Pension Rules, Bulk Email Norms And Other Changes Coming Into Effect From Feb 1

February, the second month of the year, will see changes in some rules that will impact the lives of many people. These especially focus on pensioners, as the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) tweaking the rules for partial withdrawal of funds. Other changes are meant to regulate sending of bulk emails that will make the lives of many people easier. Apart from this, Tata Motors has announced that it will increase the prices of its passenger vehicles from next month.

Here’s a look at some of these important changes:

The PFRDA released a master circular in December 2023 in which it introduced some changes in the withdrawal rules of National Pension System (NPS). The new rules will come into force from February 1. The latest guidelines have changed conditions for partial withdrawal of funds from the pension account. They specify that subscribers can go for partial withdrawals for: Higher education expenses for the subscriber’s children (including legally adopted ones), marriage expenses for the subscriber’s children and purchase or construction of a residential house or flat in the subscriber’s own name or in joint name with their legally wedded spouse among other. Notably, the withdrawal of funds will be allowed for the purchase or construction of first house only.

Some email authentication changes will also come into effect from February 1, 2024, for organisations that send bulk email or high email volumes to Google and Yahoo accounts. They will apply to any email domain that sends more than 5,000 emails on a daily basis. The senders’ servers will have to be DMARC compliant if they want to keep sending bulk emails. These new guidelines apply when you send emails to contacts who have: Personal accounts ending in @gmail.com or @googlemail.com and Yahoo and AOL email accounts. Further, senders will have to maintain a spam rate below 0.3 per cent and send relevant emails, and provide an easy one-click unsubscribe system and process unsubscribes within two days. If not followed, these emails will be rejected or bounced back. These changes will make it harder to imitate or ‘spoof’ emails being sent to Gmail and Yahoo servers.

Another major change will come into effect from Microsoft India. The company has announced a six per cent price hike for its commercial on-premises software and online services, which include Microsoft 365 and Dynamics 365, starting February 1. This will be the third consecutive year of price increase by Microsoft in India. These changes, however, will have no effect on existing purchases placed by commercial clients under bulk licencing agreements for products that are “subject to price protection”.

Further, Tata Motors will increase prices by 0.7 per cent (on average) across its passenger vehicles portfolio, including electric vehicles (EVs). The announcement was posted on the official website of Tata Motors. This increase will be effective February 1, 2024, and is being taken to partially offset the rise in input costs, the company further said.