New financial year begins today: Check what changes for you in UPI payments, GST, income tax slabs & more from April 1 | Mint

With the new financial year (FY 2025-26) beginning today, April 1, 2025, we take a look at the key changes affecting online payments, GST rates, income tax slabs, bank balances, LPG cylinder prices, TDS, tolls, credit cards, and more.

Citizens and taxpayers need to stay informed about new income tax rules, revised credit card charges, changes to the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), and other personal finance updates taking effect from April 1, 2025.

What Changes for UPI Payments?

In order to enhance the security of UPI payments, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) will enforce some newly announced guidelines from April 1. These include:

• No payments will be allowed from inactive numbers.
• Public and private sector banks, such as State Bank of India and HDFC Bank, and third-party UPI providers, such as PhonePe and Google Pay, have all been asked to phase out inactive numbers linked to UPI due to security risk.
• What can you do to avoid losing your UPI account? If your mobile number is linked to UPI but has not been used for a long time and you want to keep it valid, approach your bank to update your details by April 1, 2025.

What Changes in Income Tax Slabs?

In her Budget 2025 speech in February, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced updated income tax slabs under the new regime. These come into effect from April 1, 2025.

Under the revised income tax slabs, individuals earning up to ₹12 lakh a year will not need to pay income tax. For salaried individuals, a standard deduction of ₹75,000 will apply, effectively making ₹12.75 lakh salary tax-free under the new tax regime.

Additionally, the new tax regime has changed the tax slab rates. The basic exemption limit has been hiked from ₹3 lakh to ₹5 lakh.

TDS Relief Hiked

In her Budget speech, Nirmala Sitharaman announced an increase in the limit for tax deducted at source (TDS) from ₹5,000 to ₹10,000, with effect from April 1, 2025. This will allow all investors (equities and mutual funds) to keep more in hand, with TDS being cut only once annual dividend income exceeds ₹10,000.

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Credit Cards: What is Changed?

For customers who are using credit cards, rules have been updated for many products. Check with your bank, branch manager, or customer relations officer for specific details. Here are some credit cards affected by changes to the rewards points structure:

• For the SBI Card with SimplyCLICK and Air India SBI Platinum Credit Card, there are changes in reward points structures.
• For Axis Bank — revision of Vistara Credit Card benefits, due to the airline’s merger with Air India.

Requirement of Minimum Bank Balance

Public sector lenders such as SBI, Canara Bank and Punjab National Bank (PNB), among others, are updating their minimum balance requirements from April 1.

New minimum balance will be determined by market — rural, semi-urban and urban areas. Those bank customers who are unable to maintain minimum balance will be penalised.

Updates to Unified Pension Scheme

Launched in August 2024 to replace the old pension scheme (OPS), the Unified Pension Scheme (UPS) will come into effect from April 1. The shift will affect about 23 lakh central government employees with at least 25 years of service.

According to UPS rules, staff with at least 25 years of service will be eligible for a pension equivalent to 50 per cent of their last 12 months’ average basic salary.

Changes in Goods and Services Tax Rules

Starting from April 1, the Goods and Service Tax (GST) portal will require mandatory multi-factor authentication (MFA) to ensure better security for taxpayers. Further, E-Way Bills (EWBs) can only be generated for base documents that are not older than 180 days.

National Highway Tolls Increase

The toll price for national highways (NH) across India are set to increase by around 3 per cent as follows:

• Lucknow: Hike of ₹5 per trip to ₹10 for light vehicles, and ₹25 for heavy vehicles passing through Lucknow.
• Delhi-Meerut Expressway, Eastern Peripheral Expressway and NH-9: One-way toll for cars and jeep travelling from Sarai Kale Khan to Meerut hiked by ₹5 to ₹170. Light commercial vehicles and buses to pay ₹275 and trucks to pay ₹580.
• NH-9’s Chhijarsi toll plaza: For cars, toll to increase to ₹175, for light commercial vehicles to ₹280, and buses and trucks to ₹590.
• Toll from Ghaziabad to Meerut to increase by ₹5 to ₹75.
• Delhi-Jaipur highway’s Kherki Daula toll plaza: Toll for cars and jeeps remain unchanged, monthly pass for larger vehicles up ₹20 to ₹950, commercial cars and jeeps will pay 85 one-way, with monthly pass up ₹20 to ₹1255.

LPG gas rates revised

The prices for 19 kg commercial LPG gas cylinders have been reduced by ₹41, with into effect from today. Earlier, on February 1, the prices of commercial LPG cylinders were reduced by ₹7. Check the new rates in your city:

• New Delhi – ₹1,762
• Mumbai – ₹1,713
• Bengaluru: ₹1,836
• Chennai: ₹1,921
• Hyderabad: 1,985
• Kolkata: ₹1,868