New Things I learnt in my daily life

Get more on small investments

2011-12-03T08:42:00.001+05:30

Beginning 01 Dec 2011, investors in small savings schemes will start earning higher returns. The finance ministry has notified that from December 1 the rate of interest on Public Provident Fund (PPF) scheme in the current financial year ending March 2012 would be 8.6%, up from 8%. The government has also allowed higher limit in PPF investments, allowing one to put up to Rs 1 lakh per year in this instrument, from Rs 70,000 earlier.

The rate of interest on the 5-year national savings certificate (NSC) has also been hiked from 8% to 8.4% now, while small savings accounts holders in post offices will now get 4% interest, up from 3.5%. Interest on monthly investment schemes (MIS) has also been increased to 8.2% from 8%, and on national savings certificates (NSC) the hike has been to 8.4% from 8%. A new 10-year NSC will also be available soon.

There are some disappointments as well. The government is withdrawing Kisan Vikas Patra, on suspicion that this is being used for money laundering. It has also decided to do away with the 5% bonus that MIS customers got at the time of maturity. What is even more disappointing is that this withdrawal of bonus payout will be applicable even on old accounts that remain operational on or after December 1.

There is another important change that investors need to be mindful about. Earlier interest rates in all small savings schemes were fixed for the tenure of the investment. This is changing now: From December 1, the rates of interest on these instruments will be linked to what one can earn in the government bonds, also called Gilts, of equivalent maturity. What this means is returns from these much safer savings instruments will become market-linked and hence variable. On some year it will go up, while on some it will go down.

This variable rate also means that if you have invested in an NSC of 5 years, you rate of interest will be 25 basis points above the yield on 5-year Gilts. For example, if the yield on 5-year Gilts is 8.75%, you will get 9% on your investments. And as the corresponding yield changes, the rate of interest on your investment will also change each year. The good news for senior citizens is that the rate of interest they will get on the 5-year Savings Scheme for them will fetch 100 basis points more than the yield on 5-year Gilts. So in the above example, they will earn at the rate of 9.75%. And in 10-year NSC, one will get 50 basis points above the 10-year yield on Gilts.

Experts say that under the changed rate structure, PPFs will now give one an annual post-tax return of about 11.3% (provided full income tax benefits are availed by the investor), which is very good. And on top of this, remember, this is a very safe investment.

Source: http://m.timesofindia.com/PDATOI/articleshow/10913006.cms

Tatkal Reservation reduced to 24hrs

2011-11-21T15:21:00.001+05:30

Source: https://www.irctc.co.in/alert_updates.htm

The Advance Reservation Period (ARP) of Tatkal scheme is reduced from two days to one day excluding the day of journey from the train originating station. For example, if train is to depart from the originating station on the second of the month, the Tatkal quota booking for that particular train will open at 08:00 hrs on the first of the month from originating station.
This helps to prevent misuse by unscrupulous elements who resort to speculative booking. According to the changed system, no duplicate Tatkal ticket shall be issued and it would be done only in exceptional cases on payment of full fare including Tatkal charges.

For booking Tatkal e-tickets, the passenger shall enter the ID proof type and number, which is to be used for travel. These details will be printed on the ERS/VRM as well as in the reservation chart.
I hope that for offline tatkal ticket booking they apply a similar rule like asking for the identity of the person who is travelling. It would reduce the agents sleeping at the counters in the night and would benefit the genuine travellers.

During the journey, the passenger, whose identity card number has been indicated on the ticket, will have to produce original proof of identity indicated on the ticket, failing which all the passengers booked on the ticket shall be treated as travelling without ticket and charged accordingly.
Note that unlike normal ticket where any of the 6 passengers identity proof would work, for tatkal only the person's whose identity is given at the time of booking is needed.

Maximum of four passengers per PNR can be booked on Tatkal e-tickets.

No refund will be granted on cancellation of confirmed Tatkal ticket except in case of circumstance mentioned in para 2 of instructions contained in Commercial Circular no. 53 of 2006 issued vide letter no. 2006/TGI-I/20/P/Tatkal, dated 30.06.2006.

Cancellation of e-tickets in case of trains cancelled

2011-11-08T23:27:00.003+05:30

Source: https://www.irctc.co.in/beta_htmls/Canelled_train.html

1) You can check whether the train is cancelled or not by checking the current status of the ticket on the internet.

2) If the train is marked as "CANCELLED" in PRS full refund is permissible in case the ticket is cancelled within 72 hours of the scheduled departure of the train.Customer can himself make such cancellations of e-tickets through internet.

If such cases are not cancelled within 72 hours of scheduleddeparture of the train, customers should file TDR with option'Train cancelled' to process the refund through TDR.

RBI Notification on Reconciliation of Failed Transactions at ATMs

2011-07-07T11:43:00.000+05:30

RBI issued a circular with effect from 1st July, 2011, banks are required to resolve complaints related to failed ATM transactions within 7 days from the date of receipt of the complaint. Delay in resolution of the complaint entails payment of compensation to the customer @ Rs.100/- per day by the issuing bank. A customer is entitled for compensation, only if a claim is lodged with the bank at which his/her account is held within 30 days of the date of the transaction.

Live Certificate for LIC Annuity

2011-06-04T10:07:00.002+05:30

Few days back, my parents received a letter from LIC. It was regarding the Superannuation scheme that I opted for while leaving my previous company. I chose "Pension for Life (without return of corpus) with COMMUTATION" option with payment mode as Yearly. Of the whole superannuation amount, I withdrew 50% while leaving the company and the balance 50% was invested in LIC policy. The dividend would be paid to me annually as long as I am alive.

That letter has an acknowledgement in the bottom, which is a Live Certificate, that I need to get it signed by a LIC Class 1 officer/Gazetted Officer/Reg Medical Practitioner with Registration No/Bank Manager with seal, as a proof that I am alive. It seems that the LIC would send this letter once in 3 years and we need to get it signed by any of the above persons, failing which they would stop paying the annuity amount. After getting the signature, we need to post it back to the LIC address mentioned in the top of the letter.

This is the first letter that I received this letter. Has anyone else received such type of letter?

Some information on Blood donation

2011-05-14T16:42:00.003+05:30

The photos, which are uploaded here are self-explanatory, but here's the gist of the photos:
1) Guess your baby's blood group?
2) How many lives can your blood save?
3) How much blood can you donate?

These photos are taken from Jayadeva Hospital when I went to donate blood to a colleague friend's mother, who was undergoing an heart operation.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is eligible to donate blood?
In India, you can start donating blood at the age of 18 and up to the age of 60 if you weigh at least 45 kg and be in good health.

Is it safe to donate blood?
Donating blood is very safe and simple. We use only totally sterile disposable blood bags and needles.

How long will it take to replenish the blood I have given?
Blood volume or plasma is replaced within 24 hours. Red cells need about 21 days for complete replacement.

How often can I donate blood?
Whole blood donors can give blood once every 90 days.

How much blood is collected per donation?
Only 350 ml for whole blood if you weigh 45 kg to 50 kg, (or) 450ml of blood if you weigh more then 50 kg. This works to just 8-9 ml per Kg while a male has about 26 ml of reserve blood per kg in the body while a female has about 16 ml of reserve per kg.

How long does it take to give blood?
The donation process includes registration, medical screening, the blood collection, and time for refreshments. For whole blood, the actual blood collection takes 5 to 7 minutes.

How soon after donating can I practice sports?
Sports can be resumed the day after the donation.

What should I do before donating?
We want your donation experience to be pleasant. Please remember:
* Eat a well-balanced meal before you donate.
* Tell us the name and dosage of any medications you are taking. Medications will not keep you from donating, but the reason for taking them might.

What happens during blood donation?
* You will complete a donor registration form that includes your name, address and a few other details.
* You will be asked a few questions about your health.
* You will go through a simple medical checkup including blood pressure, and pulse.
* A drop of blood will be obtained from your finger tip to test for Hemoglobin% and your group.
* You will proceed to a donor bed where your arm will be cleaned with antiseptic.
* During the donation process, you will donate 350 ml or 450ml depending on your weight.
* After the process is over, you will rest for about 5 minutes.
* Following your donation, you will be given refreshment.
* Please, remember to take your donor card.

Will I have any problems after donating blood and do I need to take any special care?
No, you will generally not have any problem after donating. However, if you feel dizzy even after 5 minutes of rest and having refreshments, lie down with your legs raised until the feeling passes. Our doctor is available to see that you leave the camp perfectly fine.

Please observe the following suggestions post-donation:
*Increase your fluid intake for the next 24 hours.
*Do not smoke or chew tobacco for 30 minutes.
*Avoid strenuous physical exertion, heavy lifting or pulling with the donation arm for at least 24 hrs.
*However, do not hesitate to contact the blood bank if you have any problems or questions.

Can women also donate as much as men do?
Yes. But for women, the Hemoglobin count must be 12.0 or higher.

What are blood components?
Blood has the following components and each one takes care of specific needs.

* Red blood cells, Plasma and platelets.
They are administered to replenish blood loss- usually used by trauma and surgery patients.
* Fresh frozen plasma - the liquid part of the blood, is administered to patients with liver problems, burn cases etc.
* Platelets - helps in clotting when cuts or other open wounds occur. Leukemia and transplant patients often need platelet transfusions.

How long can the blood be stored at blood bank?
Whole blood can be stored for 35 days. The various blood components can be stored as under.
* Platelet Concentrate - 5 days
* Platelet Apherises - 5 days
* Platelet Rich Plasma - 5 days
* Packed Cells - 35 days
* Fresh Frozen Plasma - 1 year
* Cryo Anti Hemophilic Factor - 1 year
* Cryo Poor Plasma - 5 Years

What are laboratory tests performed on the collected blood?
* Hepatitis B & C
* Malarial parasite
* HIV I & II (AIDS)
* Venereal disease (Syphilis)
* Blood Group
* Before issuing blood, compatibility tests (cross matching) is done.

Do you charge for issuing blood? All blood received by you is through voluntary donation. Right?
We don't. The blood itself is free. A processing fee as prescribed by the Government is charged by the blood center to the patient to cover the cost of collecting, blood typing, testing, storing and distributing the blood. Yes. Voluntary blood donation is only source of blood.

Tatkal booking under "Quick Book" not active till 9am

2011-04-06T19:04:00.003+05:30

Just learnt from my friend that for booking Tatkal tickets at irctc.co.in, the “Plan My Travel” flow allows booking of Tatkal ticket after 8 AM. The “Quick Book” page is available only after 9 AM.

Motor Insurance Renewal

2010-12-28T14:31:00.004+05:30

Today I got a letter saying that my motor insurance is going to expire on 22 January 2011. I looked at the letter and couldn't make out the figures. I asked my friends and this blog explains the same to you.

Before that you have to know that there are two types of covers are available:
1. Liability only policy: This covers third party liability for bodily injury liability and/or death and property damage. Personal Accident cover for Owner-driver is also included.
2. Package policy: This cover loss or damage to the vehicle insured in addition to (1) above.

For more information on the motor policy you can have a look at any of the insurance websites, for example New India Assurance. Usually when you buy a new vehicle you are usually given the Package policy insurance.

When I bought the bike in Jan 2010, the Insured Declared Value (IDV) of my bike then was Rs 45045.
The OD Premium was Rs 462 and the Third Party (TP) Premium was Rs 350 (fixed).
So the total premium was Rs 812 (Rs 462 + Rs 350) + Service tax 84(10.3% of Rs 812) = Rs 896.

This time in the letter the IDV of my bike was shown as Rs 40303.
The OD Premium is Rs 414 (after 20% discount as I didn't claim anything (neither OD/TP/WC/PA) in the past one year) and the Third Party (TP) Premium is Rs 350 (fixed).
So the total premium was Rs 764 (Rs 414 + Rs 350) + Service tax 79 (10.3% of Rs 764) = Rs 843.
This is the amount (Rs 843) that I need to pay for renewing my motor insurance.

The OD Premium calculation is based on the bike model/make/year. For example this year it was 1.28% (of Rs 40303 = Rs 516). So after 20% discount the OD premium is Rs 413 (516 - 20%(516)).
The TP premium is fixed each year.

Purchasing Mattress

2010-12-25T11:56:00.002+05:30

Since the past few days I was getting a severe back-ache. I initially thought that it was because of lack of exercises since I got my knee injured after running in the Bangalore Ultra. But later I realized it that it was the mattresses which we bought a month ago. I found out that one was soft and the other hard because of which when I sleep in the center of the double cot bed one was getting more compressed as compared to the other :( I immediately gave a complaint (on 25 Dec 2010) with the dealer from whom I bought the mattress. He asked me to write a complaint and give it to him, which he would forward it to the Kurlon company.

Luckily the same day evening an inspection officer from Kurlon has come to the dealer and the dealer gave my complaint to him. The inspection officer came home and checked both the mattresses. He acknowledged it and sent his feedback to the company authorities and said that it would be rectified in 10 working days. The company people called me today and they said that they would replace them with uniform strength mattress.

So the summary is Whenever you buy two mattresses for double cot, then always check that they are of same strength.

Some tips while filing petrol

2010-11-17T10:39:00.003+05:30

Today I learnt from my office cab driver the following tip when it comes to filling the petrol at the petrol pumps:
1) Never try to get your vehicle filled with petrol early in the morning. If you have to, then make sure that there are at least 2-3 vehicles before you who have filled with petrol. This is because in the mornings the hose is not totally filled with petrol and air occupies some space. Hence you get less petrol for the same meter count.
2) Sometimes people keep pressing the button at the hose frequently. By doing so they are allowing the air to flow in to the tank and not petrol. So make sure that the meter is set to zero and ask the person who is filling the petrol to leave the hose after switching it on.

Train ticket e-booking timings @ irctc

2010-09-18T12:41:00.000+05:30

Recently saw the updates at irctc, that you can book train e-tickets (i.e. through online) from 00:30 Hrs to 23:30 Hrs. Earlier it was from 05:00 Hrs to 23:30 Hrs.

And also in addition to the five identity cards (voter identity card, passport, PAN card, a driving license or photo identity cards issued by the central or state Government) that were accepted earlier, the following too are accepted now:
1) Student Identity Card with photograph issued by recognized School College for their students
2) Nationalized Bank Passbook with photograph
This has been effective for passengers traveling on etickets w.e.f 15-Jun-2010.

For updated information please visit irctc or indianrail.gov.in.

Online amount transfer charges

2010-03-10T17:15:00.003+05:30

Recently I have heard from different sources that there would be service charges for online transfer of amount from one bank to another bank. This blog is written as a reference for me in the near future.

First, some small information - there are two means of transferring amount between two different banks (say ICICI and SBI):
1) NEFT - This method is used if you want to transfer amount < Rs 1,00,000
2) RTGS - This method is used if you want to transfer amount > Rs 1,00,000
I am having a salary account with Citibank Bangalore and I have got another account in ICICI Bank Pune.

I called up both Citibank customer service and ICICI bank service and enquired about the service charges. Here's what I found out:
ICICI Bank
1) For online transfer of amount from ICICI bank to ICICI bank (irrespective of which branches the accounts belong to) it's free.
2) For online transfer of amount from ICICI bank to non-ICICI bank, there is a service charge of Rs 5 (+ service tax of 10.3% on Rs 5 and not on the amount transferred i.e. Rs 5.52) for every transaction irrespective of the amount (i.e. whether its through NEFT or RTGS methods) from 09 Dec 2009 onwards there are no service charges :). I learnt this today (12 Jan 2010). Also that you can transfer a maximum of cumulative 1,00,000 per day through online to a different account(s).
3) ~~These charges were applied even for people who are having salary accounts with ICICI bank. These charges were effective from 24 Aug 2009 onwards.~~

I also learnt that you cannot transfer funds from ICICI bank to non-ICICI bank account on all dates and timings. Please read the error that I got while transferring on an NEFT holiday (02 April):
" Your Transaction could not be processed as there is no NEFT clearing by RBI today or on the scheduled date on account of the NEFT holiday. You will only be able to transact on the next working day. Click here for the list of NEFT holidays.

NEFT Transaction Timing from Monday to Friday: Cut Off time 6:30pm (IST)
NEFT Transaction Timing on Sunday: Cut Off time 12:30pm (IST)"

Citibank
1) For online transfer of amount from Citibank to Citibank (irrespective of which branches the accounts belong to) it's free.
2) For online transfer of amount from Citibank to non-Citibank there is a service charge of
a) Rs 5 (+ service tax of 10.3% on Rs 5 and not on the amount transferred i.e. Rs 5.52) for every transaction amount < Rs 1,00,000 (i.e. for NEFT method) and
b) Rs 25 (+ service tax of 10.3% on Rs 25 and not on the amount transferred i.e. Rs 27.575) for every transaction amount > Rs 1,00,000 (i.e. for RTGS method).
3) The above charges are applicable for salaried account holders too.

SBI
1) For online transfer of amount from SBI to SBI/SBH/SBT/SBM (State Bank ...) (irrespective of which branches the accounts belong to) it's free.
2) For online transfer of amount from SBI to non-SBI there is a service charge of
a) Through NEFT: Rs 5 (+ service tax of 10.3% on Rs 5 and not on the amount transferred i.e. Rs 5.52) for every transaction amount < Rs 1,00,000 and Rs 25 (+ service tax of 10.3% on Rs 25 and not on the amount transferred i.e. Rs 27.575) for every transaction amount > Rs 1,00,000
b) Through RTGS: Rs 25 (+ service tax of 10.3% on Rs 25 and not on the amount transferred i.e. Rs 27.575) for every transaction amount < Rs 5,00,000 and Rs 50 (+ service tax of 10.3% on Rs 50 and not on the amount transferred i.e. Rs 55.15) for every transaction amount > Rs 5,00,000

Also see Question 9 at this link (produced below):
Q.9. What about Processing Charges/Service Charges?
Ans: While RBI has waived the processing charges till March 31, 2009. With a view to rationalize the service charges levied by banks for offering various electronic products, a broad framework has been mandated as under: –
a) Inward transactions – Free, no charge to be levied
b) Outward transactions – Upto Rs. 1 lakh - not exceeding Rs.5 per transaction. Rs. 1 lakh and above – not exceeding Rs. 25 per transaction.

