Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had announced a number of income tax changes in Budget 2017. In addition, some amendments were also introduced in the Finance Bill that was passed by the Lok Sabha. HIGHLIGHTS Tax rate on income between Rs. 2.5-Rs. 5 lakh will get halved to 5% The Lok Sabha on Wednesday passed the Finance Bill, completing the budgetary exercise for 2017-18. Since the Finance Bill is a Money Bill, it needs only to be cleared by the Lok Sabha.

The lack of information security practices in key government websites which hosts Personally Identifiable Information (PII) has left citizens of the country more vulnerable to identity theft and financial fraud, a research paper has argued. A paper by Amber Sinha and Srinivas Kodali of Centre for Internet and Society analysed four government websites and found that more than 13 crore Aadhaar numbers with related PII were available on the websites, exposing lax security features.

State-run telecom firm BSNL today increased per day data offering to 4GB at 3G speeds under a new prepaid mobile scheme priced at Rs 444 with 90 days validity. “Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has introduced ‘BSNL Chaukka - 444’, a new STV, for truly unlimited data for 90 days as special promotional offer under prepaid mobile services,” the company said in a statement. This is the highest per day data limit being offered by any telecom operator in the country.

Goodbyes are the hardest when they are final. It’s worse if it involves one of your parents. The heartbreak is probably lesser in intensity only to that of your surviving parent, the spouse who is left grappling with a crippling emotional void at the fag end of life. Yet, it is critical to take a financial reality check and you, as progeny, are the best suited to do it. Taking stock of the finances is an overwhelming task and it’s easy to be stumped by the maze of formalities.

As Reliance Jio’s Summer Surprise offer comes to an end, the disruptive telecom firm has come out with a new offer which extends the benefits of its blockbuster “Dhan Dhana Dhan Offer.” The plan which costs Rs. 399 promises unlimited local and STD calls to any network, free roaming and 20 per cent more data than the competition, according to reliance Jio’s website. The network also added new recharge plans like a Rs.

86 post offices have already started work so that people can apply for passports there, Shashi Tharoor said. Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, who led a 15-member delegation of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs here, today stated that passports could be applied from post offices shortly. During their stay in the city, the parliamentary committee members visited the Amritsar Passport office, where Tharoor interacted with passport seekers besides holding discussions with the officials at the passport office.

The RBI asked banks to put in place a software update at automated teller machines to prevent their systems from a malware that has attacked payment systems across the world. The Reserve Bank of India has asked banks to follow the instructions of the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), a government organisation, to prevent attack by ransomware ‘WannaCry’ which has impacted various IT networks in over 150 countries. CERT-In has come out with a list of dos and don’ts and webcast on how to protect networks from the global ransomware attack.

he rumour mills have gone on an overdrive mode since the launch of GST. Here’s a reality check by ET Wealth for both GST supporters and its detractors. Now it’s one nation one tax Myth : Since GST will replace all other taxes on all goods and services, we are in a single tax regime. Reality : Though this was the original idea, petroleum products—petrol, diesel—are still outside GST’s ambit and, therefore, their tax rates vary significantly across states.

As Reliance Jio’s promotional offers - Jio Summer Surprise and Jio Dhan Dhana Dhan - will expire for most users this month, the telecom operator has launched a new offer that provides customers up to 224 GB of 4G data along with other freebies. This comes as part of Reliance Jio’s aggressive push to gain market share from entrenched players like Bharti Airtel and Vodafone. Jio’s new offer replaces its recharge packs priced Rs.

Banks and the National Payments Corporation of India have asked the finance ministry to increase the referral bonus on payments app BHIM (Bharat Interface for Money) since it has failed to attract consumers. The government is considering the request and may announce revised incentives soon. Any person who refers BHIM to another gets Rs 10 as an incentive and the person who starts using it gets Rs 25 as an initiating cashback.