A week before the third phase of Covid-19 lockdown ends, some major changes are being implemented by the government from Monday.
• The railways announced that people can start booking tickets for 15 trains which will start operating from May 12. Booking for reservation in these trains will start at 4 pm on Monday. The Indian Railways has announced that it will gradually resume passenger train services and ask passengers to arrive at the station at least an hour before departure. Initially, the all air-conditioned services will begin on 15 Rajdhani routes and the fare would be equivalent to that of the super-fast train, it said. The special trains will run from New Delhi to Dibrugarh, Agartala, Howrah, Patna, Bilaspur, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar, Secunderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Madgaon, Mumbai Central, Ahmedabad and Jammu Tawi. Shares of Indian Railway Catering And Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) jumped five per cent in early trade on Monday after the announcement of resumption of train ticket booking.
• The second tranche of government-run Sovereign Gold Bond (SGB) scheme of this fiscal year will open for subscription on Monday and will close on May 15. The issue price of the Series II of sovereign gold bond scheme 2020-21 has been fixed at Rs 4,590 per gram and its date of issuance is May 19. Those applying online and making payment through digital mode will get a discount of Rs 50 per gram. One unit of the bond, considered one of the best alternatives to invest in gold, is equal to one gram of the yellow metal and was priced at Rs 4,639 for the first tranche of FY’20. According to Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data, the first tranche of sovereign gold bond for this fiscal saw a record subscription of 17.73 lakh units worth Rs 822 crore. This was the highest ever subscription since the issue in October 2016.
• The country’s largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) said that the second installment of Rs 500 had been deposited in the accounts of female Jan Dhan Yojana account holders under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana. It also provided a schedule for withdrawal of funds by them so that social distancing norms are not breached. According to this scheduled released by the government, those with account number ending in 8 or 9 can withdraw the money on May 11.
{{/usCountry}}• The country’s largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) said that the second installment of Rs 500 had been deposited in the accounts of female Jan Dhan Yojana account holders under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana. It also provided a schedule for withdrawal of funds by them so that social distancing norms are not breached. According to this scheduled released by the government, those with account number ending in 8 or 9 can withdraw the money on May 11.
{{/usCountry}}• State-owned Union Bank of India on Friday announced reduction in its marginal cost of funds-based lending rate (MCLR) by up to 15 basis points across all tenors, effective May 11. The one-year MCLR has been revised downwards by 5 basis points (bps) to 7.70 per cent from 7.75 per cent. Overnight MCLR has been reduced by 15 bps to 7.15 per cent from 7.30 per cent and one-month MCLR by 10 bps to 7.25 per cent. The lender has reduced three-month and six-month MCLR by 5 bps to 7.40 per cent and 7.55 per cent, respectively.