How much interest do you earn on your savings account balance?

2010-03-09T14:27:00.000+05:30

Starting April 1, 2010, money lying in savings accounts will fetch interest for each day of the month, as against the current system of calculation based on the minimum balance held between the tenth and the last day of each month.

So the below explanation becomes invalid.

Most of the banks in the country pay interest to you on the minimum balance held between the 10th and 30th/31st of every month.

Now let's suppose you have nil in your account as on April 10. On April 11th you deposit Rs 100,000 in your account. If you withdraw the funds on May 31st, there is no interest paid to you for the entire term of 51 days.

You may wonder why but the reason according to the bank's calculation is that the minimum balance between April 10 (nil) and April 30 (Rs 100,000) is nil, so no interest is paid for April. Similarly between May 10 (Rs 100,000) and May 31st (nil), the minimum balance is nil and hence you earn no interest for May as well.

Basically it implies that the bank gets to use your money for 51 days free of cost. Therefore, the bank has the option of leveraging these zero-cost funds and lend them at higher rates of interest. This is one of the most important sources of their profits.

At the same time a sharp cookie will deposit Rs 100,000 on April 10th instead of April 11th and remove the money on May 1st. The minimum between April 10th and April 30th now is Rs 100,000 and hence he gets 3.5 per cent a year for just keeping the money for 20 days. This is equivalent to a yield of 5.425 per cent.

Something that you can do to maximize the interest you earn on bank deposits?
1) Make deposits in your savings account before or on the 10th of every month.
2) Ensure that you withdraw any funds only after the 31st or the last day of every month.
3) Check your bank statements carefully to ensure that interest payments are properly credited into your account.
4) More importantly leave bare minimum funds in your savings account to pay for monthly expenses and immediate payments and move the rest in short term fixed deposits. This way you have liquidity and at the same time you continue to earn higher interest. Better yet, park funds in higher interest rate fixed deposits, and take an overdraft against the deposit for any contingencies.

The above posting contents are taken from the following source: http://www.rediff.com/money/2007/jun/04bank.htm

Heart care training

2010-03-06T15:05:00.013+05:30

Recently I attended a small training session, that was conducted in the company on heart care. Below are few of the tips that I learnt from at session:
* Men above 45 yrs of age and women above 55 yrs of age are more risk to heart-attack.
* LDL Cholesterol is bad cholesterol. LDL (Low Density Lypoprotein) should be < 100 for good health.
* HDL Cholesterol is good cholesterol. HDL (High Density Lypoprotein) should be > 40 for good health. In general, HDL is usually high in women. Drinking red wine increases HDL count.
* Overall Cholesterol should be < 200 and Triglycoreides should be < 200 for good health.
* Waist Hip Ratio for women should be < 0.85 and for men < 0.95 for good health.
* Normal BP should be 120/80.
* Sugar before fasting should be < 100 and after fasting < 140
* Having red wine once a week is also good for health. Daily 30 minutes of brisk walking also reduces heart attack. If you cannot exercise daily then bring the exercise to bed. Having sex is equivalent to 15 minutes of fast walk. Masturbating thrice a week also reduces heart attacks a little.
* Eat less than 6gms of salt per day for good health (as it would lead to less absorption of water).
* Food which contain high cholesterol are Egg yolk, Butter Chicken, Ghee, Liver, Cakes, Pastries
* Olive oil, Groundnut oil, Mustard oil, Sunflower oil, Soyabean oil are good.

Good Figures:
1) Haemoglobin (Adult, 12.5-17.5gm/dl)
2) Sugar (70-110mg/dl)
3) Triglycerides (Upto 150mg/dl)
4) HDL Cholestrol (35-50mg/dl: Normal; < 35 High Risk; > 50: Low Risk)
5) LDL Cholestrol (Upto 100mg/dl)
6) VLDL Cholestrol (< 30mg/dl)
7) Total Cholestrol (Upto 200mg/dl. Above 240 (High), 200-239 (Borderline))
8) Cholestrol: HDL Ratio (Upto 5.0)

NOTE: These are the findings that are mentioned in the presentation session on heart care. Propably these figures might change in the future and for person to person. Please contact your Doctor for correct figures for you.

Below are the results of my previous health checkups:

	2008	2009	2010
Haemoglobin	15.6	15.5	14.7
Sugar	90	84	85
Triglycerides	116	115	192
HDL Cholestrol	48	51	44
LDL Cholestrol	97	112	82
VLDL Cholestrol	23	23	38
Total Cholestrol	168	186	164
Cholestrol: HDL Ratio	3.5	3.6	3.7

Partial pre-payment of homeloan

2010-02-17T14:52:00.002+05:30

Whenever you are planning to pre-pay partial amount of the home loan, always make sure that you pay it before the EMI date of that month, so that it would be considered for next month calculation. Let me explain this with an example: My EMI date is 10th of every month.

Today (17 Feb) I paid a partial amount as pre-payment of my home loan. I expect that while computing the interest for the next month (March), they would consider (balance principal amount - partial amount paid) as outstanding loan amount. But it's not so.

Reason: I paid the partial amount after the EMI date of the current month. Since it's past due the EMI date, they would not consider this partial amount for next month interest calculation, but for next to next month (i.e. for month of April).

SBI Railway credit-card

2010-02-14T19:42:00.000+05:30

I was clearing all my unused credit-cards and wanted to keep only few ones that would suffice by few basic needs: petrol-filling, booking train tickets and mobile bill payments.

I already have a platinum card which I use for filling petrol at petrol pumps with out any service charges. I came across this SBI railway credit-card which gives 0% service charges on purchase of train tickets through irctc (for the complete list of benefits of this SBI Railway credit-card please visit sbicard.com).

I applied for this card online by filling the form at sbicard.com. I thought that this card would also be of ZERO annual fees. But when I got a call from the sbi regarding my application, it's then that I learned there are Rs 500 fees as annual fees for the first year (of which Rs 350 can be refunded if you book tickets through irctc (that too for AC tickets, for non-AC the amount is not being refunded)). The second year onwards you need to pay Rs 300 as annual fees. I am writing this blog to make people aware of this before going for this card.

Had there been no annual fees or if it were of less amount then this card would have been a good one for me as the total amount that I spent on train tickets last year was around Rs 41,000. So if you are planning of traveling a lot through trains then think about this credit-card.

RAC status of online tickets (16 Jan 2010)

2010-01-17T22:26:00.003+05:30

During our return journey from Vizianagaram to Bangalore, I couldn't check the status of my ticket online which was WL when I booked it. On reaching the station I entered the PNR in the computer and found the status as "R S3/23" which I thought it was confirmed.

Later found that prefix "R" in the above stands for RAC. Anyway later it got confirmed. We had a great time in Vizianagaram for the Pongal festival.

BTW my wife has got a memory. It seems that I have written about this thing in one of my old blog in the past. Read the blog to see why my wife remembers it so well... ;-) This is one of the reason why I keep writing blogs so that I can refer in the past as I have got a poor memory :D

First "3D" movie experience (02 Jan 2010)

2010-01-02T20:19:00.001+05:30

I booked the ticket for the "Avatar" 3D movie using my credit-card at bookmyshow.com. As it was the first movie that I booked online, I read the instructions on the ticket which says that you need to take the printout OR sms OR email. To be on safe side I carried both the printout and my mobile with the SMS saved (I usually have the habit of deleting messages after reading them).

We left for the theatre and as always that happens with us when we start anything new, I forgot my purse and I realised this only after reaching the bus-stop. Luckily the bus-stop was close to my home :)

At the theatre the person at the counter asked for my credit-card, which he swapped and then gave us the tickets.

Another obersvation that I made with the 3D glasses is that there is a sensor which detects how far you are sitting from the screen. Try placing your finger on the sensor and the image gets blurred while watching through the 3D spectacles...Try it once :) BTW, "Avatar (3D)" movie is worth watching.

Renewal of credit-card

2010-01-02T16:50:00.000+05:30

I recently received the credit-card with the expiry date extended. The credit-card number is same as the previous old one except that the CVV number is different and the new expiry date.

One thing I notice and that is worth-mentioning is the instructions in that letter:
"If you have any other standing instruction for a debit to your card account, please inform the companies concerned of the change in your card number and expiry date."

So don't fail to read the complete letter that comes with the new card :)

Purchase of Electronic goods and warranty card (22 Nov 2009)

2009-11-22T22:58:00.003+05:30

Today we went for the purchase of Electric Mixer, Electric Rice cooker. We bought the Panasonic mixer for Rs 3400, Panasonic rice cooker (5.4lts) for Rs 2300, Pigeon Non-stick cookware for Rs 500 and Idli stand (6 plates * 4) for Rs 550.

We made a mistake - we bought the items but didn't verify the warranty card serial number against the serial number present on the item. This led to more than one trip to the electric shop. This was a great lesson for us.

Credit card getting automatically locked (22 Nov 2009)

2009-11-22T19:30:00.003+05:30

I bought few house-hold items and the bill came to around Rs 6500. I tried paying the bill using my credit card and I found that my credit-card was locked. I thought that it might be a problem with the machine or the bank server(s) might be down. I forgot about it and the next day when I tried booking online train ticket (for sum of odd Rs 1200) my credit-card was not working.

On enquiring with the customer care, I learnt that when you make a transaction whose sum you have not exceeded earlier in your past history then the card gets locked. This is to prevent the mis-usage of theft of credit-card. You just need to call the customer-care and ask them to unlock it and then you can use the credit-card again after few minutes :-)

Renewal of passport (17 Nov 2009)

2009-11-18T09:20:00.014+05:30

I took an online token for the passport renewal at the bangalore passport website. The online token can be taken from the above link between 14:00hrs and 18:00hrs ISTor till the bookings are available. So better to book as early as possible because if you try to book at around 11am/12 noon the chances that you might get a booking for next day is very less as it happened with me. You can book only for the next day.

My passport was about to expire in Nov 2009 and I tried renewing it before its expiry date and this blog is about that experience. I don't know the process that you need to follow if the passport has expired. Before I go ahead below is the list of documents that are needed:
1) Original Passport
2) 2 photocopies of first and last four pages of passport
3) 2 photocopies of degree certificate (if you want the ECNR stamp)
4) 2 photocopies of marriage certificate (if you are adding your spouse's name)
5) 2 photocopies of residence proof
6) 2 photocopies of date of birth
7) printout of the online token that you took
8) Rs 1000 in cash OR DD (For more fee details please see Fee Structure)
* You need to carry all the original ones of the above documents for verification. The original documents would be returned to you after the verification.

On 16 Nov I booked an online token (#93) which was scheduled at 11:03am slot for 17 Nov 2009. I filled up the form, attached photos (which had red background), took the originals of the documents that I was attaching. I started from my office at 10:15am. The passport office in Kormangala was 4Kms away from my office (i.e. Rs 28 auto fare). I directly went to the first floor, showed my documents in counter 1. The lady at the counter said that I need to attach 2 copies of the documents that I was attaching. I took only 1 copy - that was my FIRST mistake. I came down photo copied the documents and went back. The lady didn't say anything, collected all the documents (in duplicate), gave a form to fill and stapled the documents in some fixed order.

I sat there waiting for my token (#93) to come. The current token that was running then at 11am was 50. I then realised that I didn't bring my Ration Card original. I was attaching my ration card as residence proof. That was my SECOND mistake. I took an auto from there to home and came back in the same auto (Auto Fare: Rs 120). While I was mid-way on the way to home I realised that I could have attached my voter card as residence proof, which would have costed me Rs 2 and that would have saved me Rs 118 (Rs 120 - Rs 2). That was my THIRD mistake :( Anyway as I was half-way through there was no point in going back to passport office as I had another job to do at home. By the time I reached passport office again it was 11:50am and the current token that was running then was #112.

Anyway I went to the counter 1 and showed them the form. That person said that I need to change the photo as the background was red. That was the FOURTH mistake. Anyway I had 4 old photos with white background. I replaced the photos with red background by old photos with white background.

The same person said that ration card is no longer being accepted as Residence Proof. This was a sad news for me :( Attaching Ration card was another mistake (FIFTH). I asked if they can accept my voter card, he asked me to show it. When I showed the voter card he told me that it's not valid as it was issued in March 2009 and the criteria for voter card to be accepted as residence proof is that the card should have been issued 1 year ago. I asked him what else options do I have? He said that you can show your bank statement. I was having an ICICI bank which was having my old Pune's address :( My current salary account is with Citibank and to get a statement from the bank would take atleast 2 days, which I don't have as my passport was very soon going to be expired. I cannot show the electricity bill as it's in the name of the landlord and they are not willing to take the rental agreement as residence proof. I cannot show the gas connection too as I got it recently in April 2009. The last option that was left with me was the office's letter, which they thankfully said that it would work. So finally I am gonna show my office letter as residence proof :) I came to office and placed a request for 2 copies of employment proof.

I took another appointment for 19 Nov 2009 on 18 Nov and I got it at 9:41am (token # 11). Lets wait and see if I still face any more problem... Shall update this blog on 19 Nov 2009.

Here's the update from 19 Nov 2009: I reached the Passport office on 19 Nov at 9:35am starting from my office at 9:15am. Went directly to the counter 1 for verification of the documents, there was a big line. So I went to the counter 2 directly where the online application forms are being collected. He checked all the documents. Took the form and said that they would call me. I sat there for 5 minutes when a lady at the cash counter called my name, I paid her the amount of Rs 1000. She printed a cancelled stamp on the passport and handed the passport to me with a receipt. This receipt contained the file number which you can use to check the online status at http://rpobangalore.gov.in/npassport.asp.

Here's the update from 24 Nov 2009: My neighbour (whose contact details I had provided in the renewal form) got a call on 23 Nov 2009 and asked me to come to the station for address proof verification. Actually it should be the other way round - a constable should come for verification to verify the address but in India it's the other way round :-(
Anyway I took ration card, gas connection, voter card, company letter (original + photo copy) along with 2 passport photos. The same thing happened as with the passport. They accepted my company letter and rejected all the rest for the same reasons as mentioned above. Don't forget to take 2 passport size photographs. At the police station the constable filled up a form, took my 2 passport photos and signature on a letter saying that I have been staying at my current address for more than 2 years. That's all for now... Expecting my passport to arrive in the next 3 weeks from the date of police verification.

Here's the update from 21 Dec 2009: The postman came to my house on Saturday (19 Dec 2009), when I was not in B'lore. He left his mobile number. I called him up today (21 Dec, Monday) morning and collected my new passport from him at the postoffice.

Bus Route numbers to EastEnd and Key makers near Sampangiram Nagar

2009-11-10T14:27:00.001+05:30

I recently found that you can get a direct bus to important places in Bangalore from East End itself:
-- For Majestic you can take any of the 25* or 364 route numbers.
-- The 364C bus goes to Yeshwantpur via Majestic :)
-- For K.R.Market you can take any of the following buses: 24E, 366A, 369*.
-- For Shivajinagar you can take 27E route number bus.

Also recently I have been to St. Joseph's College for my wife's exam. This college is walking distance from Shantinagar bus-stand. While she was writing the exam I roamed around that place and I found that in one of the streets in Sampangiram nagar area there are lots of key maker shops. I got my in-built door lock key made here for Rs 40 and a key for one of the old locks (which you don't find in the market these days) for Rs 50. He made the old lock key in a car key duplicate :-)

Online booking on the opening day of ARP starts from 8am onwards

2009-09-20T19:22:00.003+05:30

I wanted to book the ticket from Bangalore to Goa for 11 Dec 2009. Excluding the date of journey i.e 16 Dec 2009, the opening day for reservation for that day is 12 Sep 2009 (10 days (1-10) from Dec, 30 days from Nov, 31 days from Oct and 19 days (30-12) from Sep). I thought I could book the tickets on 12 Sep in the morning at 5am as online booking timings are from 05:00am IST to 11:30pm IST.

When I tried to book I learnt that on the opening day (in this case 12 Sep for booking tickets for 11 Dec), you can book the tickets only after 8am i.e. the time when the offline booking counter starts. Thus everyone who are booking both online through internet and offline at railway reservation counters are treated equally.

So from the above example for booking tickets online for 11 Dec 2009, the timings are as follows:
1) from 8am IST to 11:30pm on 12 Sep 2009.
2) 5am to 11:30pm from 13 Sep 2009 onwards (till 4 hrs before the departure timings of the train).

Buying a product from a grey market

2009-09-20T18:40:00.004+05:30

I was looking for a 8GB pen-drive, which was not easily available during that period. I decided to try for it in the grey market. I searched for it in many shops and finally I found a shop where I got one for Rs 700. It looked like brand new, I failed to notice that it didn't have a guarantee seal :( even though the shop-keeper guaranteed for that product. I didn't check if its working or not and realised it later only after a week or so. I went for exchanging it and that man didn't replace it :-(

From this experience I learnt few lessons:
1) If you are buying anything in a grey market then make sure that shop has lots of items, look how many people come and go to that shop. The greater the number of customers the more trust-worthy it could be. So in essence avoid small shops in grey-markets to be on safe side.
2) When buying a products like pen-drive looks for the seal. Check the product immediately and if not working, return it as early as possible. Better would be if you could check it there itself even though the product that you purchased is a small one like a pen-drive.
3) Take a visiting card from the shop where you bought the product, as usually he would not be giving a bill. Ask for the shop-keepers name, remember it. Addressing him by name would be a good start and it would be helpful in purchasing the product. This has helped me a lot. I made good friendship with a shop owner and I bought most of the electronic items from that shop.

