Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that the government was examining the report of a committee that had recommended a change in the financial year starting April 1. The Minister was responding to a question by Abhisehk Singh (BJP) in Lok Sabha.

He said that disclosing the recommendations as well as the government’s view at this stage would amount to “pre-judging the issue.”

The committee is learnt to have recommended advancing the financial year and equating it with the calendar year from January 1.

Responding to supplementaries, he said since the move had various implications for the Centre, the States and various local bodies, wider consultation was necessary.

Raising the issue of SBI imposing service charges on its customers during Zero Hour, CPI(M) member A Sampath, urged the Finance Minister to ensure that rural account holders, in particular, are not burdened.

‘Cut SBI charges’

“Now that SBI has become a big bank after merger with five subsidiaries, service charges should be reduced,” he said, adding that SBI was not only mandating minimum balance for all users, including rural ones, but was even charging ₹15 for sending SMSes.

Sampath got widespread support from members across parties.

Related Topics