Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on Monday said that public sector general insurance companies had not withdrawn cashless mediclaim facility. "The public sector general insurance companies have not, I am emphasising on, have not revised or withdrawn the facility of cashless treatment," he said in the Lok Sabha. Mr Mukherjee said that the insurance firms have only started rationalising empanelment of hospitals and the standardisation of rates and specified procedures followed by these hospitals. From July 1, public sector insurance companies had suspended about 150 hospitals from their list of preferred provider network (PPN) which provide cashless hospitalisation services to policy holders under the mediclaim scheme. Last week, insurance regulator Irda chairman J Harinarayan had expressed hope that hospitals and insurers will be able to arrive at a mutual solution.
National Savings Certificate Here's everything you need to know about the 5-year savings scheme offered by the Government This is a 5-year small savings scheme of the government. From 1 July 2016, a National Savings Certificate (NSC) can be held in the electronic mode too. Physical pre-printed NSC certificates have been discontinued and replaced with Public Provident Fund-like passbooks. What's on offer The minimum amount you can invest in them is Rs100 and there is no upper limit. Under this scheme, all deposits up to Rs1.5 lakh qualify for deduction under section 80C of the Income-tax Act, 1961. The interest earned is taxable. You can invest in multiples of Rs 100. These certificates can be owned individually, jointly and also on behalf of minors. The interest rates for all small savings schemes are released on a quarterly basis. The effective rate for NSC from 1 October to 31 December is 8%. The interest is calculated on an annual compounding basis and is given along w...