Tea and Thermometer (01 Sep 2009)

2009-09-01T19:20:00.003+05:30

An interesting thing happened today morning. My father was having slight fever yesterday night. He took a paracetamol in the night. Today morning my mother prepared special tea for me (that's an advantage of having parents at home ;-)) and I was having it just before leaving for office.

Father was checking his temperature with the thermometer while I was having tea. He waited for one minute, the thermometer showed the reading as 36 degree celcius. He checked again for one more minute and again it showed 36 degree celcius. He shaked the thermometer, it again stood still at 36 degree celcius. He got a doubt if it's working or not? He saw me drinking tea. He called me and he asked me to dip the thermometer in the tea to check if it's working? I dipped the thermometer in the hot tea and voila..it broke the moment I dipped in it. An important discovery by us: NEVER EVER DIP a THERMOMETER IN A HOT LIQUID.

I didn't drink the tea with mercury fallen inside it as I remembered from my Chemistry lectures (though I hate Chemistry) that Mercury is very poisonous and a small amount as present in the thermometer is sufficient enough to kill an adult human being. See everything that occurs in life has an important lesson in it, even if you like it or not, you just need to keep your ears and eyes open and learn, keep learning from everything around us.

Cancellation of ksrtc bus ticket after it's departure (08 Aug 2009)

2009-08-08T17:00:00.002+05:30

I booked a bus e-ticket for my wife from Chennai to Bangalore by the KSRTC at their website. My wife couldn't catch the bus because of the traffic jam which was because of an accident that happened enroute. The bus timings was scheduled to depart at 9:15am. She started from her home at 7:30am. From this incident, we learnt that to reach CMBT we have to start from our place at least 2hrs in advance.

Anyway this blog is not about this lesson that we learnt, it's about the process of cancellation of the e-ticket of the bus after it's departure. It's a simple process, which I learnt on calling the following mobile number +91 9480815076. My wife obtained this number from the person sitting in the KSRTC office in the CMBT bus-stand in Chennai. On calling at the above number they told me to send a mail to 'awatar@ksrtc.org' within one hour after the departure of the train and inform them know that you were not able to catch the bus or couldn't board the bus. I obtained another email id 'onlinerefund@ksrtc.org' the ksrtc site. I wrote a mail to both the email id's with the ticket details like date of journey, PNR number etc and asked for a refund. They check with the records in their depot and then reimburse the amount in 6-7 days. You get a 50% refund of the ticket cost. In my case the ticket costed Rs 482 and I got a refund of Rs 238. On sending a mail to the above email id, I got a prompt response that they have received your request and that they would act upon it.

I found that the bus ticket prices in TNSRTC is much cheaper as compared to KSRTC. My wife could get a Volvo ticket for the same journey in TNSRTC for Rs 340. We don't have an experience on APSRTC bus prices. Recently heard that you can book tickets online at their website.

NOTE: For KSRTC bookings, the cancellation charges are as follows:
a) If done before 3 days of departure of bus timing, then it's 10%
b) If done between 3 days and 2hrs of departure of bus timing, then it's 25%
c) and for less than 2hrs of departure of bus timings, then it's 50%

Tatkal Reservation and dates of train journey

2009-05-06T11:34:00.005+05:30

Today I made a very big mistake. I wanted to book Tatkal ticket for my wife from Vizianagaram to Chennai for 11 May by the Howrah Express. Before that let me give the timing details of the train:
"This train leaves each day from Howrah at 23:30hrs and reaches Vizianagaram the next day at 12:30hrs i.e Vizianagaram is 13hrs journey from Howrah."

If you are booking a normal ticket (not tatkal) you can mention the Starting station and Boarding station as Vizianagaram. In which case you have to give the date as 11 May as you want to board the train on 11 May at Vizianagaram i.e. the same date as the day of journey from the boarding point i.e. you are catching the train which starts from Horwah on 10 May at 23:30 and reaches Vizianagaram on 11 May at 12:30hrs.

If you are booking a Tatkal ticket, then you cannot give the starting station as Vizianagaram as it's an intermediate station and in tatkal you have to book from starting station to end station. So you have to give the starting station as Howrah and Boarding station as Vizianagaram. You have to give the date as 10 may (and not 11 May unlike above) i.e. the date of the departure from the source station and not the date of the boarding station. I made a mistake here. I thought that as like normal ticket we give the date of the departure from the boarding station. I gave the date as 11 may and which gave me the ticket for the train which leaves Howrah on 11 May at 23:30hrs and arrives Vizianagaram on 12 May at 12:30hrs :-( Also the tatkal reservation starts 5 days (excluding the date of journey from the origin station and not from the intermediate station).

Summary:
1) For normal reservation - you can give the source station and boarding station as the one from where you are boarding (i.e. Vizianagaram). The date should be the same date as the date on which the train arrives at your boarding station irrespective on how many days earlier it had started from the source station.
2) For tatkal reservation - you have to give the source station as the station from where the train starts (i.e. Howrah). You have to give the boarding station* as the station from where you are boarding (i.e. Vizianagaram). The date should be the date on which the train starts from the source station (i.e. 10 May from Howrah, even though the date of boarding is on 11 May at Vizianagaram) and not the date of the boarding station.

NOTE: For tatkal the counter begins 5 days before, exlcuding the day from where the train starts even though you might be boarding the train the next day after the train has started from the source station.
In the above example: if I wanted to travel on 11 May from vizianagaram, then I have to book the Tatkal ticket for 10 May Howrah to Chennai (boarding at Vizianagaram) and the tatkal counter starts from 05 May 08:00am onwards (i.e. leave 10 May (date of source station), count 5 days back - 9 May, 8 May, 7 May, 6 May, 5 May).

PS* : While booking the irctc online ticket when you enter the From station, the boarding station field is also filled and you cannot edit manually. You have to click on the small train icon next to the boarding station field, then a window would pop up with the list of intermediate stations. You need to select the required intermediate station as boarding station. Also note that before you do this change of boarding station you have to make sure that you fill all the details i.e. From station, To Station, Date of Journey, Class, Tatkal, e-ticket/i-ticket etc.

Getting a new gas Connection (03 April 2009)

2009-04-03T09:46:00.009+05:30

After I got the ration card on 19 March 2009. I applied for a gas connection near my home with Sheela Gas Agency. They asked me to get a Rs 25 acknowledgment envelope from the post office along with my original ration card. They saw my ration card and then took the acknowledgment envelope, filled up a small form (a copy of which is given to me) and gave me back the ration card. They said that they would be sending the envelope to my address. When I get that envelope then I should come and take the gas connection.

I got the envelope on 02 April 2009. In that letter they asked for a non-judicial Rs 20 stamp paper affidavit duly notarised along with the following documents:
1) Original Ration card
2) photo copy of the ration card
3) the above copy of the small form given to me which I got when applying for the first time
4) photo copy of your identity namely voter card/passport/driving license.
5) the envelope in which you got the acknowledgment letter. Though this is absurd and you might be thinking why do they need the envelope? This is a proof that the applicant's address is a residence address and not of a commercial place/establishment like hotels, eatery joints. So tear the envelope carefully and keep it with you as it's needed while collecting the gas connection. Failing which you have to follow the process again i.e. get another acknowledgment envelope from the post-office and apply again, wait till you get that envelope letter.

One need to take these documents and go to the Gas agency with in next 30 days to collect the gas connection, failing which he has to get another acknowledgment envelope from the post-office and apply again, wait till you get that envelope letter.

Getting the stamp paper from the sub-registrar office was very easy. For room-agreement I took a Rs 50 stamp paper and for gas booking Rs 20 stamp paper. The cost of getting the matter typed on that stamp paper was Rs 163 (the type-writer outside the registrar office initially asked me for Rs 200. It's better if you are not in a hurry then you get the matter typed else where. You could have bargained it for much less, in fact my friend Santosh was saying that the whole stamp papers + matter typed could have been completed in Rs 200/-)

I took the above forms to the Sheela gas Agency on 06 April (monday evening at 4pm). I had to buy the gas-stove from them, even though I mentioned that I already have a gas-stove. They said that they can't issue a new gas connection unless the existing gas-stove has met the following norms:
1) it should be ISI marked
2) it should be within the warranty period
3) it should be bought against your name and you should have the bill
4) it should be certified "green label" i.e the fuel efficiency is good i.e around 60%+ (older gas stoves efficiency was around 55%).
I enquired about the gas-stoves. You can get a 2 burner stove for Rs 875 (Pigeon brand) to Rs 1550 (Butterfly), 3-burner stove from Rs 1500 to Rs 2350 (Butterfly). Since the old gas-stove that I had was of my ex-roommate Jcbose's, I neither have the bill for it nor can I prove that it's warranty period is over.

BTW I forgot to mention that if you are not buying the gas-stove from the gas agency then you need to pay Rs 150. Upon which in the next 7days the gas agency would send an inspector to inspect your gas-stove and if it meets all the above norms then you would be issued a new gas connection without the need of you buying the gas-stove. Failing which the Rs 150 amount is not reimursible and you need to either buy the stove from them or re-apply again (if your 30 day period is over).

I bought the 3-burner stove (Milton company made) as it was the only one available. The gas stove costed me Rs 2730, gas pipe + regulator Rs 190, new connection charges Rs 75, one gas cylinder cost Rs 323.80, gas cylinder + regulator deposit Rs 1400 (Rs 1250+ Rs 150 respectively, which is refundable). So finally this day (06 April, Monday evening) I and Hema are the proud owner of our own gas-cylinder !!

Some more information:
1) After you booked a gas cylinder, you cannot book the next one for the next 21 days.
2) If you open an account with a gas agency, then you cannot shift to another agency for the first 6 months.
3) If you are shifting within the city, i.e from one area to another area, then you need to take the regulator and your gas-book to the old gas agency, get the transfer certificate from them and goto the new gas agency with the transfer certificate + regulator and open a new connection with some processing fees. You need not pay the deposit amount if you are moving within the city limits. Neither do you need to submit your cylinder nor the regulator.
4) If you are moving from one city to another city then you have to submit the cylinder + regulator, collect the transfer certificate, get the refundable amount of Rs 1400. Submit the transfer certificate at the new gas agency in the new city, pay the deposit amount there and open a new connection.

An update on 04 Jan 2010:
I applied for a second gas cylinder on 06 April 2009 itself. I got an SMS today that I need to contact the Sheela Gas Agency in the next 15 days for release of second gas cylinder. They asked me to bring Deposit Voucher, Gas Card, Register Slip and the SMS that I received. I will be going to the gas agency tomorrow morning to collect the second gas cylinder.

An update on 06 Jan 2010:
I took my mobile (which has the SMS), deposit voucher, gas card, register slip along with money in cash (as they don't accept credit-card or cheques) for collecting my second gas cylinder. I paid Rs 1627/- for the second gas cylinder (Rs 1250 for cylinder deposit which is refundable, Rs 323.80 for gas cylinder cost and remaining for processing charges).

They took my register slip, gas card and deposit voucher, gave me a new register slip, modified the gas book with the new register slip number. The new register slip now contained the information that I have 2 gas cylinders and it also mentions the deposit amount of 2 gas cylinders and 1 regulator (i.e. Rs 1250*2 + Rs 150 = Rs 2650 which is refundable). They also made me sign on the cancellation slip of the old register slip.

Getting a ration card (19 March 2009)

2009-03-23T10:35:00.007+05:30

My father has been telling me to get a voter card, ration card and gas connection since a long time. I didn't listen to his words and kept postponing until I got married and after marriage I realised the need of these important, not so useful documents. Important in the sense that they are sort of your identity and residence proof and ration card is the only document required for getting a gas connection.

In my earlier blog I mentioned the process/documents needed for getting a voter card. Here in this blog I will mention the process for getting a ration card. You need to take the following documents:
1) Address proof - rental agreement/electricity bill if it's in your name.
2) Deletion Certificate from the respective State Food and Supplies office mentioning that your name has been deleted from the ration card of your parents. If your parents don't have a Ration card then you need to get an affidavit stating the same.
3) Rs 10 for buying the application form + 2 photos (of any 1 person of all the members that you want to add)
4) Identity proof - voter card/passport etc...

Once you fill the form and submit then they would give you a receipt with a date written on it, which is usually a month later. In this one month duration the Food and Civil supplies inspector would come for verification (do they?). You have to go back to the Food and Civil supplies office after this date to collect the form. You have to take the receipt while going. Show the receipt, collect the submitted form - which has some inspector's notes/comments/approval. Once it's approved you have to take that form and go to the computer section in the same office where your photo is taken. If you have mentioned your spouse/children/parents in the form then you have to take them too as photo of each family member is taken along with their left hand thumb impressions. You would be charged another Rs 45 for getting the printed ration card.

If any of your family member is not present and you want their photo to be added to the ration card later, then you have to take the existing ration card along with the new family member whom you want to add to the ration card, fill up a form, get it approved by PRO in the same office, pay Rs 45. They will then take the photo and fingerprints of the new member(s) and give you a new card. This addition of new member would take just few hours if you already have got the ration card. The new ration card and the old ration card number would be the same, only that the member is being added.

Note that before getting the ration card printed, the person asks if your name and address are all correct. Make sure those details are correct, because for correcting any such mistake you have to fill another form and submit. I don't have an idea of how much time that would take.

After getting the printed copy of the ration card then you need to get it laminated. There is a person who does the lamination, which is done freely. When I got my ration card that person was not there and I thought of doing it outside, but I waited for few minutes and luckily that lady was back at her place. She kept a govt hologram on the card and then laminated it. Had I done it outside I would have missed the hologram, in which case my ration card would not have been authentic...

I should mention two of my colleagues who guided me in letting know the process: Thrushanth, for telling me that Sunitha has got a Ration card recently and Sunitha for telling me the above process. Thanks Thrushanth and Sunitha.

PS: I got my ration card on 19 March 2009. I added Hema's photo to the card on 04 April 2009, the same day that she got her voter card too. I even changed her surname in the ration card from her maiden name to my surname by producing a photo copy of the marriage certificate. You have to take the original certificate along with the photo copy. The PRO would look at the originals and return it back to you and keep the photo copy before approving.

Some more information on train/reservation rules

2009-03-21T21:52:00.010+05:30

When I went to enquire about my voter-card in the govt office in the Jayanagar BDA complex they said that they would take more time as it's still not ready. Since I had come all the way to the BDA complex and it was Saturday, I thought of checking the railway reservation counter on the 2nd floor to see how crowded it was at 11am. There were hardly around 15-20 people and there were 5 counters open.

There is no token system here in the railway reservation counters as found in cities like Mumbai/Hyderabad/Pune. Here people will be sitting in a queue in the chairs with one exit towards the counters. I saw a notice that "Trains at a Glance" book is available (Rs 35) in the reservation counter. My friend has been searching for this book at the railway stations but it was not available as it was out of stock. I bought this book for him and was reading through it. I learnt a few interesting things and this blog is about it. Hope you would enjoy reading it. The information might be outdated so please refer to the Indian Railways for the latest information. I shall not be responsible for any untoward incidents/happenings.

Naming convention
-- Rajdhani Express: The train links New Delhi to India's major cities.
-- Shatabdi Express: Superfast, intercity trains known as the Shatabdi express links major cities.
-- Jan Shatabdi Express: Faster, cheaper more comfortable are the newly introduced super fast intercity trains known as Jan Shatabdi Express.
-- Sampark Kranti Express: These are introduced to provide quicker connectivity from a particular state to the national capital, with value added features such as non-stop run beyond the State.

-- To enhance the charm of holidays for visitors from abroad, Indian Railways (IR) offers visitors Indrail passes - the facility to travel as they like, over the entire the Indian Railways network without any route restriction, reservation fee, super fast charges etc.

-- Himsagar Express from Kanniyakumari - the tip of South India to Jammu Tawi in the north - it's a 72 hr journey covering a distance of 3751 Kms.

-- Okha-Guwahati Express from Okha - the westernmost top of India to Guwahati in the east - it's a 67 hr journey covering a distance of 3219 kms.

-- For First Class and AC First Class the word "Confirmed"/RAC/WL will be printed alongside the class of travel. To find out the exact berth you need to have a look at the reservation charts kept on the platforms or search for your coach/berth after the chart has been prepared (which is usually 4hrs before the start of the train). For other classes if the ticket is confirmed the coach and berth numbers would be printed on the ticket.

-- Passengers can get basic inquiries like arrival/departure/late running of trains, fare, PNR status, accommodation availability in different trains and classes, trains between stations etc. by dialing a universal number "139" without suffixing any STD code. This number can be dialed from any type of phone (land line, Mobile, WLL etc.)

-- Tatkal booking starts five days in advance excluding the day of the journey i.e for journey on 6th, the booking would start at 8am on 1st.

-- No proof of identity is required to be produced by the passengers seeking reservation under Tatkal scheme, neither at the time of booking nor during the journey.

-- Wait-list passengers of those trains in which the utilization of Tatkal accommodation is less than 50% in Sleeper class on an average for the whole financial year have been given the facility to opt for booking under Tatkal quota at the time if buying their wait-listed tickets even before start of the advance reservation ticket for Tatkal booking for that train.

-- In a ticket for waitlist status there are two such waitlist numbers - the first is the running waitlist number and the second the current waitlist number at the time of your booking. The former is unique for a given train, date, route and class combination you are traveling on. Please look at the reservation chart with reference to your running waitlist number to instantly ascertain the final status of your ticket.

-- On a PNR (for e-ticket) if the status is WL after the chart has been prepared, the names of such WL passengers will not appear in the charts and such passengers, if found traveling will be treated as unauthorized and charged accordingly (read my one such experience). However on a PNR which has some passengers confirmed or RAC Status and some on WL, all the names including those on waiting list will appear in chart.

