New Rules From March 1: 8 Major Changes From Demat Accounts, FDs To UPI, That May Impact Your Pockets

New Rules From March 1: The month of March is here and major changes have already taken place in your day-to-day expenses. This month, Sebi's revamped nominees guidelines have come into effect which will impact your demat account or mutual fund account. Not just that, OMCs have revised LPG and jet fuel prices which will impact both households and the airline industry. Additionally, your insurance premiums may also see significant change due to the new IRDAI rule for UPI-mandate. Expectations of FD rates and CNG prices are also on the cards.

Here are 6 major changes that could hit your pocket in March 2025:

1. Nomination In Mutual Fund, Demat Accounts:

As per new SEBI guidelines, to revise and revamp the norms for nomination for Demat accounts and mutual fund (MF) folios and to prevent the generation of unclaimed assets in the Indian securities market, the regulator has revised the norms from March 1, 2025.

Revamped Norms:

Under the Sebi's new guidelines, investors need to mandatorily provide the following:

- any one of the following personal identifiers of the nominee - PAN or Driving Licence number or last 4 digits of Aadhaar (only the document number is required to be provided; not the document)

- full contact details of nominee(s) such as a residential address, e-mail address, and telephone / mobile number.

- relationship of nominee(s) with the investor.

- Date of birth of nominee(s) (if nominee is a minor).

From March 2025, investors can nominate up to 10 persons in the account/folio. However, the Power of Attorney (POA) Holder(s) of the investor cannot nominate.

Also, Sebi guided that upon transmission of joint account/folio, the nominees shall have the option to either continue as joint holders with the other nominees or open separate single account/folio for their respective portions.

Nominees can also act on behalf of incapacitated investors. However, the regulated entity shall provide the investors having a single holding/account/folio, the option to;

- empower, any one of the nominees (excluding minor nominee) to operate the investor's account/folio, if the investor is physically incapacitated, but still can contract,

- specify either the percentage or absolute value of assets in the account/ folio that can be encashed by such nominee

- change such mandate any number of times without any restriction.

Reiterated Norms are:

- In case of joint accounts/holdings, upon the demise of one or more joint holder(s), the regulated entity shall transmit the assets held to the surviving holder(s) vide name deletion

- The surviving member(s) shall receive the assets as owner(s) and not as a trustee

- Surviving joint holders shall be entitled to continue with, or change or cancel the nominations made previously.

- The mode of operation (of the joint account), namely that of the first-named holder OR anyone or survivor OR either or survivor basis OR joint, etc. shall be unaffected by the rule of survivorship.

- The norms applicable for the operation of the account/folio shall be mutatis mutandis applicable for nomination.

2. UPI Changes:

From March 1, UPI users will have the benefit of paying their insurance premiums through block amounts. The insurance regulator IRDAI has allowed a one-time mandate for blocking the amount towards premium through UPI for the issuance of life and health insurance policies.

What it means is that the new feature will enable UPI users to block funds in their bank accounts for specific transactions, ensuring the availability of funds while deferring actual payments. This service is useful in multiple scenarios where the customer prefers to authorize a block on funds without immediate debits, facilitating a smoother transaction process.

The facility is called BIMA-ASA, where the transfer of money from the prospect to the insurer happens only when insurance policy is issued. Under the facility, insurers can offer one-time mandate for blocking certain amount through UPI in the bank account of the concerned prospect. After doing so, amount towards insurance premium will be debited only after the insurer decides to accept the proposal. However, if the insurer does not accept the proposal, then the amount will be unblocked and will be released and available at the disposal of the prospect.

3. LPG Prices From March 1:

The Indian oil marketing companies (OMCs) have hiked LPG prices of 19 kg cylinders by Rs 5.5 to Rs 6 per cylinder since March 1, 2025. The highest increase was in cities like Delhi, Kolkata, and Mumbai. However, prices of jet fuel were also revised for March month. On the other hand, OMCs kept 14.2kg LPG prices unchanged in metro cities.

4. ATF Prices:

Jet fuel prices were also revised from March 1, 2025. In Indian rupees, jet fuel is available at Rs 95,311.72 per KL in Delhi, followed by Rs 97,588.66 per KL in Kolkata, Rs 89,070.03 per KL in Mumbai, and at Rs 98,567.90 per KL in Chennai.

5. Revision In FD Rates:

Citizens can accept changes in FD interest rates ahead of the April 2025 monetary policy. After a 25 bps cut in repo rate in February policy, FD rates that are linked to the repo rate are likely to be revised, However, banks have the flexibility to revise their rates depending upon liquidity and market conditions.

6. CNG, PNG Prices:

According to Yes Securities, During Q3FY25, the APM gas allocation for the CNG segment was reduced twice, impacting the company's gas sourcing strategy. The first reduction occurred on 16th Oct'24, bringing the allocation down from 63% to 51%. A further reduction to 37% was implemented on 16th Nov'24. However effective 16th Jan'25, the APM gas allocation was increased back to 51% (in Jan'25), a positive development expected to alleviate sourcing pressures in the coming quarters.

Price changes in CNG and PNG will also be keenly watched in March month.

7. Tax Slabs:

It is expected that income tax slabs and tax deducted at source (TDS) limits are likely to be revised in March month.

8. GST Portal:

Also, a multi-factor authentication is expected to be equipped into GST portal to revamp security in March 2025.