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Municipal corporations need to impose adequate user charges for essential services like water supply and sanitation, to boost non-tax revenues and provide quality public services, according to a Reserve Bank of India (RBI) report. The 'Report on Municipal Finances' delves into the fiscal position of 232 municipal corporations (MCs) from 2019-20 to 2023-24 (Budget Estimates), with a focus on the theme 'Own Sources of Revenue Generation in Municipal Corporations: Opportunities and Challenges'. "MCs can significantly enhance them (non-tax revenues) by applying appropriate and adequate fees and user charges for essential services such as water supply, sanitation, and waste management while also ensuring seamless availability of high-quality public services," it said. These measures, combined with more transparent and accountable governance practices, can contribute to bolstering the financial health of MCs, setting off a virtuous cycle of better services for the public, stronger revenue
Unclaimed deposits with banks have witnessed a 26 per cent jump year on year to Rs 78,213 crore at the end of March 2024, as per the RBI Annual Report released on Thursday. The amount with the Depositor Education and Awareness Fund stood at Rs 62,225 crore at the end of March 2023. Banks including cooperative banks transfer unclaimed deposits of account holders lying in their accounts for 10 or more years to RBI's Depositor Education and Awareness (DEA) Fund. As a measure to assist the account holders and with a view to consolidating and rationalising the extant instructions on inoperative accounts, the Reserve Bank issued a comprehensive guidelines earlier this year on the measures to be put in place by the banks covering various aspects of classifying accounts and deposits as inoperative accounts and unclaimed deposits, as the case may be. The RBI advised banks for a periodic review of such accounts, measures to prevent fraud in such accounts, grievance redress mechanism for ...