-- If on one PNR there are more than one passenger and one is having RAC/confirmed status and rest are WL or vice-versa, names of all passengers booked on such PNR will appears in the chart. A certificate can be obtained from the Ticket Checking staff on the train regarding the non traveling of WL passengers on such tickets, refund can be obtained thereafter.

Upgradation scheme
-- the passengers for upgradation are selected automatically on random basis
-- all passengers on a ticket are upgraded together
-- it's not done for block transactions like in case of marriages/school tours etc...
-- if a passenger who has been upgraded, cancels his ticket then the cancellation charges of the original class only are payable.
-- it is advisable to avail this facility and always to check the status (coach/berth numbers) before boarding the train.

Change of journey dates
-- The date of journey can be pre-poned/postponed in the same/higher class or for a linger distance on payment of nominal charges. This facility can be availed only once, irrespective of whether the accommodation available is reserved or RAC or WL.
-- If you want to prepone the date of your journey, you should surrender your ticket during working hours and up to 6 hrs before the scheduled departure of the train in which fresh reservation is required. For postponement, the ticket must be surrendered at least 24hrs before the scheduled departure of the train in which reservation is presently held.
-- You can change the boarding station too. All you have to do is to submit a written request to the Station Manager of the original boarding station or contact any of the Computerised Reservation Centre, at least 24hrs before the departure of the train, However no refund is permissible for the unused portion of the train.

Break Down journey details
-- If you hold a journey ticket for more than 500kms, you can break your journey once for two days at any station enroute. This facility can be availed only after traveling 500kms from the starting station. If your ticket is more than 1000Kms you will be allowed to break your journey twice.
-- The day of departure and arrival must be excluded while calculating the number of eligible days for break of journey. And remember to get your ticket endorsed by the Station Manager/Ticket collector at the station where you intend to break your journey.
-- You can even extend your journey beyond the original destination. This can be done by approaching the TTE either before reaching your destination or after completion of booked journey. The fare for the extended portion of the journey will be collected without the benefit of telescopic rates.

Transfer of tickets
-- If you are holding a confirmed ticket and are unable to travel your ticket can be transferred to your family members viz father, mother, brother, sister, son, daughter, husband or wife. To transfer your ticket, you must submit your request at least 24hrs in advance of the scheduled departure of the train.
-- Tickets can also be transferred to another govt servant travelling on duty, atleast 24hrs in advance of the scheduled departure of the train.
-- To other students of recognized Educational institutions when the Principal/Head makes a request at least 48hrs in advance of the scheduled departure of the train.
-- To other members of the marriage party, if the head of such a party makes a request at least 48hrs in advance of the scheduled departure of the train.
-- To other cadets of NCC, if the head of the group makes a request at least 24hrs in advance of the scheduled departure of the train. Such changes can be made only once.

Circular Journey Tickets
-- If you wish to go on a pilgrimage or sight seeing trip to many destinations. Indian railways provide the facility of booking circular journey tickets. These tickets offer your unique travel flexibility, as they are issued for all journeys (other than regular routes) which begin and end at the same station. -- Circular journey tickets can be purchased for all classes of travel. A maximum of 8 break journeys will be admissible on these tickets. Endorsements for break journeys are not needed.
-- The advantage of circular journey tickets is that they give you the benefit of telescopic rates which are considerably lower than regular point to point rates. Also it saves you time for not requiring to book tickets for each leg of journey.
-- Once your itinerary is finalised, you can approach the Divisional Commercial Managers of the Division of Station Managers of certain major stations to which the journey commencing station belongs. The Divisional Commercial Manager or the station authorities will then calculate the cost of the tickets based on your itinerary. He will also inform the station manager concerned of the same in the prescribed format. You can purchase circular journey tickets by presenting this format the booking office of the station where you propose to start your journey. After purchasing the circular journey ticket you must approach the reservation office to reserve the accommodation for various laps of your journey. You will then be issued reserved tickets for the journey.

Luggage Capacity
-- The luggage capacity that you can carry is as follows:
[NOTATION: max limit (kgs): free allowance (max limit) kgs: marginal allowance for luggage (kgs)]
First AC: 150: 70 : 15
Second AC: 100 : 50 : 10
Third AC: 40 : 40 : 10
AC Chair Car: 40 : 40 : 10
Sleeper class: 80 : 40 : 10
Second Class: 70 : 35 : 10
-- If your luggage marginally exceeds the free allowance you will be charged at normal rates. Above marginal allowance penalty will be charged, if detected. Make sure to book your excess buggage in the Luggage Office, pay the prescribed charges and get your ticket endorsed by the cross-referencing the luggage ticket details, before commencing your journey. Please note that the free allowance is not admissible for articles such as scooters,cycles etc...
-- Where value of the luggage has not been declared beforehand the consignor and the prescribing percentage charges are not paid, the monetary liability of the Railways would be limited to Rs 100 per kg. However the consignor has declared the value of the consignment and has also paid the percentage charges, he will be entitled to get the claimed amount which will not exceed the value of the luggage so declared at the time of booking. The procedure of payment of percentage charges can be enquired at the luggage booking office.

Insurance
-- Indian railways have insured rail passengers against death or injury in train accidents as defined under Section 124 of the Railways Act 1989. Similarly all passengers and platform ticket holders are also insured against death or injury on account of 'untoward incidents' as defined under section 124 A of the act. Untoward incidents include death or injury on account of commission of a terrorist act, violent attach, robbery, dacoity, rioting, shootout, arson by any person in any train carrying passengers or in the waiting hall, cloak room, reservation or booking office or any platform or in any other lace within the precincts of railway station or accidental falling of any passenger from a train carrying passengers.
-- Compensation for death or permanent disability: Rs 4 lakhs
-- In case of injuries the minimum amount is 32,000 and maximum of 3.6 lakhs according to the gravity of injury sustained.
-- Ex-gratia amount for injury varies depending on the gravity of the injury.
-- Ex-gratia to the dependents of the deceased: Rs 15000
-- Ex-gratia to those grievously injured: Rs 5000
-- Ex-gratia to those with simple injuries: Rs 500
-- An application for compensation payable under section 124 or 124A of the railways act, 1989 may be filed before the bench having territorial jurisdiction over the place from which the passenger obtains or purchases his pass or ticket or where the accident or untoward incident occurs or where the place of destination lies or where the claimant normally resides. Details are available at indianrailways site.

Cancellation/Refund Charges (For latest updated information see http://www.indianrail.gov.in/refund_Rules.html)
(1) Subject to the provision of these rules, if a ticket on which reservation of a seat or berth has been made, is presented for cancellation, refund of fare shall be made after deducting cancellation charge from the fare as follows :
(a) If a ticket is presented for cancellation more than 24 hours before the scheduled departure of the train cancellation charge shall be deducted at the flat rate of Rs. 70/- for A.C First Class/Executive Class, Rs. 60/- for A.C. 2 Tier sleeper class/ A.C. 3 Tier sleeper class/ First class/A.C Chair Car, Rs. 40/- for Sleeper class and Rs. 20/- for Second class.
(b) If the ticket is presented for cancellation within 24 hours and up to four hours before the scheduled departure of the train, cancellation charges shall be 25% of the fare subject to the min. flat rate mentioned in clause (a).
(c) If the ticket is presented for cancellation within four hours before the scheduled departure of the train and up to :

Three hours, when the ticket is for a destination station up to 200 KM.,
Six hours, when the ticket is for a destination station of more than 200 KM but up to 500 KM., and
Twelve hours , when the ticket is for a destination station of more than 500 KM.,

after the actual departure of the train, cancellation charges shall be 50 % of the fare subject to the min. flat rate mentioned in clause (a).

Provided that for night train leaving between 21:00 hours and 06:00 hours (actual departures), refunds shall be admissible at the station within the time limit specified above or within four hours after the opening of reservation office, whichever is later.

(2) No refunds shall be granted at the station if the ticket is surrendered for cancellation after the expiry of the period mentioned under clause (c) of sub rule (1).

Note: (1) In the case of tickets issued for travel from some other stations refunds shall be admissible at the ticket issuing station provided that the ticket is surrendered before the schedule departure of the train from the station from where the ticket is valid.

(3) On a party/family ticket issued for more than one person, where some persons have confirmed reservations and others are on waiting list, full refund less clerkage charges is admissible for confirmed passengers provided that the entire ticket is surrendered for cancellation at the journey commencing station within four hours before the scheduled departure of the train and up to three hours after actual departure of the train.
-- For cancellation of the e-ticket after the train has left you can read my old blog.
-- For cancellation of RAC/WL tickets upto the prescribed time limits (-*-), full refund of fare will be given after deducting the clerkage charges per passenger.
(Clerkage charges are Rs 20 per passenger except for second class unreserved tickets which is Rs 10)
-- Passengers traveling by air conditioned class can claim refund if the AC fails enroute. You can get a refund of difference of fare for the distance the AC was not functioning. This refund should be claimed at the end of the journey or within 20hrs of the arrival of the train at the destination, on production of the ticket and the certificate issued by the TTE.
-- If your train is running late by more than 3hrs, you can get a refund of full fare paid by you without any deductions. You can claim this refund at the journey commencing station within the maximum time limits.
-- If you could not continue your onward journey due to late running of a connecting train, you can claim a refund for the balance fare. To claim this refund, you are required to surrender your ticket at the station, within three hours of the actual arrival of the train which has been delayed.
-- If your train is canceled due to accidents, breaches or floods, you will be refunded the full fare paid by you. To claim this refund you should surrender your ticket within three days of the scheduled departure of the train.
-- If you have a ticket where some passengers are confiemed and other are waitlisted, then you can get full refund less clerkage charges of all passengers, if such tickets (for all passengers) are cancelled within four hours of the scheduled departure of the train and upto three hours after the actual departure of the train.
-- You cannot get any refund on a lost ticket. However you will be allowed to travel on the reservation already made, after paying the prescribed charges for the issue of a duplicate ticket. If the loss of your confirmed/RAC ticket is reported before the preparation of the Reservation chart, a duplicate ticket will be issued on collection of the clerkage charge per passenger. In case of the loss of your confirmed ticket is reported after preparation of the Reservation Chart, a duplicate ticket will be issued on collection of 50% of the fare. No duplicate ticket will be prepared after preparation of Reservation chart in case of RAC tickets. If your original ticket is found and presented along with the duplicate ticket, before the departure of the train, you will be refunded the amount paid for your duplciate ticket. However, 5% of the total amount will be deducted, subject to a minimum of Rs 20.
-- If the ticket that was torn/mutilated was a confirmed one or RAC, a duplicate ticket will be issued on collection of 25% of the fare, after the preparation of the Reservation Chart. Before Chart preparation, charges are same as applicable for issue of duplicate ticket in lieu of lost/misplaced ticket.
-- No duplicate ticket will be issued in case of mutilated WL tickets.
-- If an unused unreserved ticket is presented for cancellation, full fare is refunded after deducting the per passenger clerkage charge provided that the ticket is surrendered at the ticket issuing station within 3hrs after the actual departure of the train for which the ticket was issued OR within 3hrs after the actual departure of the last train of the day for the destination station, for a ticket valid for whole day.

Getting the voter card for the first time (13 March 2009)

2009-03-16T10:40:00.007+05:30

The process of getting a voter id-card is simple. If you are adding your name to the voter list for the first time then you need to fill the form 6, for any change in the address/correction in name etc you need to fill form 8. For more information on what forms to fill you can refer to the following link.

NOTE: The links in this mail are with respect to the Karnataka state. There would be similar links for each state, for example for Andhra Pradesh the CEO homepage is http://www.ceo.ap.gov.in/

Few information that might be useful to you:
1) The necessary documents that you need to carry for a new entry in the voter list are "Address Proof", "Identity Proof" and "Date of Birth" proof. The address proof can be your rent-agreement or electricity bill/phone bill (if it's in your name). The Identity proof is your Passport/Ration Card/Pan card i.e. one which is given by the government. And "Date of Birth" can be your Passport or Xth class certificate etc.
2) If you are going to fill the form of your spouse along with you name, then you need to take a xerox copy of the marriage certificate or xerox copy of the wedding card.
3) Once you submit the form, it would take around 4-10 days for your name to be entered in to the database. You can see whether your name has been added to the database at this link. Once it's added to the database then each person has to go to the Voter Facilitation Centres (VFCs) (which can be found from the respective state CEO homepage) in person as his/her photograph would be taken through a webcam attached to their system, after which they would give you out the voter-card immediately.

The VFC in Jayanagar 4th Block BDA complex timings are from 8am to 12noon and from 4pm to 8pm on all days except Sunday. The timings for Sunday are from 10am to 8pm with a lunch break from 2pm to 4pm. Monday is a holiday. I think that these timings might change in the future. Currently they are because of the coming Elections in May 2009...Anyway for correct timings check the ceo website.

PS:
1) I collected my voter card on 25 March 2009 and Hema collected her voter card on 04 April 2009.
2) Check that all your details (name, father's name, DOB, address, sex) are correctly entered in the database before taking your photograph. This is because after taking your photograph they will be laminating it and give it to you immediately. Once it's laminated and if any mistake found, to correct it you just need to take the serial number of the card, get the data corrected and get a new card, which would be given to you after charging Rs 25 from you. The card for the first time is free :-)

Booking TTD e-ticket darshan (04 March 2009)

2009-03-05T09:34:00.007+05:30

The process for booking an e-ticket Darshan from any of the following cities is very easy. Visit the following link to know the cities where the TTD has such a facility. The counter for booking e-tickets starts 60 days before the day of the darshan that you wanted to make. For example say I wanted to book a Rs 50 e-darshan for 01 May, then excluding the 01 May, count 60 days back (30 days of April and 30 Days of March) i.e. on 02 March the counter for e-darshan for 01 May starts.

You can also book a room from these counters, but the criteria is that the number of persons visiting Tirumala is atleast 2. Another scenario that happened with me was my father booked Kalyanam for me and my wife in Tirumala. The date was confirmed. I didn't have the Kalyanam ticket with me. I went to book the room for me and for my wife. They didn't allow me to book a room as I didn't have the Kalyanam ticket with me :-( They wanted me to show the Kalyanam ticket for room-booking. Luckily on my fathers suggestion I took my wife along. So we made two Rs 50 darshan tickets and booked a room against those two darshan tickets. So if you wanted to book a room against Kalyanam ticket then carry it along with you, else you would not be able to book a room.

Also note that one person cannot book a ticket on behalf of another person even though the other person may be your family member/spouse/child (I guess that children less than 4 years(?) are exempted from this rule). So if you are travelling with your family then all the family members have to go to the centre to book the e-darshan as a photo and finger print is taken of each of the family member.

In Bangalore, the e-counter is present in 16th Cross, Vyalikavel, Malleswaram.The bus route numbers from Majestic are 28, 102, 104 OR you can catch any bus going to Yeshwantpur/Malleswaram and ask the conductor for the nearest stop close to TTD e-counter/Sadhashiv nagar circle.

TIP:
1) For each day there is a limited number of seats that are allotted for e-darshan for each city. For example for 01 May the number was around 1780 for Bangalore. This allotation of numbers usually doesn't happen in time. For example for 01 May the e-darshan the counter should have started on 02 March. But when I went on 02 March I learnt that the quota of seats has not been yet released by the TTD. This usually happens especially during the Brahmotsavas and long weekends etc.. So it's better to call up the enuiry number and find out if the counter has started for a day. In Bangalore, the enquiry number is 080-23315361 and 080-23345555.
2) The timings are as follows:
Mon-Fri: 9am to 1pm and 2pm to 4pm. (Tuesday is a holiday)
Sat & Sun: 9am to 1pm and 2pm to 7pm.
i.e. the lunch timings are from 1pm to 2pm.
3) The address of the office is as follows:
Chowdaiah Memorial Hall
16th Cross, Gd Park Extension
Vyalikavel, Bangalore - 560 003

No outgoing calls in Nokia 1600

2008-11-10T11:00:00.002+05:30

I lost my mobile during the last week, I then applied for a duplicate sim card. The process is simple (atleast in case of AirTel):
1) Take a xerox of your identity card
2) Goto Airtel office and submit the xerox after filling a form. That form contains your correspondence address, your mobile number etc.

After cross-checking the details they give you the duplicate SIM card immediately. The whole process doesn't take more than 5 minutes.

The duplicate SIM card has the same number that you had earlier, with the same settings i.e. if the national roaming is enabled then the new duplicate SIM card would also be national roaming enabled. I didn't have mobile for the 3 days (05,06,07 Nov). In one of the mobile shop I checked that from my new duplicate sim card I was able to make outgoing local/std calls and also I was able to receive incoming calls.

When I reached Hyderabad for the weekend, I was not able to make any outgoing calls. I thought that in the new duplicate SIM card, the roaming might have not been enabled. But I was able to receive incoming calls. Then I checked with the customer care and found out that in Nokia 1600, by default the "Send my caller identity" is set to OFF. (Settings -> Call Settings -> Send my caller identity). You need to set to ON. Once done, you will be able to make outgoing calls too.

Travelling in train with e-ticket with WL 41 (19-20 Oct 2008)

2008-10-22T11:44:00.009+05:30

If you have booked a train e-ticket (i.e. through online) and if the ticket status is Waiting List (WL) after the chart has been prepared then you should not board the train as the ticket becomes invalid. You need not do an explicit cancellation of the ticket as the amount would be automatically credited back to your account in 3/4 days. For example: The ticket fare was Rs 195 (actual fare) + Rs10 (reservation charges). I got Rs 195 credited to my account after 4 days.

This is clearly conveyed on the e-ticket if you have noticed this clearly, which says:
"PNR's having fully waitlisted status will be dropped and names of the the passengers will not appear in the chart. They are not allowed to board the train. If fully waitlisted passengers are found traveling they will be treated as without ticket and charged as per extant Railway rules."

