The month of May will usher in several financial changes — from an increase in ATM cash withdrawal fees to updated rules for booking railway tickets. The recent RBI repo rate cut will prompt a dip in home loan interest rates while bank mergers in 11 states may affect others. Taxpayers will also be able to file their Income Tax Returns in May following the notification of some ITR forms on April 30.
ATM withdrawals
The Reserve Bank of India has approved a hike in ATM interchange fees from May 1. This charge is paid by a bank when customers from a different bank use its ATM services. Transactions exceeding the monthly cash limit will now be charged at Rs 23 — up from the current fee of Rs 21. Customers will be allowed three free ATM transactions per month in metro cities and five in non-metro areas — covering both financial and non-financial activities.
Railway ticket booking
Waiting list tickets with the Indian Railways will no longer be considered valid in sleeper or AC coaches from May 1. Those holding such tickets will only be able to travel in general coaches. Meanwhile the advance reservation period has been reduced from 120 days to 60 days while the cancellation refund time was cut down to a mere two days.
Gas cylinder price
The price of LPG cylinders were hiked by Rs 50 earlier this month — standing at Rs 550 per unit under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana. The non-Ujjwala price was raised to Rs 853 per cylinder. Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri had further indicated on April 7 that the government would now review LPG prices once every fortnight. While an official announcement has not been made, there is a possibility that LPG prices may rise yet again in May.
FD rates
Some banks have revised fixed deposit rates and announced new policies starting from May 1. Savings account holders with RBL Bank will now receive montly interest payments (rather than quarterly) with a maximum rate of 7%. Meanwhile Shriram Finance Limited has reportedly announced a change in its FD rates for some customers. Senior citizens will now receive additional interest of0.50% per annum while women depositors receive an extra 0.10% interest p.a.
The Income Tax Department officially notified ITR forms 1 and 4 for the assessment year (AY) 2025-26 on April 30. Taxpayers and entities reporting a total annual income less than Rs 50 lakh will now be able to file their tax returns. The Central Board of Direct Taxes is also expected to notify the remaining forms within the first few days of May.
The forms notified on Wednesday introduced several welcome changes for small investors. Taxpayers who have accrued long-term capital gains (LTCG) of up to Rs 1.25 lakh within a financial year will now be eligible to file the user-friendly ITR-1 (Sahaj) form rather than the more complex ITR-2 form.
Bank mergers
The ‘One State, One RRB’ policy launched by the Finance Ministry will go into effect from May 1. The change in rules will prompt the merger of 15 regional rural banks across 11 states into a single RRB per states. This will reduce the total number of such banks from 43 to 28. The affected states include Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar, Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha and Rajasthan.