New Money Rules From 1 October 2026: What Changes for Salaried Indians

Quick answer: seven money rules change this month, and for most salaried people only two need action — do the biometric check for your LPG subsidy, and count your other-bank ATM withdrawals if you hold an SBI salary account. The rest (FD rules, UPI charges, NPS fees) are either merchant-side, bulk-depositor-side, or a one-time ₹200. Here is each one, what actually changes, and what to do.

1. LPG subsidy now needs biometric Aadhaar authentication

From 1 October, booking a subsidised domestic LPG refill at the regulated price requires biometric Aadhaar authentication — fingerprint or face — not just an Aadhaar-linked connection. Linking and authentication are different things; many consumers have the first and not the second. Without it, the cylinder is still delivered, but at market price, with no subsidy.

What to do:give a fingerprint on the delivery partner's device at your next refill, or do a face e-KYC from home through your gas company's app (Indane, HP Gas, Bharatgas) together with the Aadhaar FaceRD app, or visit the distributor — it takes about two minutes either way.

2. SBI salary accounts: fewer free ATM withdrawals at other banks

SBI salary package account holders now get 5 free transactions a month at other banks' ATMs, down from 10. The cap covers both cash withdrawals and non-financial transactions like balance checks. Beyond it, SBI charges ₹23 plus GST per financial transaction and ₹11 plus GST per non-financial one. Withdrawals at SBI's own ATMs are unaffected.

What to do: if you habitually use the nearest ATM regardless of bank, switch to SBI machines for cash and use the app for balance checks — those count against the limit too.

3. New FD rules — aimed at ₹3 crore+ deposits, with one retail upside

RBI's revised deposit-interest framework applies to deposits opened or renewed from 1 October. The headline change — banks pricing liquidity cost into the rate — applies to bulk deposits of ₹3 crore and above. Your existing FD keeps the rate it was booked at until maturity, and RBI has not directed any bank to raise or cut rates.

The part that helps ordinary savers: the rate a bank offers you must now be the rate it has published in advance on its website, uniform across all branches for similar deposits on the same day. A branch cannot quote an unpublished rate or a different one to a different customer. When you book an FD from now on, compare the website rate with the branch rate — they should match. (If you keep an emergency fund in a bank, see how a sweep-in FD fits this.)

4. UPI: a merchant fee from 15 October — consumers still pay nothing

From 15 October, specified person-to-merchant UPI payments above ₹2,000 attract a merchant discount rate of 0.4% (capped at ₹300 per transaction), with a flat ₹5 for categories such as fuel, telecom, railways and insurance. This is paid by the merchant. Peer-to-peer transfers stay free, payments up to ₹2,000 stay free, and the government has said about 96% of merchant transactions are unaffected.Small merchants receiving under ₹1 lakh a month via UPI are exempt. If a shop asks you to pay an “UPI charge”, that is the shop's own markup, not the rule.

5. Small savings rates: unchanged for a 10th straight quarter

The Finance Ministry kept all small savings rates unchanged for October–December 2026: PPF stays at 7.1%, NSC at 7.7%, Sukanya Samriddhi and the Senior Citizen Savings Scheme at 8.2%, the Post Office Monthly Income Scheme at 7.4%, and post office time deposits at 6.9–7.5% depending on tenure. PPF's rate has not moved since April 2020. Nothing to do — but if you were waiting for a hike before deciding between PPF and equity, the comparison in PPF vs ELSS still stands.

6. NPS: a ₹200 one-time onboarding fee

The revised NPS Point-of-Presence fee structure takes effect from 1 October, including a one-time ₹200 charge for opening a Permanent Retirement Account Number (PRAN) through a PoP such as a bank or distributor. It is a one-off, not recurring, and does not change contributions or returns.

7. Buying property from an NRI: PAN instead of TAN

Resident individuals and HUFs buying immovable property from a non-resident seller no longer need a separate Tax Deduction Account Number for the TDS they must deduct. From 1 October, the prescribed process uses the buyer's PAN, with new reporting through Form 141. Niche, but it removes a step that routinely delayed such deals — speak to a CA on the exact filing.

Also on the calendar

RBI's Monetary Policy Committee meets 5–7 October. If the repo rate moves, floating-rate home-loan EMIs follow within a cycle or two; our EMI calculator shows exactly what a quarter-point change does to your instalment and total interest.

The two-minute checklist

• Done the LPG biometric authentication? If not, do it at the next refill.
• SBI salary account: count other-bank ATM uses; switch to SBI ATMs for cash.
• Booking an FD this month: website rate = branch rate. Ask if it doesn't.
• Paying ₹2,000+ to a shop by UPI after 15 October: no charge to you — refuse any “UPI fee”.
• Everything else — small savings, NPS fee, NRI-property TDS — needs no action from most salaried people.