I learnt this lesson during my return journey from Chennai to Bangalore, when my e-ticket status was WL 41 and I boarded the train in the reserved compartment :( Read more details about this interesting journey here at this link ;-)

OT: If you have booked a train ticket through offline i.e. at a Railway reservation counter, then even though the final status is WL, you can board the general (unreserved) compartment with that ticket and travel. While in case of e-ticket with final status as WL, you cannot even board the general (unreserved) compartment. You need to buy a general ticket and then board the train in the general compartment.

Following is the list of rules/instructions that are printed on the back of the e-ticket:
A1) Confirmed E ticket: Wait-listed E-ticket where all passengers are confirmed at the time of charting.
A2) Partially waitlisted/Confirmed/RAC E-ticket:Wait-listed E-ticket where some passengers are confirmed/RAC and others are wait-listed at the time of charting.
A3) Fully waitlisted E-tickets:Wait-listed E-ticket where all passengers continue to be waitlisted at the time of charting.

B1) Passengers with Confirmed E ticket are permitted to board the train. Their names will appear on the chart.
B2) Names of passengers with Partially Waitlisted/Confirmed/RAC will appear on the chart (including the Waitlisted passengers)
B3) PNRs having Fully waitlisted status will be dropped and names of the passengers will not appear on the chart. They are not allowed to board the train. If full waitlisted passengers are found travelling, they will be treated as without ticket and charged as per extant Railway rules.

C1) Confirmed E ticket can be calcelled by passengers through internet before chart preparation only.
C2) Partially waitlisted/Confirmed/RAC E ticket can be cancelled by passengers through internet before chart preparation only.
C3) Fully waitlisted E tickets can be cancelled by passenger using internet before chart preparation. After chart preparation it will be cancelled by Railways and money refunded automatically.

D1) After chart preparation, Refunds for Confirmed/RAC/Partially Waitlisted E ticket will be processed through TDR process. Customer can file TDR online and refund sanctioned by Railways would be credited back to user/agents account.
D2) After chart preparation, Fully Waitlisted E ticket will be cancelled by Railways and refund shall be credited to user/agents account automatically.

Online transfer of money

2008-09-02T17:59:00.003+05:30

Today morning I was transferring amount online from my account in ICICI bank to my friend's ICICI account. I gave the amount, the transaction password and then the numbers corresponding to the grid on the back of the ICICI ATM debit card. After few seconds instead of getting a "Transfer success" message, I got a timeout error appeared. When I checked the transfer status it was showing "In Progress".

I thought that the transaction was not successful, I tried transferring the same amount again and to the same person. Before I could give the transaction password, the ICICI bank showed me that I was making a duplicate transfer (as the recepient, amount and even remarks was the same) and gave me an option of whether I want to continue further. This design is really good. I didn't proceed further and waited for 6hrs (as mentioned in the note, which says "If the status is In Progress, wait for 6hrs to see the final status corresponding to it"). After 2 hrs, I found that the money was successfully transferred to my friend's account (which I got it confirmed from my friend).

So if you ever come across such a situation then wait for 6hrs to check the final status before proceeding further ahead with a duplicate transaction.

Now You can Withdraw Amount From ATM without using Debit Card !!!

2008-08-28T19:09:00.001+05:30

Now ICICI NET BANKING has provided new facility. Here are the steps how to withdraw money without Using debit card.

Min. Requirements.
1) You Should have Net banking Transfer facility,
2) Your Mobile should be configured to This Account.

Steps to Withdraw:
1) Log on to Your internet banking.
2) You can see a option on the left side as smsNcash new Option under the Funds Transfer.
3) click on smsNcash Option.
4) It will ask you to Enter the Mobile number of The person who is collecting money from ATM. Lets Say your friend.
(i) Enter Your Friend Mobile number.
(ii) Amount how much you want to give your friend.
(iii) Both Of you will get Msg from ICICI immdtly You will get 4 digit screat Code, And your friend will get 6 digit secreat Code.
(iv) Make a call to your friend and give 4 digit Secreat code which you received.

Then Your friend need to walk in ATM (ICICI).

Here by default now ICICI ATM s are showing Home page as smsNCash.

Follow the steps.
It will ask your friend to Give his mobile number.
And 6 digit Secreat code which he received from ICICI bank.
and 4 digit Secreat code which he reveived from You.

ATM will give you the Amount which you Transffered to that Mobile no.

Advantage : Your Friend can withdraw money though he dont have any accounts with ICICI.
Note : This facilities are chargable. Min of 10/- And Max of 20/- Based on Txn.
Limitations : One Mobile Number you can transfer Max. 10,000/- Per day.
You can Transfer to Multiple Mobile Numbers Max.25,000/- per day.

Cancellation of ticket after the train has left

2008-08-18T20:33:00.005+05:30

I booked train tickets for the return journey from Hyderabad to Bangalore for 17 Aug (Sunday). But on 18 Aug, there was my younger nephew's (Veda Chandra) cradle ceremony, I booked another ticket for 18 Aug (Monday evening). I thought that I would cancel the Sunday ticket later. But for the past three days (15 Aug-18 Aug) I was busy playing with my nephew, Mayukh and helping parents as much as I could. In the whole process I forgot to cancel my ticket and remembered that I need to cancel the ticket on 18 Aug morning. It is then I realized that cancellation of the ticket after the train has left is a very lengthy process. Hence this blog -
1) You can book the tickets online only from 05:00hrs to 23:30hrs IST (Even on Sundays).
2) For more information on cancellation of e-tickets refer to the http://www.irctc.co.in/etktcanc.html

If a confirmed ticket is cancelled more than 24 hrs before the scheduled departure of the train, flat cancellation charges shall be deducted @ Rs.70/- for AC First Class/Executive Class, Rs.60/- for AC 2 Tier/AC 3 Tier/First Class/AC Chair car, Rs.40/- for Sleeper Class and Rs.20/- for Second Class. Cancellation charges are per passenger.
If a confirmed ticket is cancelled within 24 hrs and up to 4 hours before the scheduled departure of the train, cancellation charges shall be 25% of the fare subject to the minimum flat rate mentioned in the above clause.
Less than 4 hours before the schedule departure of the train up to chart preparation of the train, 50% of the fare paid subject to the minimum cancellation charges.
Note the Chart preparation time is the time for the chart preparation from the Train Originating Station or from the Previous chart Preparation station.
For any claims on e-Tickets to be cancelled after the preparation of Reservation charts, the user has to send an email at the earliest possible time (within 30 days) to etickets@irctc.co.in giving full details of the ticket and stating the claim, which would then be processed by IRCTC with the Railway administration offline and refunds as sanctioned by the Railway administration would be credited back to the user's account. Refund claims under above clause may require at least 60 days or more for processing.
When you send an email to the address (etickets@irctc.co.in), you get a mail asking to do the following steps: to file TDR, under "My transactions" by selecting the PNR no and filling the required details and click on submit button.
Once you do the above process, you can check the status of the TDR under "TDR Status".

So I am waiting for my refund. Let's see when I will be getting back my money?

For more information refer to the www.irctc.co.in or www.indianrail.gov.in

One more information that I learnt in this process is that at www.irctc.co.in you can book only 10 tickets per month irrespective of how many different credit-cards you used? Another thing is that, say you booked 10 tickets in a month. So you cannot book any more tikcets in that month. Say if you cancelled one ticket (that you booked in that month), then the number of tickets you booked would become 9 i.e. the cancellation of ticket transaction would decrement the number of tickets booked in that month. After the cancellation you can still go ahead and book a ticket, after which the number of tickets booked in that month would become 10 again.

Credit Card Scam

2008-04-18T15:26:00.004+05:30

These days there are many scams happening rgarding the Credit Card. Some agents call you and say that they are offering a gold/platinum/titanium credit-card for free. Yo give them the necessary documents like Address proof, personal detail like DOB, Salary slip etc.. And you wait and wait and finally you don't get any card. In some cases you apply for credit -card of Bank A and you get a credit-card of Bank B, which you never applied for. In other cases you applied for a platinum/titanium credit-card and you get a gold card :-(

Please consider your personal information "PERSONAL". Don't get in the lure of a quick platinum/titanium/diamondstudded" card and give everything to anyone. Please be careful with your personal information: even date of birth, mothers maiden name etc. these are the things used to establish your identity in many cases! Whenever an agent comes to collect the documents, do the following:
1) Ask his identity card. Ask him to give a xerox copy of his card, his office address and phone number.
2) Whenever you give a document proof for any purpose, you should write "XEROX proof for ABC-bank credit card application", over the copy in a relevant place (not in the blank white area) from where they can't erase and re-copy, and hope that a different bank/company won't accept it.
3) The application form number that you are filling and the number of days it would take, necessary contact information for finding out the status and name of the person to contact/his number if you are unable to reach at the given number.

Itne sare preparations ke badh, woh agent (if he is fraud) darr jayega/will not dare to cheat you...

TIP: You will be better off using the plastic sparingly, only for large amounts and online credit-card is better else use cash. You will feel the cash moving out of your hands, and will spend less in the process!

For those who are still sleeping, please watch this very interesting video. i hope they have the full video, at least text is there (click on transcript). What can be done is this:
"The guys who contacted you were fake, posing as legit. they get your papers, then deny card. now they can apply for a card at a different address but in your name/PAN etc. Sell this card info on chat rooms for a fee (see NBC report) or buy things in person from different cities and sell those for cash! or they could withdraw cash, then junk the card for good. When the bank comes after they finally can trace the PAN and get hold of you! You unnecessarily pay a visit to hell, even if you can sort it all
out in a couple of years. This is coming to india as well. Indians were involved in a SEC scam breaking in brokerage websites in US and siphoning million US$, (1 absconding, 2 caught and deported to US -- http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/cybercrime/marimuthuIndict.htm) so don't think other forms are far behind!

How is Surcharge calculated?

2008-04-16T13:46:00.002+05:30

NOTE that the surcharge is applicable only if gross taxable income (after all deductions) is above 10 lacs.

For Example : Lets say that Ajay earns Rs 14 lacs.

Total Income (14 lac ) - amount under sec 80c (1 lac) - HRA (Rs 70k, for example) - Conveyence allowance (9,600 , 800*12) - health Insurance (10k , max 15k) under sec 80D (its seperate from sec 80C) = 14 lacs - 1,94,800 = 12,05,200
Now lets do tax calculation (as per the rules for the FY 2008-09):
0 - 1.5 : 0
1.5 - 3 : 15,000 (@ 10%)
3 - 5 : 40,000 (@ 20%)
5+ : 2,11,560 (@ 30%)
= 2,66,560 + surcharge (10% of this amount)
= 2,66,560 + 26,656
= 2,93,216

Now education cess will also be applied : @ 3% on 2,93,216 = 8796.48
Total tax payable = 2,93,216 + 8796.48 = Rs. 302012.48

Note : Education cess is charged after surcharge is applied and not before.

How is EMI calculated?

2008-04-05T14:10:00.003+05:30

EMI is calculated as per the below formula:
EMI = (L*i)[((1+i)^N)/(((1+i)^N)-1)]
where L = Loan amount, i = interest per annum/1200, N = number of years * 12

For example:
My loan amount (L) was 25,71,250. Interest rate = 10.5% per annum (i.e. i=(10.5/12)/100) = 0.00875) and number of years is 20 (i.e. N=20*12=240). Hence

EMI =(2571250*10.5/1200)*(((1+0.00875)^240)/(((1+0.00875)^240)-1))

EMI =(2571250*0.00875)(8.091917666/7.091917666) = nearly 25671

Thinking of cancelling Primary credit card?

2008-03-12T11:00:00.002+05:30

There was a call from ICICI bank asking if I am interested in their creditcard. I told them that I already have an HP Gold credit card and is it possible for it to be converted to Platinum credit card, with the same online account that I have for the existing ICICI HP Gold credit card. They said yes and they sent me an ICICI Platinum credit card.

What I found is that the credit card number of the Platinum card is not the same as that of the HP Gold credit card. No two credit-cards will have the same number, unless one is an expiry date renewed card of the other (confirmed it with the ICICI customer-care person). They linked both the credit cards to the same online account, with my HP Gold card as the primary card and the Platinum as supplementary card. Earlier with HP Gold card my credit limit was 69K, later it increased to 90K. Cumulative the credit-limit of both cards is 90K and not 180K (90K x 2) as expected. So you can use either of the cards, and the amount will be reflected in the same account, with the same billing period in a single bill.

The benefit of using the Platinum card over the Gold card is that you get 1 point for Rs 100 you spend while in case of Gold card it's 1 point for Rs 200 spent. You need not pay service tax at any petrol pump in India if you are using the Platinum card, while in case of HP Gold card you need not pay the service tax only at HP petrol pumps. These are the only two advantages of Platinum card over the HP Gold card (as far as I know).

So I planned of cancelling the HP Gold card as it was of no use. Later from the customer-care person learnt that you can redeem the earned points that you earned only against the primary card (HP Gold card) and not against the secondary card (Platinum card). So I dropped the idea of cancelling the HP Gold card. Remember about this point when you are going for cancellation of a primary card.

A simple mathematical calculation mistake !!

2008-02-03T11:32:00.000+05:30

QUESTION: Suppose that you want net income of Rs 10,000 in your hands after tax deduction of 30% and education cess of 3% on tax, how much is the amount that you need to show initially?

Wrong calculation:
Tax on 10000 @ 30% = 3000; Edu cess on 3000 @ 3% = 90;
Total amount = 10,000 + 3000 + 90 = 13,090.
Check: Rs 13090 - 30% of Rs 13090 - (3% of (30% of 13090)) = Rs 13090 - Rs 3927 - Rs 117.81 = Rs 9045.19 <---- Wrong amount !!

Correct calculation:
For each Rs 100, tax deducted = 30% of Rs 100 = Rs 30. For each Rs 100, education cess decuted = 3% of Rs 30 = Rs 0.9.
So for each Rs 100, total amount of Rs 30.9 is deducted i.e. you will be getting only Rs 100 - Rs 30.9 = Rs 69.1.
For Rs 100 you only Rs 69.1, to get Rs 10,000, how much is the actual amount? The answer is Rs 10,000 * 100/69.1 = Rs 14471.78
Check: Rs 14471.78 - 30% of Rs 14471.78 - (3% of (30% of 14471.78)) = Rs 14471.78 - Rs 4341.53 - Rs 130.25 = Rs 10000!!

All things that you need to know about Home Loans

2008-01-14T00:15:00.000+05:30

Before I go ahead, these are some of the terms that you need to be aware of if you are thinking of buying a flat/home. Please note that all this information I collected and put here is from sources like rediff.com, some other sites (which I don't remember) and from some of my friends. This is just to give you a brief introduction of the terms that you need to be aware of. For any bank home loan, please always ask the bank for exact details.
Area
Carpet area
No hidden agenda here. It will tell you exactly how much space you will have in your home. It is literally defined as the exact area within the walls of your home. To make it downright simple: If you had to lay out a wall-to-wall carpet in your entire house, how much area would it cover? That's your carpet area.

Built-up area
This one goes one step ahead. It includes not just the carpet area but also the area being occupied by the walls of your home.

Super built-up area
This is what builders often talk about. It is a very inclusive term. It takes into account, carpet and built-up area. And then some. Super built-up area also takes into account all the area under the common spaces -- the apartment's proportionate share of the lobby, staircase, elevator and the corridor outside the apartment.

The confusion arises over the fact that what is exactly included under this definition is left to the discretion of the builders. Some may even include the terrace, security room, electrical room and/or pump room. The total area of these 'extras' is taken into account and divided by the number of apartments in proportion to their size.

So, if you are given a quote for 1,000 sq ft flat and the area referred to is the carpet area, then you have a huge living space. If it is built-up area, then you have lesser space. If it is super-built up area, then you compromise heavily on the living area. In fact, the actual carpet area may just be around 600 sq ft in comparison to the total flat area of 1,000 sq ft.

Home Loan Terminology
These are some of the 10 terms that you must be aware of while taking a home loan
Margin
When you take a loan, the home loan company will not put up the entire amount. It will only put up around 80% to 90% of the cost of your home. You will have to put in the balance 20% or 10%. Even if they go up to 95%, you will still have to put in the balance 5%. This amount is called the downpayment or the margin.

Resale
This is the term used when you are buying a home from someone who already owns it and is selling it. Hence it is referred to as a resale. It indicates you are not buying a brand new home straight from the builder or buying one currently under construction.

Credit Appraisal
The home loan company will take a look at a number of parameters before a loan is sanctioned. Your savings, income, age, qualifications, nature of work and work experience are some of them. They will also look into how many loans you are currently servicing. Taking all these issues into account, they will determine whether or not you are eligible for a loan and what the sanctioned amount should be. This process is known as a credit appraisal.

Pre-approved property
Many builders get their properties pre-approved by home finance companies. Generally, if a builder gets pre-approved by a number of players, it speaks well of the builder. The home finance company will examine all the legal documentation and approvals. If everything is in order, the builder will get a stamp of approval. Also, the home loan player will view the builder's ability and track record to complete the construction in time. However, this does not mean the home finance company is going to take any action or waive any charges if the construction is delayed. All it means is that the property falls within the legal purview and the builder has a good track record.

EMI (Equated Monthly Installments)
An EMI is the amount of money you will have to pay every month in order to repay your loan. It is an unequal combination of your loan amount (principal) and the rate of interest. The EMI remains constant throughout the repayment period. Let's say you have a five-year loan with an EMI of Rs 4,400. You will have to pay this amount for the next 60 months to the home loan company. To arrive at the EMI, the home loan financier will look at
* The principal (the actual loan amount).
* The repayment period (the number of years you will take to repay the loan).
* The rate of interest.
* How the rate of interest is computed (monthly reducing, quarterly reducing or annual reducing basis).

