to open for subscription; check full list here The IPO of Bharti Hexacom comprises exclusively of an offer-for-sale (OFS) segment, devoid of any issuance of new shares. Telecommunications Consultants India, the singular public shareholder in the firm, intends to sell 7.5 crore equity shares, equating to a 15% stake in the OFS. Bharti Airtel, led by Sunil Mittal, owns a 70% stake, equivalent to 35 crore shares, while the remaining 30% ownership, comprising 15 crore equity shares, is held by non-promoter TCIL.

Tech Mahindra, India’s one of leading IT services and consultation firms, has said that the company will be merging its wholly-owned step down subsidiary Born Group with its parent company Tech Mahindra (Americas) Inc as the respective companies have approved the consolidation on Friday i.e. March 22, 2024. “A Plan of Merger of Born Group, Inc., wholly-owned step down subsidiary of the Company with its parent company viz.

Two months after Elon Musk acquired Twitter, the billionaire hopped on a video call with a handful of creators, seeking advice about how to make his platform better for them and asking how YouTube attracts creators. Podcaster Samir Chaudry told Musk that YouTube had a well-established system for creators to make money through advertising revenue. More than a year after meeting with Musk, Chaudry says X’s strategy for creators still isn’t clear.

IIFL Finance Ltd and JM Financial Products Ltd (JMFPL) as it has initiated the process for appointment of auditors. The central bank has floated two separate tenders for appointment of auditors for special audits of the two non-banking finance companies (NBFCs).

IIFL Finance Ltd and JM Financial Products Ltd (JMFPL) will undergo a special audit to further probe their regulatory breaches, as the Reserve Bank has initiated the process for the appointment of auditors. The Reserve Bank has floated two separate tenders for the appointment of auditors for special audits of these two non-banking finance companies. Audit firms empanelled by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) for forensic audit can participate in the tendering process, and the last date for submission of bids is April 8, as per the tender document published by the Reserve Bank of India. The selected firms will be awarded work on April 12, 2024, as per the bid documents.

Tech Mahindra said it plans to merge its two wholly-owned subsidiaries, Born Group and Tech Mahindra (Americas), to synergise business operations, optimise operational cost, and reduce compliance risks. The merger is subject to regulatory approvals in the country of incorporation. According to a regulatory filing, the appointed date of the plan of merger is April 1, 2024. «A Plan of Merger of Born Group, Inc., a wholly-owned step-down subsidiary of the Company with its parent company viz. Tech Mahindra (Americas) Inc., a wholly-owned material subsidiary of the Company, has been approved by the respective companies on Friday, 22nd March 2024,» the company said.

FPIs have shown a significant resurgence in their investment activity within the Indian equity markets this month, injecting over Rs 38,000 crore, mainly driven by favourable shifts in the global economic scenario and strong domestic macroeconomic outlook. The investment came following a modest investment of Rs 1,539 crore in February and a massive outflow of Rs 25,743 crore in January, data with the depositories snowed. With this, foreign portfolio investors' (FPIs) investment has turned positive to the tune of Rs 13,893 crore in equities so far in 2024 and Rs 55,480 crore in the debt market.

GTRI said on Sunday. China's automotive industry, buoyed by substantial state support, has grown rapidly in electric vehicle technology, making it a leading exporter of EVs and related components, the Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) said. The renewed policy push to make India a hub for e-vehicle manufacturing and efforts of the private sector will lead to a sharp increase in dependence on auto component imports from China, the report said. India's auto component imports were USD 20.3 billion in 2022-23 of which 30 per cent came from China.

As Fed policymakers stuck to their path of lowering rates this year, the Bank of England also moved closer to cuts. Here are some of the charts that appeared on Bloomberg this week on the latest developments in the global economy:

Harshvardhan Roongta, CFP, Roongta Securities, says “do not invest in any product to save tax. It is not about insurance or any other investment product. You have to look at the merit of that product. You should ask yourself a question any time that you are going to be looking at investing; would you invest in this product if there were no tax benefits available? If the answer is no, then do not invest in it only to save taxes.” March 31 deadline is almost around the corner and a time when people look at a lot of tax saving instruments. It is usually an insurance policy in most of the cases and this is the time when we see a lot of mis-selling cases rising as far as insurance policies are concerned. A right way to look at insurance should be as an instrument against risk protection. But when it comes to saving taxes, you have a lot of options in insurance. How can one go about it? Harshvardhan Roongta: Yes, we are at the fag-end of the financial year and at this point in time, all the individuals or rather most of them will be running around to save taxes because they have deadlines to finish with their investments to save tax.

Israel in exchange for every hostage freed by Hamas in any new Gaza truce, an Israeli official briefed on the Qatar-hosted talks said on Saturday. An Israeli delegation led by Mossad chief David Barnea is in Doha for indirect negotiations with the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which CIA director William Burns is helping Qatari and Egyptian officials to mediate.

booming ecommerce market is spurring a packaging makeover among consumer goods makers, as they chase the growing number of online shoppers. Companies are seeking to make their products more robust to survive the rigours of shipping, with some saying they have already seen results, in the form of fewer returns. ITC, for instance, changed the cap of shower gels to prevent leakage even when there is no scotch tape. This is one among changes in the packaging design for most of its fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG). Parle Products is adding protective layers for its `30-80 biscuit packs, which mostly sell online. It has also introduced a separate outer packing for bundled biscuit packs to be sold online, to ensure they are not broken. Goods sold online change hands more times than offline, often being roughly handled by delivery personnel, company executives said, adding that the chances of leaks or transit damage increase while shipping individual units.

Google appears to be hurdling as many regulatory barriers lately in India as the answers its search engine generates in response to a query. Ironically, the latest in the list of uncomfortable questions is the Mountain View giant’s alleged role in limiting local consumers’ choice, contrary to what the encyclopaedic Google search engine is actually designed to offer. Last Friday, the Competition Commission of India (CCI ) prima facie ordered a probe to examine Google’s Play Store billing policies after Indian companies raised concerns about hosting their apps on the go-to consumer platform.

infertility rates, fertility benefits in Indian companies have gone from a novelty to a much-sought-after workplace perk. Companies including Bizongo, HSBC India, Titan Company, Navi, Meesho, and Simpl are among those that have rolled out or enhanced fertility benefits as part of their corporate insurance and benefits programmes as they focus on creating more inclusive and supportive workplaces. Experts say such measures not only help companies attract and retain talent, but also boost their diversity credentials. For women employees in particular, such benefits matter a lot — a recent survey by employee insurance platform Plum showed one in 3 women are open to egg freezing; 88% of them want it to be included in their workplace benefits package.