Page 11 - Banking Finance February 2025

ROUNDUP

ary to December), India added about countants and hawala operators who "The rates of interest on various small
24.5 GW of solar capacity and 3.4 GW sent more than Rs. 10,000 crore of savings schemes for the fourth quarter
of wind capacity. This represents a black money out of the country over of FY 2024-25, starting from January 1,
more than twofold rise in solar instal- the past few years. 2025, and ending on March 31, 2025,
lations and a nearly 1.21 times in- Searches conducted on January 2 in shall remain unchanged from those no-
crease in wind installations compared Thane, Mumbai, and Varanasi led to tified for the third quarter (October 1,
to 2023." the recovery of digital and physical 2024, to December 31, 2024) of FY
2024-25," stated a finance ministry
India's total installed renewable capac- documents revealing the modus oper- notification.
ity now exceeds 210 GW as of Decem- andi of the accused.
ber 2024. JMK highlighted that solar The ED identified the prime accused, As per the notification, deposits under
energy accounts for over 47% of the Jitendra Pandey, who allegedly set up the Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana will con-
renewable energy basket, making it the over 98 shell companies and 269 bank tinue to attract an interest rate of
leading source. Data from the Ministry accounts to launder the "proceeds of 8.2%, while the three-year term de-
of New and Renewable Energy shows crime" to Singapore, Hong Kong, and posit rate remains at 7.1%. The Public
solar capacity at 96 GW, surpassing Thailand. Provident Fund (PPF) and post office
large hydropower, which has a capac- "The investigation revealed a network savings deposits also retain their rates
ity of 46.9 GW. Cumulative wind energy of RTGS entry operators who layered of 7.1% and 4%, respectively.
installations stand at 48 GW.
transactions through several bank ac-
Under the solar category, 18 GW was counts of shell companies to conceal Tax Department Disposes
utility-scale or grid-connected solar the origin of the funds," the ED stated. of 240,000 Grievance
projects, 4.59 GW was rooftop solar,
and 1.48 GW was off-grid capacity. Cases
Interest Rates on Small The Income Tax Department resolved
Maharashtra Man Sent Rs. Savings Unchanged 240,000 grievance cases during 2024,
including 175,000 cases addressed via
10,000 Crore Abroad via The government has kept interest the e-Nivaran platform.
rates on various small savings schemes
269 Illegal Accounts unchanged for the fourth consecutive In a New Year's Eve letter, Central
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) un- quarter, effective from January 1, Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) Chairman
covered a network of chartered ac- 2025. Ravi Agrawal urged field formations to
prioritize swift resolution of taxpayer
WhatsApp Pay Now Accessible to All Users in India grievances.
"We must focus on resolving taxpayer
WhatsApp users across India can now access the platform's payment fea-
grievances promptly and effectively,"
ture, WhatsApp Pay, following the removal of user limits by the National
Agrawal emphasized in the communi-
Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).
cation.
Previously capped at 100 million users, the service can now be extended to
WhatsApp's entire user base in India, which numbers around 500 million. GST Collection Hits Rs.
Regarding the development, a WhatsApp spokesperson said, "We're com- 1.77 Lakh Crore in Decem-
mitted to making payments on WhatsApp simple, reliable, and secure. Our
goal is to add value and convenience to users' lives through various use cases ber
like bill payments, ticket booking, and shopping. We aim to accelerate digi- The gross GST collection in December
tal payments and UPI adoption while contributing to India's digital and fi- rose by 7.3% year-on-year to Rs. 1.77
nancial inclusion agenda." lakh crore, as per government data.
The Central GST (CGST) component
The phased expansion of WhatsApp Pay began in 2022, with permission to
amounted to Rs. 32,836 crore, State
increase the user base by an additional 100 million. Recently, the RBI also
GST (SGST) to Rs. 40,499 crore, Inte-
permitted prepaid payment instrument (PPI) users to link digital wallets to grated GST (IGST) to Rs. 47,783 crore,
UPI-enabled apps, further encouraging digital payment adoption.
and Cess to Rs. 11,471 crore.

10 | 2025 | FEBRUARY | BANKING FINANCE