Disbursement
* Full disbursement: A full disbursement is when the entire cost is paid at one go; the home loan company hands over the entire payment to the seller. The cheque is disbursed (it is never in cash) only when you have submitted all the documents required and have made the downpayment. If this is a resale, then the cheque is made out in the seller's name. If you are purchasing your home from a builder, then it is in the builder's name.
* Partial disbursement: A partial disbursement is made in stages (not at one go as in the case of full disbursement). When purchasing an apartment from a builder and it is under construction, the home loan company will not release all the payment at one go. The money will be released in stages. For instance, after the completion of the first floor, 20% of the payment will be made. After the completion of the last floor, 40% and so on and so forth. Hence payment is construction linked and disbursed accordingly.

Advance Disbursement Facility
If the house is still under construction, then a partial disbursement is made. However, in some cases, the home loan company may be willing to make the entire payment even if the construction is not complete. This is known as an advance disbursement and will occur only in both these instances:
i. If the buyer requests the home loan company to do so.
ii. If the home loan company is fairly convinced the builder will complete the construction on time.

Pre-EMI
When you buy a home that is under construction, the home loan company will not pay the entire amount to the builder. Payment will be made in stages. As construction is completed, payment is released. This is known as partial disbursement. You start paying your EMIs only after the final disbursement. Till then you pay the home loan company a rate of interest on the amount partially disbursed. This interest is called pre-EMI. If your home loan is going to cost you 8%, you will be charged 8% simple interest on payments made till date. This will go on till the final payment (disbursement) is made and your EMIs start. So the longer your builder takes to complete construction, the more you end up paying.

Offer Letter
Once the loan is sanctioned, you will get an offer letter stating a number of details.
* Loan amount
* Rate of interest
* Fixed/ flexible rate of interest
* Tenure of the loan
* EMI amount
* If offered under a special scheme, details of the scheme
* Any other conditions of the loan
This letter does not mean the loan is yours. It only means the home loan company has agreed to consider you as one of its customers. It will then look into the various property and legal documents as well as value the property you are buying. The loan will only be disbursed once these formalities are complete.

PDC (Post Dated Cheques)
Post-dated cheques are dated ahead of time and cannot be processed till the date indicated. Generally, the home loan company will ask for a year's supply of cheques or maybe even two or three years. At the end, you will have to replenish the supply for the following years. These cheques will be addressed to the home loan company, signed by you and will state the exact EMI to be paid.

5 legal questions you must consider before you put down the token amount on your new home
Who is the owner?
The proof of real estate ownership lies in a document. This document confers title in the property and must executed, stamped and registered with the concerned Sub Registrar of Assurance. If you buy an apartment or a plot of land, the document that will show ownership is the registered sale deed in the name of the seller. The person in whose name the ownership is conveyed under these documents is the owner.

Ownership means you have a right over a property and you own it. The owner will have the right of possession, the right to enjoy its use, the right of way, the right to transfer it and the right to earn rent and profit accrued from the property. So, if you are staying in a rented accommodation or a leased one, you have no ownership rights at all.

When can ownership be transfered?
An owner can transfer his property by gifting it or selling it. A sale deed, or any document in which the ownership rights are transferred, is a document that gives evidence of an individual's ownership of a property. Rights in property can be lawfully transferred only upon execution and registration of a sale deed in favour of the buyer. The term 'conveyance' in context of real estate means transfer of title from one person to another. Generally an owner of a real estate can transfer his property unless there is a legal restriction barring such transfer. For example, if he mortgages his property, he will not be able to sell it.

By whom?
Under law, any person who owns the property and is a legal adult (18 years or older) can transfer it in favour of another. If the owner gives another individual a Power of Attorney (PoA), that person can sell it under this authority. The PoA gives another person the power to act on behalf of the owner. However, if the PoA only grants a person the authority to manage the property, s/he cannot sell it.

Is registration necessary?
Yes. Under the law, any instrument indicating transfer of real estate must be registered. The sale deed and other relevant documents would have to be stamped and registered at the concerned Sub-Registrar's office having jurisdiction over the property. The purpose of registration is to prevent fraud and provide security. It also ensures that every person dealing with property, where such dealings require registration, may rely with confidence upon the statements contained in the registered document as a complete account of all transactions by which his/ her title may be affected.

An unregistered document relating to real estate leads to confusion in ownership, which may give rise to dispute. So, the transfer of title in real estate is not be legally valid if the sale deed is not registered. Therefore, registration in the name of the seller or the person transferring his property is crucial for the transfer of clear title in favour of the new owner. Further, an unregistered document shall not be received as evidence in a court of law should a dispute arise.

Is mutation necessary?
Mutation is not a legal title given to the new owner. It basically means rectification in the records of the municipal authorities (in case of urban properties) and local revenue officers (in case of non-urban properties), replacing the name of the old owners of a property with that of the new owner. The new owner, in whose favour the title and other rights passes on, must apply to the local municipal authorities for mutation of his name. Mutation of property is recorded on the presentation of other registered documents showing evidence of transfer of property. Mutation of property in the municipal/ revenue records is mainly for the purpose of payment of property taxes.

Fixed vs Floating Rate of Interest
Fixed Rate loans
Firstly, it is important to understand what is meant by a fixed rate loan and a floating rate loan. As the name implies, a fixed rate loan should typically mean the interest rate will remain fixed during the entire tenure of the loan. So, if you take a fixed rate loan for 15 years at 9% per annum, this will stay put through your 15 year loan period irrespective of whether interest rates rise or fall.

However, in the Indian context, this is not always the case. Loans in which the interest rates are re-fixed at an interval of a few years are also called fixed rate loans. This interval period could be every two years, or three years, or five years, depending on the home loan company or bank. The banks have clauses in the home loan agreement that allow them to amend their rate of interest on some very vaguely worded eventualities which are to be decided at the bank's discretion.

Floating Rate loans
On the other hand, as far as a floating rate loan is concerned, the manner of its determination is very non-transparent. The bank will declare a benchmark rate. This home loan rate will be typically charged at a discount (lesser than the benchmark rate) or, in the case of some banks, at a premium (higher than the benchmark rate). An example will make this clear.

Let's say Bank A is offering you a floating rate loan at 9%. It will state that its benchmark rate is say, the Mortgage Retail Lending Rate (or some such name that each bank or home loan players gives). This loan at 9% will be calculated at, say, a 1% discount to its MRLR. Say currently, the MRLR is 10%, so your loan will be 9%. Now let's say that this MRLR changes to 11%. The effective rate of your loan becomes 10% (11% - 1%). That is fine, in principle. The problem normally occurs when interest rates fall and the bank may choose not to drop the MRLR. Why should they? Except as acting as a benchmark for home loan borrowers, nothing else is dependent on this rate. It may still pass on the benefit of a lower rate to new consumers. So a new customer may get a higher discount of 2%.

Let's say the MRLR is 10% and, though interest rates have fallen, the bank does not lower it. So, while your rate stays at 9% (MRLR of 10% - 1% discount), a new borrower will get 8% (MRLR of 10% - 2% discount). Thus, having a transparently determined floating rate is most important. That is why please read your documents carefully to ensure the mechanism for determining interest rates is clearly mentioned in the agreement.

Tax Benefits from Home loan?
House loan principal amount
The House loan principal amount, cumulative with other investments like LIC, NSC, Mutual Funds etc has an upper limit of Rs 1,00,000 which you can claim as tax deduction under Section 80C.

Note that you can also show the House/Flat registration fees along with Home loan principal amount, subject to cumulative maximum of Rs 1,00,000 (as per the rule under Section 80C). Coming to the documents that need to be submitted as proof for the Registration fees, you need not submit the whole registration forms (which is around 14 pages), you have to submit only the registaration fees paid breakup page and top sheet of the page that contatins address of the home loan taken.

House loan interest amount
The House loan interest amount can be claimed upto a maximum of Rs 1,50,000 if you are self-occupying it as explained in How is income calculated from house property?. Else if it's on rent, then it's calculated as per the process explained in How is income calculated from two house properties?

House loan pre-EMI amount (if any)
You get tax benefits on pre-EMI, but you can start availing it's benefits only from the financial year in which the construction is complete (i.e. from the FY in which your EMI starts) and for the next 5 years only. Let me explain this with an example:
* Let's say you took a home loan in October 2005. The property was completed in July 2007 and final disbursement was done. During this time -- from October 2005 to July 2007 -- you paid pre-EMI, say a total amount of Rs 25,000, of which 15,000 is pre-EMI amount paid from October 2005 to March 2007 and Rs 10,000 is the pre-EMI amount paid from April 2007 to July 2007.
* Your EMI will start from August 2007 onwards. Since the construction got completed in July 2007, you can claim the tax benefits of both EMI (principal + interest amount) and a part of pre-EMI amount (explained in next point) towards the end of the FY 2007-08 i.e. in March 2008 and not in March 2007.
* You can include 1/5 of Rs 15,000 (i.e. one-fifth of the cumulative pre-EMI amount disbursed and ending on March 31, immediately preceding the financial year in which construction in completed i.e. in our example till March 31, 2007) = Rs 3000 + Rs 10,000 (i.e. total cumulative pre-EMI amount from Apr-Jul 2007, which is included as the construction completed in FY 2007-08) along with the interest component of EMI and claim tax benefits as defined above under the House Loan interest amount sub-section.
* In the next four FY i.e. 2008-09, 2009-10, 2010-11, 2011-12 you can include Rs 3,000 (1/5 of Rs 15,000) along with the respective interest amount of the EMI for that FYI and claim tax benefits as defined above under the House Loan interest amount sub-section.
* From the FY 2012-13 onwards you cannot include any pre-EMI amount with the interest amount of the EMI. As all pre-EMI amounts are totally used in claiming tax benefits.

Some FAQs
If a person fails to make EMI payments on his home loan, can he claim tax benefits on the interest payable, under Section 24 and deduction under Section 80C of the Income Tax Act?
Tax benefits under Section 24 and deduction under section 80C of the Income Tax Act can be claimed only when the payment is made. If a person fails to make EMI payments, he cannot claim tax benefits for the same.

If a home loan is taken by the father and the loan has been sanctioned on the basis of the son's salary, can the son claim the tax rebate and deduction in respect of the interest payments?
According to the Income Tax Act, only the person who has taken the loan can claim tax benefits. Hence, in this case only the father will be eligible for the tax benefits.

Does interest on loan taken for repairs, renewals or reconstruction also qualify for the deduction of Rs 150,000?
Yes, the interest on a loan, taken for repairs, renewals or reconstruction, also qualifies for the deduction of Rs 150,000.

Can a husband and wife, both of whom are taxpayers with independent income sources, get tax deduction benefits, with respect to the same housing loan?
Yes, in this case, the husband and wife (being tax-payers with independent sources of income) can get tax deduction benefits with respect to the same housing loan.

In the above case, in what proportion will the tax benefits be shared?
To the extent of the amount of loan taken in their own respective names.

Can you avail of all these benefits?
1) HRA
2) Deduction on home loan principal repayment
3) Deduction on interest paid on home loan
Yes, you can avail of all the three under certain situations. Let us evaluate them:
Let us evaluate some of them.

Situation I
You have only one home for which you have taken a home loan. And you are residing in this home. In such a case, you can avail of:
- Home loan interest upto Rs 1,50,000 under Section 24.
- Home loan principal upto Rs 1,00,000 under Section 80 C.

Situation II
You take a home loan to buy a house which your parents live in. But, because it is at a considerable distance from work, you rent out a place close to your office. Now your home as well as the one you are renting are all in one city. In such a case, you can avail of:
- HRA under Section 10 (13A).
- Home loan interest upto Rs 1,50,000 under Section 24. Upper limit of Rs 1,50,000 because there is no rent as your parents are staying in the flat.
- Home loan principal upto Rs 1,00,000 under Section 80 C.
But your employer may not grant you HRA if both houses are in the same vicinity. Your home must be at a considerable distance for you to stay elsewhere.

Situation III
You have taken a home loan, but you live in another city. Let's say you are working in Delhi and paying rent for your accommodation. But you have a home in Mumbai and you ar repaying a home loan for that house. In such a case, you can avail of:
- HRA under Section 10 (13A).
- Home loan interest (as defined above in the House loan interest amount sub-section) under Section 24.
- Home loan principal upto Rs 1,00,000 under Section 80 C.

Situation IV
You have taken a loan for a house that you have rented out. You are staying in rented accommodation. You cannot claim the home loan principal deduction under Section 80C, as it is exclusively for a self-occupied home (you are residing in that home). An exception is if the home is in another city – see Situation III. In such a case, you can avail of:
- HRA under Section 10 (13A).
- Home loan interest with no limit (maximum of Rs 1,50,000 only if it is self-occupied) under Section 24.

I am staying at Bangalore and my family staying at Chennai. I am paying rent at both the places will i get house rent exemption for both the places?
You can claim HRA deduction only for one house which you are staying on account of your employment.

When is HRA valid/applicable i.e. when can you claim HRA benefits?
As you know that HRA is calculated as the minimum of the following three things:
1) Actual HRA that your company pays you
2) Actual room rent that you pay - 10% of Basic of your salary
3) x% of Basic of your salary; where x = 50 if you are living in Mumbai/Calcutta/Chennai/Delhi else it's 40.

If you pay no rent either because you stay in a rent-free accommodation or live with your family or in your own house, you will not get this benefit. In order to claim HRA, the following minimum conditions should exist:
1. You should be staying in a rented accomodation.
2. The house should not be owned by you.
3. You should be paying the rent.
4. This rent must be in excess of 10% of salary (salary, in this case, includes your basic salary + dearness allowance).
If these conditions are satisfied, the HRA benefit is available to you.

Can I pay rent to my parents and claim tax refund? If yes, how much is the limit?
Yes you can. It would be advisable for the landlord, in this case your parent, to declare this income in his/ her personal Income Tax return. This will prevent any litigation in the future.

Can I pay rent to my wife and claim tax refund? If yes, how much is the limit?
The relationship between a husband and wife is not commercial in nature. After all, a husband and wife are supposed to stay together. Hence, payment of rent to a spouse (in your case, your wife) may not be accepted by the income tax authorities. They may view this as a sham transaction to avoid tax.
So the answer to this question is legally YES. If the house is in the name of your wife you can pay rent and claim HRA deduction. There is no specific limit of payment of rent. But morally, the answer is NO.

If a person were to buy a house on a loan, and sell it within (a) the same year (b) after 3 years, what will be the tax implications of the same?
If a person buys a house and sells it within the same year/after 3 years, and if any profit is made, then a capital gains liability arises on the same. Let us take an example to better understand the same. Suppose you purchase a house for Rs 500,000 by taking a loan and sell it in the same year for Rs 700,000; then you make a profit of Rs 200,000. On this profit, you will be liable to pay short-term capital gains tax since the sale took place in the same year. But if the sale takes place after 3 years, then a long-term capital gains liability will arise. The long-term capital gains liability can be avoided by investing the profit amount (after factoring in the indexation benefits) in capital gains bonds or by investing in a house property as specified under Section 54.

You can also refer to my home loan processing and the details of my home loan at this blog.

My House Loan processing

2008-01-13T10:48:00.000+05:30

The following are the documents that I submitted for the home-loan processing:
1) Last 6 months Bank statements
2) Last 3 years IT-returns (OR else only last year IT-return would also do)
3) PAN card xerox
4) Last 6 month salary slips
5) My company Id xerox
6) My company offer letter

The loan that I took is floating and rate is 10.5% and duration is 20 years. In addition to the home loan, I also took an Home safe Insurance, which is an additional cost. So my total loan amount is home loan + home insurance amount.

Some points that of my home loan:
1) You can change the floating to fixed account (or vice-versa) and from one fixed to another fixed (and from one floating to another floating) at any point of time by paying 1.75% of the balance principal amount. There is no processing/documentation fees etc fo this shift in the plan change.

2) You can pre-pay the amount but you have to keep a balance of atleast 12 months of EMI amount (note that it's EMI amount and not principal amount), then you will not have to pay any interest/penalty/pre-closing charges. Only you need to pay Rs 500 for the documentation charges. But if you pay an amount which leaves less than 12 months of EMI amount, then you will be required to pay 2% of the remaining balance amount of principal, apart from the documentation fees of Rs 500.

When you pre-pay you are given an option of
a) continuing the same EMI (thus reducing the number of installments) or
b) reducing the EMI amount keeping the number of installments the same.

3) Though there is a co-applicant in the loan form, the ICICI bank gives tax benefits to only ONE applicant. You can't make both applicants to get the tax benefits :-(

/* NOTE (Thanks to Sreekanth Rao, who pointed the above mistake): It's not ICICI Bank which gives the tax benefits. You can get the bank to issue more than one provision certificate. If the house in registered in both the persons name, then both can claim tax benefits. But obviously both cannot claim for the full amount, but the amount of principal and interest needs to be split between the 2 persons.

Since the above property was registered in my name, I only could get the tax-benefits, even though there is a co-applicant field. */

4) Once you have decided the loan-term i.e. 10 or 15 or 20 yrs, you cannot change this later.

5) At the time of taking the loan, you are given a xerox copy of the property registration + the loan application form. Also you have to submit 5 blank cheques (a/c payee) to "ICICI Bank Limited for loan account of ". Once the loan is cleared, you will be getting the original property papers along with 4 other blank cheques. The details of the cheques are as follows:
-- first cheque -- Cancelled cheque for ICICI bank....for ECS purpose. This cheque is given by the ICICI bank to my salary account Citibank, for the verification of my signature. This is a cancelled cheque. I will not be getting back this cheque when my loan is totally repaid by me.
-- second cheque -- Blank cheque for security purpose. This is a blank cheque. The ICICI bank people will put an amount of (home loan + home insurance)/3. This will be used by the ICICI bank people if they feel that I am not paying the house loan amount. This will be returned to me when I totally payback the loan, along with the house papers.
-- third cheque -- Blank cheque for security purpose. This is a blank cheque. The ICICI bank people will put an amount of (home loan + home insurance)/3. This will be used by the ICICI bank people if they feel that I am not paying the house loan amount. This will be returned to me when I totally payback the loan, along with the house papers.
-- fourth cheque -- Blank cheque for security purpose. This is a blank cheque. The ICICI bank people will put an amount of (home loan + home insurance)/3. This will be used by the ICICI bank people if they feel that I am not paying the house loan amount. This will be returned to me when I totally payback the loan, along with the house papers.
-- fifth cheque -- Blank cheque, which the ICICI bank will use incase if the first cheque is bounced by the Citibank for verifying the signature. If this is not used, then it too will be returned back to me once my loan is fully paid by me.

6) Cheque swap charges is Rs 500, cheque bounce charges is Rs 200 and Document retrieval charges is Rs 500.

Now some details about the Home Safe Insurance (from ICICI Lombard Insurance) that I took. It covers the following 6 things:
1) Accidental Death
2) Property Insurance
3) Loss of Employment
4) Critical Illness
5) Theft Insurance
6) Total Disability

Accidental Death:
-- Accidental Death includes heart-attack, accidents, death after heart-surgery etc. Suicides, natural old age death is not included as accidental death. So basically accidental death means a death that is not natural like old-age death.
-- On accidental death, your family need not pay the remaining whole balance loan amount (i.e. remaining both principal and interest amount). Also they return the principal amount that you have paid till now i.e. the total principal amount that you paid as loan amount till you met with accidental death, will be returned back to your family.
-- The insurance plan is effective right from day one of the policy has been booked (which is usually around 1 month from the date of grant of home loan).

Property Insurance:
Fire accident, short-circuit, earth-quake, floods, gas cylinders burst – in these accidents if your home/property gets damaged then the officials would come and review the damage and that much amount will be given back to you, subject to the upper limit of the loan amount.

Loss of Employment:
You are given 3 months EMI exceptions. These 3 months can be consecutive months or spread across any month of the year/years of the loan period. But altogether you get only 3 months exception through out the whole loan period.

Critical Illness:
-- This is a sort of health insurance. 9 diseases are covered under this: cancer, paralysis, heart-attack, bypass-surgery, kidney failure, stroke, major organ transplant, multiple sclerosis, heart-valve replacement surgery.
-- If you are having/suffering from any of the above 9 diseases, then the whole remaining loan amount (i.e. both principal + interest) would be waived off and the principal amount that you have paid till far will be reimbursed back.
-- There is no age-limit for this condition.
-- It’s not that the illness needs to be proven at critical stage, to get these benefits. It can be shown at the first stages of the diagnosis too and can take benefit of this scheme.
-- Also there is no restriction that the illness needs to be informed to the insurance authorities in a week/month or so. It can be shown later too (say for example after 6 months too). Only thing is that you need to have valid documents/medical proofs.

Theft Insurance:
In case of burglary – you will get 40% of the valuable/damage that has happened, subject to an upper limit of initial total homeloan amount. The damage would be reviewed by the officials.

Total Disability:
Incase of total disability the remaining balance loan amount (principal + interest) would be waived off and the principal amount that you paid so far would be returned to your family.

Some important points of the above insurance scheme:
1) The above all 6 features would be applicable as long as your home loan exists. Once you clear the whole loan amount then nothing of the above would be applicable.
2) The interest is 2.85% of the whole loan amount, which in my case of 25lakh comes to 71,250 for 5 years. This 71,250 will be provided along with the loan amount by the bank. But after 5 years, you have two options:
-- You can withdraw the insurance scheme. If you haven’t claimed any of the above 6 things then you don't get anything not even the 30% of previous insurance amount as in next case.
-- You can continue by paying 3.33% (for the 2nd 5yr period; 4.04% -3rd 5yr period; 7.34% - 4th 5 yr period and so on...) on the remaining principal amount as insurance. Say for example, your principal loan amount after 5 years is 17lakhs, then 3.33% of 1700000 = 56610 you need to pay for the next 5 years to continue this scheme. If you during the past 5 years you didn’t avail any of the above 6 things, then you need to just pay 56610-21375 = 35235 (i.e. new insurance amount – 30% of old insurance amount) for continuing this plan. This goes and so on until your home loan is over.
-- If you have paid the insurance for next 5 years and you paid the whole loan amount with in the end of 5 years period, then the insurance will be calculated on pro-data basis and an amount of remaining balance days of insurance will be returned back to you.

How is income calculated from house property?

2008-01-12T23:57:00.000+05:30

Lets say you take a home loan to buy or construct a home. Let's also assume that is your first home. If it is your second home, the tax calculation differs as explained in this article. Here, we will only look at the situation if you have taken a home loan to buy or construct your first home.

Rental income net of municipal taxes = A = Annual value
Standard deduction S = 30% of A
Interest payable on home loan = I
Income from house property is defined as H = A – S – I

Self-occupied property: When you take a loan to buy a property to live in, the taxman calls it a self-occupied property. In this case, rent = 0. Hence A = 0, S = 0 . Hence income from house property is -I i.e. the only deduction available is the interest payable on the home loan taken to buy the property.
But under Section 24, when A is NIL (i.e. A = 0) then the deduction for interest is restricted by the tax man to a maximum of Rs 1,50,000 per annum.

Thus, in such cases, the Income from House property will always result in a loss equivalent to the interest payable on the home loan or Rs 1,50,000, whichever is lower. This loss under the head 'Income from house property' is allowed to be set off against your salary/ business income.

The principal repaid is allowed as a separate deduction under Section 80C, subject to the overall limit of Rs 1,00,000. Under Section 80C, investments as well as certain other payments are considered. For example, Investments in provident fund, Public Provident Fund, infrastructure bonds, National Savings Certificate, life insurance premiums, pension plans and Equity Linked Saving Schemes of mutual funds all qualify under Section 80C.

Lets take an example:
Salary income: Rs 6,20,000
Home loan interest payment: Rs 1,60,000
Home loan principal repayment: Rs 80,000
NSC investment: Rs 30,000

Salary (a): 6,20,000
Income from house property (b)*: -1,50,000
* The tax man views the home loan interest payment as negative income from house property.
Gross total income (c) (c = a – b): 4,70,000
Home loan principal repayment (d): 80,000
NSC investment (e): 30,000
Section 80C investments (f) (f = d + e): 1,10,000
Limit for Section 80C deduction (g): minimum (1,00,000, f)
Taxable income (c – g): 3,70,000

How is income calculated from two house properties?

2008-01-12T23:27:00.000+05:30

Here's the lowdown on what happens when you take loans to buy two homes.

Can you take more than one home loan?
Yes, you can. You can get a home loan for the second house provided, of course, the bank feels you have enough income to pay off both loans.

Do you have to rent the second home?
No. You are under no compulsion to rent out the second home, though you can if you want to. You may reside in one home (which you own) and buy another home. You are not renting it out. In other words, both are for self-occupancy and not for renting out.

How is the tax benefit on both these home loans calculated?
If you have two homes, the calculation of income from house property has to be done separately for each home owned by you. The rent you earn is the income from house property and the interest you pay on your home loan is negative income from house property.

This second house cannot be treated as self-occupied, since that status given to the first house; you can claim self-occupancy for only one house.

Here the favour from the tax department ceases. The tax department requires you pay tax on the notional rent on at least one of the houses. Notional rent is the rent you would have got had you given the house on rent.

Which house to choose from among the two (to be taxed on the basis of notional rent) is left entirely to you; you can also change your choice from year to year.

How is income from house property calculated?
Rental income net of municipal taxes = A = Annual value
Standard deduction S = 30% of A
Interest payable on home loan = I
Income from house property is defined as H = A – S – I

The income or loss from the two houses, calculated separately as above, is aggregated and the net result (which can either be income or loss) is the 'Income from House Property'. As earlier, if it is a loss, it can be set off against other heads of Income.

Points to note
* Since the second house is treated as being rented out (notional rent) for income tax purposes, the deduction for interest is not limited to Rs 1,50,000 in respect of the loan taken for this house.
* The entire principal paid on both the loans will be eligible for deduction under Section 80C, subject to the overall cap of Rs 1,00,000.
* When you own two houses, you may also be liable to pay wealth tax if the net value of the house (net of the loan), along with other assets chargeable to wealth tax exceeds Rs 15 lakh.

This example may help
Let's say you own two houses.

House 1
Bought for: Rs 50 lakh (Rs 5 million), Loan: Rs 30 lakh (Rs 3 million)
Interest payable for the first year on this loan: Rs 2,25,000
Principal payable for the first year on this loan: Rs 35,000
You live in this home but you estimate that, if you rent out this property, it will fetch you a rent of Rs 25,000 per month (Rs 3,00,000 per annum)

If treated as self-occupied:
Rental income net of municipal taxes = A = Nil
Standard deduction S = 30% of A = Nil
Interest payable on home loan = I = 1,50,000 (since A=0, maximum of 1,50,000 is allowed)
Income from house property is defined as H = A – S – I = - 1,50,000

If treated as notionally rented out
Rental income net of municipal taxes = A = 3,00,000
Standard deduction S = 30% of A = 30% of 3,00,000 = 90,000
Interest payable on home loan = I = 2,25,000
Income from house property is defined as H = A – S – I = - 15,000

House 2
Bought for: Rs 60 lakh (Rs 6 million), Loan: Rs 40 lakh (Rs 4 million)
Interest payable for the first year on the loan: Rs 2,85,000
Principal payable for the first year on this loan: Rs 45,000
You estimate that, if you rent out this property, it will fetch you a rent of Rs 35,000 per month (Rs 4,20,000 per annum)

If treated as notionally rented out:
Rental income net of municipal taxes = A = 4,20,000
Standard deduction S = 30% of A = 30% of 4,20,000 = 1,26,000
Interest payable on home loan = I = 2,85,000
Income from house property is defined as H = A – S – I = 9,000.

Thus, in this case, you will choose House 2 as self-occupied as that will make the aggregate loss under the head 'Income from House Property' Rs 1,65,000 (loss of Rs 1,50,000 from the second property + loss of Rs 15,000 from the first property).

If you choose House 1 as self-occupied, the loss under the head 'Income from house property' would only be Rs 1,41,000 (loss of Rs 1,50,000 from the first property - profit of Rs 9,000 from the second property).

You will need to do this calculation every year and make an appropriate choice.

Depositing cash at counter in ICICI bank

2007-12-07T10:09:00.000+05:30

Today I learnt that if you are depositing the cash at a counter directly by filling the pay-in-slip form in an ICICI bank then you will be charged Rs 225 as service amount. This has been effective since the past two months.

However you can fill a Quick Cash Deposit cover (fill the details similar to pay-in-slip form), put the cash in that cover, seal it and submit that cover at the counter. This service is free of cost. The cash will be credited to the deposited account within 3-4 hrs (if you submit the cover before 6pm else it will be credited within 3-4 hrs on the next working day).

Also the following link, gives a good information on Credit bill details: http://www.rediff.com/getahead/2007/apr/18credit.htm

Some information on ICICI and SBI Credit cards

2007-11-14T10:02:00.000+05:30

ICICI Credit Cards
Processing time for payments made:
1) From the time we receive the payment in cash: 48hrs
2) From the time of receipt of instrument in cheque: ICICI Bank cheque - 3 working days
3) From the time of receipt of cheque: Non-ICICI Bank cheque - 5 working days. Outstation cheque - 10 working days.
4) Through internet Banking and Auto-Debit: 48hrs

SBI Cards
I don't have information as such. Will update it as soon as I get my hands on it.

TIP: See the IMPORTANT MESSAGES column in the credit-card bill.

PS: For latest information please refer to the ICICI and SBI homepages.

Things that you need to do before you leave a company and join another company

2007-10-24T16:44:00.001+05:30

Following are the things that you need to do before you leave your current company before joining a new company.

Lets take the example that I have been working for company A since the start of this Financial year (i.e. from Apr 2007) and I would be joining another company B on 01 Nov 2007:
1) Submit your room-rent receipts for the months Apr-Oct 2007 here in Company A. You cannot claim HRA for the period Apr-Oct 2007 in company B.
2) The medical bill amount that you got from 01 Apr - 31 Oct 2007 (which is 1250 per month) i.e. Rs 1250*7 = Rs 8,750, has to be claimed in company A by showing the bills. In company B, you can only claim the medical bill amount for Rs 1250*5 = Rs 6250 only.
3) You can submit all your Income Tax investments, housing loan etc in Company B or company A, whichever you feel is suitable to you.
4) Change the address of the various investments like Mutual Funds, bank statements, credit-card/debit card statements, demat account correspondence address and other addresses to the new address. Same is the case with respect to email id (if you have given your company email id) and phone number (if you are moving to another state).
5) In company B, you have to fill Form 13 (revised), for the transfer of Provident Fund amount to the new company B, and send it to company A.
6) Save bookmarks of the various sites, which you have made during the stay in the company, onto some global bookmarks like Google bookmark.

More things I will add as and when I recollect.

Any fees on usage of ICICI ATM/Debit card?

2007-10-12T11:50:00.000+05:30

If you want to use your ICICI ATM/Debit card at a non-ICICI ATM counter, then you have to make sure that you need to maintain a average quarterly balance of Rs 10,000. Failing which there will be some fees imposed on you for the usage of ATM card.

If you are using only ICICI ATM counters for cash-withdrawal then there is no fees for usage of ATM card.

How is the average quarterly balance calculated?
ICICI Bank: Every day, the closing balance is taken each day and this is done for the 90 days (i.e. for 3 months) and is summed up, which is then divided by 90 to get the average quarterly balance.
In case of salary savings account, the minimum balance that you need to maintain is Rs 0, for normal savings account the minimum balance that you need to maintain is Rs 5000, which is calculated as per the formula of average quarterly balance.

SBI Bank: SBI has a different rule in case of normal savings account. You need to maintain a minimum balance of Rs 500 (if you are not availing cheque book facility) else Rs 1000 (if you are availing a cheque book facility). Unlike the ICICI bank, in SBI, by minimum balance, it means that at the end of each day the balance should never be less than Rs 500 (or Rs 1000), failing which a fine of Rs 300 will be deducted for each of the days the balance is less than Rs 500 (or Rs 1000).

PS: For latest information please refer to the ICICI and SBI homepages.

Some simple ways to keep your home insect free during monsoons

2007-07-21T16:24:00.000+05:30

The following tips are taken from TOI paper dated 21 July 2007 from the "Times Property" paper:
1) Make sure that there are no cracks and openings in contact with the ground in order to block access to insects like ants

2) Mix vinegar in water and use it for cleaning, as this keeps ants at bay

3) Placing empty eggshells outside your home will not allow lizards to enter

4) During monsoons you cannot rely on the electricity and you don't want to be struck with insects in the dark. To get rid of such a situation place a half cut onion near a lit candle and insects will not dare to be around you

5) Leave out some orange peel in the open to keep away flies

6) Clean up all the damp areas as moisture levels are higher during monsoons and this may give germs a chance to multiply faster

7) Place neem leaves under the carpets, this will help fight micro-organisms and soak in moisture

8) Maintiaining hygiene in the kitchen is very important. Pack and seal your garbage bag to avoid bad odour and flies

9) Do not allow water to collect anywhere inside or outside your house to prevent insects and diseases

10) In case any insect bites you in order to remove the sting, apply a bit of ghee on the bite and rub an iron object against it

Beware of Online Frauds

2007-07-18T17:49:00.000+05:30

I find the following link, taken from ICICI bank homepage, very useful. Hope that it would be beneficial to others too: http://www.icicibank.com/Pfsuser/spoofs/bewareoffrauds.html

Personal loans: What banks hide from you

2007-07-18T16:53:00.000+05:30

Source: http://www.rediff.com/money/2007/jul/18perfin.htm

It is very easy getting a personal loan these days. You can walk into a bank or a consumer finance company and get a loan in a very short period of time. Or it can be the other way round as well. A direct sales agent can come to you and convince you to take a personal loan.

While convincing you to take a personal loan, the bank or the direct sales agent is likely to tell you that the rate of interest charged on these loans is in the region of 20-25%. The logic given is something like this:

Let us say an individual decides to take a personal loan of Rs 75,000 to be repaid over a period of three years. You are told that to repay this loan you would have to pay an amount of Rs 3,400 every month.

Hence, over a period of three years, the total amount you would have paid would work out to Rs 122,400. Of this Rs 75,000, is the loan that you have taken. Hence, you pay an interest of Rs 47,400 (Rs 122,400 - Rs 75,000) over a period of three years.

An interest of Rs 47,400 works out to Rs 15,800 (Rs 47,400/3) per year. An interest of Rs 15,800 in a year on a loan amount of Rs 75,000 implies an interest rate of around 21%. This figure is arrived at by dividing Rs 15,800 by Rs 75,000 and expressing this as a percentage.

Banks and direct sales agents call this way of expressing interest is known as the flat rate of interest.

But this is not the right way to calculate interest. Banks and consumer finance companies in their zeal to give you the loan do not tell you the truth. In order to repay the loan, you have to pay a certain amount every month to the bank, or the consumer finance company, you have taken the loan from. Every month when you make this payment a certain part of the principal amount -- i.e. the actual loan that you had taken -- gets repaid.

Given this, the interest is to be calculated on the loan outstanding at any point in time, instead of on the principal. This is the right way of calculating interest and is known as the reducing balance method of calculating interest.

When this method is used to calculate interest the actual rate of interest is the example taken above comes to 35%.

Hence, the actual interest rate that you are paying on the loan is almost 15% higher than what banks and consumer finance companies lead you to believe.

For charging such a high rate of interest, the reason usually offered is that personal loans are unsecured, i.e. the individual taking the loan does not need to offer them a security. And since giving out such loans is risky business, the rate of interest is high.

The explanation is acceptable. But what is not acceptable is the fact that banks and consumer finance companies charge a rate of interest as high as 35% on their personal loans and tell their borrowers that the rate being charged is as low as 20%.

This clearly is a marketing ploy. It is easier to get people to borrow at lower rates than at higher rates.

Some more information on Credit Card(s)

2007-07-17T17:08:00.000+05:30

Source:http://www.rediff.com/money/2007/jul/17perfin.htm

Assume that the billing period if from 01st to 30th/31st of every month and the due date for paying is 20th of next month. For example: for the billing 01 Mar to 31 Mar, the due date for paying is 20 Apr.
Now let me make few more assumptions:
1) I purchased things of total amount Rs 30,001 during the Mar billing period i.e. between 01 Mar and 31 Mar using my credit card. This total Rs 30,001 doesn't include any cash withdrawal from ATM using my credit card.
2) The credit bill is generated on 01 Apr. I get the bill on that same day itself.
3) I made the payment to the bank for the last billing period (01-31 Mar) of amount Rs 30,000 (Rs 1 less than the total amount of Rs 30,001) on 03 Apr (i.e. before the due date 20 Apr).
4) I purchased few more goods worth Rs 40,000 on 10 Apr. And no more purchases till 30 Apr.
5) I get the bill for billing period (01-30 Apr) on 01 May. What should be the amount??? --- Everyone's guess is that it should be Rs 40,000 + Rs 1 (balance from last billing month) + some little interest on the balance of Rs 1.

When I get the bill I find that the interest part was more than as per my calculation in step 5 :-( Inspite of the following below facts:
* Interest on purchases through a credit card is charged only after the amount is not repaid until the due date.
* I received the bill, the due date was quite sometime away and
* I paid Rs 30,000 well before the due date

Now here comes the astonishing facts that the bank doesn't tell us (for the above scenario):
* When the entire amount is not repaid, there is no free credit period available (irrespective of the balance amount);
* Interest is charged from the very day, when the money is spent.

What does that mean?
It means, my friend, that the bank calculates the interest of 2.95 per cent per month, on the entire amount of Rs 30,001 in spite of repaying Rs 30,000 before the due date. Besides this since I made a purchase of Rs 40,000 (on 10 Apr) there will be no free credit period available on this purchase as well. Hence an interest of 2.95 per cent per month had to be paid on a total amount of Rs 70,001 (Rs 30,001 + Rs 40,000) and the interest is calculated as follows:
1) 2.95 interest/month on Rs 30,001 starting from 21 Apr onwards. Because till 20 Apr I have got free credit.
2) 2.95 interest/month on Rs 40,000 starting from 10 Apr onwards, because there will be no free credit period.

So when you get the bill on 01 May, the amount will be the sum of the following two things:
1) 2.95% * (10/30) * 30,001 = Rs 295
interest rate = 2.95 per month
total no of days = 10 (21 Apr - 01 May)
amount = Rs 30001

2) 2.95% * (20/30) * 40000 = Rs 786
interest rate = 2.95 per month
total no. of days = 20 (10 Apr onwards...) # Because there is no credit period
amount = Rs 40000

So the total bill on 01 May will be Rs 40000 + Rs 1 + (Rs 295 + Rs 786) = Rs 41082.

PS: If you are withdrawing cash from ATM using your credit card then you will be charged interest on the amount withdrawn right from the day you withdrew and also Rs 300 for each cash withdrawal transaction !! That is why I am considering only the case where you purchased things using your credit card which does not involve any cash-withdrawal from ATM using the credit card.

Giving tip through credit card?

2007-06-27T17:30:00.000+05:30

When you go to a hotel or restaurant, you most probably be paying the bill through credit-card. You can add the tip amount to the bill and pay through credit card and the whole amount will be debited from your account. But are you sure that the tip you gave would be reaching the waiters, who served you?

So, it's always to pay the exact bill amount through credit-card and pay the tip amount in Cash, so that at least there is a greater probability that the tip amount will be reaching the waiter/waitress.

Travelling with a general ticket in reserved bogies

2007-05-12T11:55:00.000+05:30

If you take a general ticket and travel in a reserved bogie, then if the berths/seats are available then you will need to pay the balance between general ticket and reserved ticket. If the berths/seats are not available then apart from the balance as calculated above, you will have to pay a penalty of Rs 250. I learnt about this during my trip to Hyderabad on 04 May 2007.

I also learnt that Idea mobile services (Maharastra-Goa circle) has reduced the roaming charges:- Now you need not pay any roaming activation charges, earlier it was Rs 25 for Friendly roaming (where Idea has its coverage) and Rs 50 for National roaming (where Idea doesn't have it's coverage). The new rates are as follows: incoming call is Rs 1.75 per minute, outgoing local call is Rs 1.40 per minute, outgoing STD call is Rs 2.40 per minute, incoming SMS is free and outgoing SMS is Rs 1 per SMS. Hence I decided to keep my mobile active even during my journeys, so you can contact me all the time :-)

These rates may change with time, hence it's better to visit their official sites (Idea and Indianrailways) for latest information.

Documents to be verified before buying a flat

2007-04-24T17:28:00.000+05:30

Below is a list of the documents to be verified before buying a flat:
1) Search Report
This is report that builder gets from his lawyer after detailed search about the history of land & its owner. This is generally done for last 25years. This is most imp doc to verify if land is dispute free or not.

2) Nonagricultural land certificate
One land is found dispute free then builder applies for NA certificate. Construction can not be done without NA certificate.

3) Original sanctioned plan. Blue print
Once NA certificate is issued Builder get approval from PMC based on the plan. This plan contains information of internal road, space for amenities, FSI approval, number of floor approved, parking space etc..Insist for copy of blue print even if it cost couple of 100 Rs. extra.

4) Commencement certificate
Once the plan is approved by PMC, PMC issues CC. This certificate contains info about drainage connection, water pipe line etc.

5) Agreement on stamp paper
Go through agreement at least thrice because most of the time it is builder friendly agreement. (Most of clauses protecting builders in one way or other)

6) 7/12 abstract
This is abstract about the last 7 (or so) owner of the land.

7) Index 2 certificate
This also makes you conditional owner of the plot on which building is constructed.

8) Registration receipt
This is important but generally in registration office they handover this after taking some fix bribe.

9) Possession letter
This letter is handed over by the builder when he handover the keys of flat to you. By signing copy of this agreement you agree that work in the flat is completed. If some task like painting touchup etc is remaining then do not sign this certificate.

10) Completion letter
This letter is given by the builder when construction of complete project /building is done.

11) Sale deed certificate
This is important certificate which builder does not give easily. This is letter to certify that deal is completed & buyers do not require permission from builder to resale flat. NOTE: without this letter to resale flat you need pay some x% to builder for taking permission.

12) Demand letter from Builder to Bank
This is letter issued by builder to bank to release the loan amount.

13) Miscellaneous document
If your builder is saying few things, which were not mentioned in agreement, then get them written on builder letterhead. NOTE: PBAB accept the complaint based on letterhead. Anyway to avoid confusion at later stage its better to write down things then discuss verbally.

Below is a list of some of the bank queries you need to ask the bank while applying for Home loan:
1) Rate of interest (fix/floating)
2) EMI/lac
3) Pre-Emi (ADF) (Taxation) # (Advance disposition of Funds)
4) Pre payment penalty?
5) Fix & floating mix-up?
6) How is floating rate of interest varied?
7) Fix to floating & vice versa penalty?
8) Insurance? Self & property.
9) Processing charge
10) Documents

Some Mutual Fund terms you must know

2007-04-18T16:37:00.000+05:30

AMC: An Asset Management Company is the fund house or the company that manages the money.

The mutual fund is a trust registered under the Indian Trust Act. It is initiated by a sponsor. A sponsor is a person who acts alone or with a corporate to establish a mutual fund. The sponsor then appoints an AMC to manage the investment, marketing, accounting and other functions pertaining to the fund.

For instance, ABN AMRO Trustee (India) Private Limited is appointed as the trustee to the ABN AMRO mutual fund.

ABN AMRO Asset Management (India) Limited is appointed as its investment manager.

Various funds with different objectives can be floated under the umbrella of one parent.

So ABN AMRO Equity Fund, ABN AMRO Opportunities Fund and ABN AMRO Flexi Debt Fund are all independent schemes of ABN AMRO Mutual Fund. They are managed by the ABN AMRO AMC.

NFO: A New Fund Offering is the term given to a new mutual fund scheme.

NAV: The Net Asset Value is the price of a unit of a fund. When a fund comes out with an NFO, it is priced Rs 10. Later, depending on the value of the investments, this price could rise or fall.

Load: This is a fee that is charged when you buy or sell the units of a fund. When you buy the units of a fund, you pay a percentage of it as a fee. This is known as the entry load. For example: Let's say you are investing Rs 10,000 and the entry load is 2%. That means you pay Rs 200 as the entry load and Rs 9,800 is invested in the fund.

Now, let's assume you are selling the units of your fund. And the Rs 10,000 you invested initially is now Rs 15,000. Let's further assume the exit load is 2%. So you pay Rs 300 and get back Rs 14,700.
Generally, if funds charge an entry load, they will not charge an exit load. Or vice versa. Only one of the loads is charged. The load is usually a percentage of the NAV.

Portfolio: This is the term given to all the investments made by the fund as well as the amount held in cash.

Corpus: Let's assume a very small mutual fund has an initial investment of 1,000 units and each unit is worth Rs 10. Hence, the total amount with the fund is Rs 10,000. This is referred to as the corpus. Later, some other investors invest Rs 2,000. Now the corpus will be Rs 12,000 (Rs 10,000 + Rs 2,000). The total amount invested (Rs 12,000) is called the corpus or the total amount of money invested in the fund.

AUM: Assets Under Management is the total value of all the investments currently being managed by the fund. Let's say the corpus is Rs 12,000 but, due to a rise in the price of the shares it has invested in, the value of the units has increased. So the Rs 12,000 invested is now worth Rs 15,000. This figure is referred to as AUM.

Diversified equity mutual fund: This is a mutual fund that invests in stocks of various companies in various sectors.

ELSS: Equity Linked Saving Schemes are diversified equity mutual funds with a tax benefit under Section 80C of the Income Tax Act. To avail of the tax benefit, your money must be locked up for at least three years.

Balanced fund: A fund that invests in both equity (shares) and debt (fixed return investments) is known as a balanced fund.

Money Market Instruments: The money market refers to short-term debt (fixed return) instruments maturing in one year or less. Examples of money market instruments are:

1) Treasury Bills (T-bills): Short-term government securities with maturities of no more than one year.

2) Commercial Paper (CP): Debt instruments issued by companies to meet short-term financing needs.

3) Certificate of Deposit: Debt instruments issued by a bank.

Debt fund: These are funds that invest in fixed return investments like bonds. A liquid fund is one that invests in money market instruments, these are fixed return investments of a very short tenure.

SIP: A Systematic Investment Plan refers to periodic investing in a mutual fund. Every month or every three months, the investor will have to commit to putting in a fixed amount. This will go towards the purchase of units.

For example: Let's say that every month you commit to investing, say, Rs 1,000 in your fund. At the end of a year, you would have invested Rs 12,000. If the NAV on the day you invest in the first month is Rs 20, you will get 50 units. The next month, the NAV is Rs 25. You will get 40 units. The following month, the NAV is Rs 18. You will get 55.56 units. So, after three months, you would have 145.56 units. On an average, you would have paid around Rs 21 per unit. This is because, when the NAV is high, you get fewer units per Rs 1,000. When the NAV falls, you get more units per Rs 1,000.

Using your vehicle, registered in one state, in another state in India?

2007-03-05T21:28:00.000+05:30

1. It is very important to have a NOC if you plan to use the vehicle in any state other than the one in which the vehicle was bought. NOC is required to re-register your vehicle with the other state RTO. You can use the vehicle in other state without re-registration for a period of 1 year.

If you plan to use the vehicle beyond this period, you must get it registered with that state RTO. For this you need an NOC from the RTO of the state in which the vehicle was bought.

2. It usually takes around 4 working days to get the NOC from the RTO and approx Rs. 900/- (not sure about this sum exactly).

3. Once you obtain the NOC from the state in which the vehicle was bought, you have to submit that along with the bike registration papers to the other state RTO, pay the road tax (again) and get your bike registered there. You can then claim a refund of the road tax that you have already paid from the first RTO.

PS: You don't require NOC if you plan to use the vehicle for the period of 1 year or less but you need to fill a form called FT form and pay some nominal fees. You will get a temporary registration certificate valid for one year.

Train tickets booking in advance

2007-03-02T07:36:00.001+05:30

~~From 01 March 2007 onwards, you can book train tickets 90 days in advance. From 15 July 2007 onwards, they reverted the advance booking of tickets from 90 days to 60 days.~~ From 01 Feb 2008 onwards, they reverted the advance booking of tickets from 60 days to 90 daysSome more tips regarding rules:

For senior citizens (> 60yrs) you need to mention concession if you want to avail the facility. If you don't mention then they'll not give concession even though one of the passenger mentioned in the form is above 60 yrs of age.
Advance reservations are made up to 9060 days in advance for all classes and trains. The period of advance reservation (ARP) is exclusive of the day of the departure of the train.
At intermediate stations when the train arrives on the following day, such reservations can be done more than 9060 days in advance of date of journey from the intermediate station. ARP is in relation to the date of the journey from train outgoing station.
For example: If a train starting from Mumbai @ 23:30hrs on 28 Dec and reaches Pune @ 03:15hrs (29 Dec, early morning) and if you are boarding the train @ Pune, then
- the booking for the train starts from 29 Sep onwards. How 29 Sep? -- Exclude 28 Dec (the date when the starts from origin station). Count 9060 days backwards.
- while filling the form for reservation, you need to put the date of journey as 29 Dec and not 28 Dec, though the train starts from Mumbai on 28 Dec, since it's reaching Pune on 29 Dec.

Hope this helps.

PS: Incase of some inter-city trains, the ARP is less.

Never give your credit card information to others

2007-02-26T16:00:00.000+05:30

I applied for an SBI Credit card. There was a verification call from an SBI representative (or third party, don't know?) to check and confirm the details that I had given in the application for my credit card. As usual the questions varied from my Name, DOB, mothers/fathers name, Years of experience in the company, which bank does I have an account etc.

The person who called me up asked if I was holding any other CREDIT Card and I replied in affirmative saying that I own an ICICI credit card. She said that they have got a scheme according to which, they will be giving a cheque which I can deposit to clear other CREDIT cards and I can pay back the amount in 3 months to SBI without any interest or service charges. She then asked me if I am interested in this scheme. I said if it's free and if there are no service/interest charges then I would go for it. She then asked me to give the ICICI CREDIT card number.

I then thought for a while and decided not to go for this scheme, for the following reasons:
1) I am not sure if the person calling is an SBI representative?
2) She has got all my details: name, DOB, mothers name and if I give my CREDIT CARD number, she has the full details and can misuse it by guessing the expiry date of my card (which randomly varies from 10 to 20 years). So in 20 chances she hits a jackpot as she will be having my all credit card details.
3) Another thing that puzzled me is "Why would SBI (infact any bank) offer me such a free service without any service charges or interests?"

So please be aware. Never ever give your CREDIT CARD details to persons on phone even if it's for a verification call. THINK WELL before giving out any details.

Scroll Lock key and Excel sheet

2007-02-17T21:12:00.000+05:30

Did you ever realize why sometimes in Excel sheet, when you try to select the columns and rows using the arrow keys, Home/End buttons and SHIFT button the required columns/rows are not selected?

It's because the Scroll Lock key is on. Switch it off and you can select the columns and rows using the arrow keys, Home/End buttons and SHIFT button as per your requirements.

Idea mobile bill - Online view??

2007-02-13T15:50:00.000+05:30

You can see your idea mobile bill online. Just go to http://www.ideacellular.com.

Register your mobile number. You shall get an SMS immediately containing your password. Goto the above site. Enter your mobile number and password in the SMS. This will take you to a page where you can change your password. Change it to an easily remembered password.
Once you have the id and password. Login at the above site.
You can view your unbilled amount (can also get the info by pressing *147# on the mobile phone).
You can view previous billing periods bill etc ...
You can even change your bill plan, the contact details etc...

Section 49 'O' of the Election Rules 1961

2007-02-13T15:37:00.000+05:30

Section 49 'O' of the Election Rules, 1961

It is a unique feature of our Indian constitution that it has provided the legal right to the voter to reject all the candidates. Section 49 'O' of the Election Rules 1961, has empowered the voter with this right. This section has conferred the right to the voter to inform the booth officer after the inedible ink mark has been marked, that the voter doesn't want to vote for any of the candidates. The section requires the booth officer to record the voter's choice of 49 'O'.

Tip: Depositing cash of more than 100 notes in bank???

2007-02-13T15:17:00.000+05:30

When you are depositing cash containing more than 100 notes, it's always suggested that you bundle them in to sets of 100 notes each. Because most of the banks don't accept the cash if you don't bundle them into set(s) of 100 notes. For example: If I want to deposit Rs 45,000 of denominations Rs 100, then I have to bundle them in to 4 bundles of Rs 10,000 (Rs 100 x 100 notes) + one bundle of Rs 5000 (Rs 100 x remaining 50 notes).

Ombudsman

2007-02-13T15:03:00.001+05:30

Ombudsman: A government appointee who investigates complaints by private persons against the government.

The ombudsman, who is appointed by by the banking regulator in India, the Reserve Bank of India, can redress customer complaints against certain deficiency in banking services. He/she can be reached at http://www.bankingombudsman.rbi.org.in. This website contains all the details about how to approach the authority and how the file complaints against banks in case of any grievances. It is a one-stop for people having grievances against banks and the method of redressal.

You can file your complaint at this URL: https://reservebank.org.in/compltindex.htm