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Income Tax for Freelancers – Make an Informed Start

Income Tax for Freelancers

make an informed start

Catchy Title… eh !… (…Ahem.!!.. Scary would be more appropriate isn’t it?…)
TaxTimeWell, Don’t we all dread the this time of the year, when every publication (print, online or otherwise) is flooded with write-ups (.. shout-outs..) on  Income Tax planning, Income Tax savings,  Income Tax computations, Income Tax Returns etc etc. It so seems, the universe wants us to explicitly remember that it is TAX-Time, and no escaping at it.
 

Short Intro :

“Any income derived by way of freelancing job is taxable under the provisions of Income Tax Act. 1961 as “Profits and Gains from Business / Profession”.

There is not much information directed at freelancers (from India) on how to do Income Tax Computations. So, I have put together this ebook so as to enable a freelancer to make an informed start at handling Income Tax Issues. Please register to download the Ebook, or , you may read it entirely online starting here, which includes the Table of Contents, as separate posts.
 

Long Intro:

You might wonder that, why am I writing this piece? Am I tagging along the content-bandwagon to get some extra traffic here? After all, Why should someone “working from home” (Homeprenuer) worry about taxes?… The answer to this is an emphatic Y-E-S. Extra-traffic would certainly be nice. But that would happen only if the content is useful and relevant. So, this brings us back to the question of, How is “Income Tax” relevant to someone working from home?
NOTE: By “working from home”, I am referring to those who do freelance work, from home, and not those employees who chose the work-from-home-option provided by their companies (IBM, Dell, HCL, Accenture etc)
“Working from home” is only a shift in premises from the traditional “Office Space”, and not job-description. Payment made to such freelance professionals / consultants is not referred to as “Salary”, but as “payment for services rendered”.
There it is. “Payment for services rendered” is the catch.

 Income From Freelancing Is Indeed An INCOME, however small / marginal. And, “Any income derived by way of freelancing job is taxable under the provisions of Income Tax Act. 1961 as “Profits and Gains from Business / Profession”. – Refer this post written way back in 2009, thanks to Ranjit Xavier.

Since then (2009), I have been trying to collect Tax related information for freelancers both online and offline. My finance-knowledge is limited to HoursWork(ed)*$pay/hr = $$MyPay$$. As a non-finance person the information thrown at me made no sense at all. In fact, it scared the hell out of me for the first few months. It is then I realised that, we freelancers (from India) don’t have a handbook to understand Income Tax, lest should we be reprimanded for “not paying taxes”…(which is a punishable offence). That is how this ebook started
So, here you go…
Start Reading .. Income Tax for freelancers : make an informed start
 


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Income Tax for Freelancers – eBook Disclaimer and Acknowledgements

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Disclaimer, before you begin :


This eBook is ment to give you, THE Freelancer(YOU), an informed start.
DeepaGovind
I can understand how mindboggling it can get while trying to make sense of all these information in one go. Patience & perseverance is the key. Read again, google for things that doesn’t make sense, Shamelessly ask for explanation (from CAs / financial experts/ forums you might discover on the WWW). There is no greater source of information than the online-community. Use it wisely.
You can find  me stalking here : http://www.caclubindia.com/
That said, it is always recommended to engage the services of a CA.

Acknowledgements

Writing about Income-Tax is as knotty assignment. Writing about the same for a non-finance person like me is nothing less than arduous. I have had sleepless days& nights trying to process the information Google threw at my face. Finally, when it did make “little sense”, I was not so sure about it anymore. That is when I turned to few trusted friends, and friends of friends. Without their timely guidance this e-book would not have been published at all.

  1. Rishi Trivedi of  ACUMoney.com
  2. Nirmal Ghorawat of GHORAWAT & CO.
  3. Nithya Dilip
  4. CA Karan Batra of Charteredclub.com
  5. Alok Patnia, of Taxmantra.com
  6. Sujit Jadhav for Coverpage Image
  7. Anil Alturi of Kingie.com

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Income Tax for Freelancers – Foreword & Introduction

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Foreword

CA Karan Batra

Albert Einstein once said “The toughest thing in this World is to understand Income Tax”. But he said this in the 20th Century. Had he been living in the 21st Century, he could have never said that because 21st Century is the era of content that is being created by Bloggers from across the globe.

And the same is the case with taxes as well. There is a lot of information present on the internet regarding Income Tax. However, most of them are giving generalised information and not specifically pointing towards Income Tax for Freelancers.

But after reading this book which has been authored by Deepa Govind, I’m sure that no blogger would say what Albert Einstein said. This book has been written in the simplest possible language so as to make it easy for non-finance people to understand taxes. I’m impressed to note the hard work and dedication that has been put in by Deepa to ensure that this book is simple to understand while ensuring that the book is comprehensive in all aspects.

Benjamin Franklin once said “The only thing certain in life is death and taxes”. We can’t do anything about the 1st thing but we surely can do a lot about the 2nd thing i.e. taxes. I hope this book will answer all your tax related queries.

Regards
CA Karan Batra

INTRODUCTION

Freelancing is fondly referred to as “extra income” for reasons galore. Some want their hobby to pay for itself, while for someone else, it is about “test the waters” before taking the big-decision. But, that is beside the point. The point is – Income From Freelancing Is Indeed An INCOME, however small / marginal. And, “Any income derived by way of freelancing job is taxable under the provisions of Income Tax Act. 1961 as “Profits and Gains from Business / Profession”. – Refer this post written way back in 2009, thanks to Ranjit Xavier.
So, how do we actually go about filing our Income Tax? While at office, the designated CA takes care of this.
As a freelancer, not all of us have the affordability of hiring a CA… not to mention the fact that… we freelancers are wary of disclosing our income sources to someone else, unless the person is family, or, a very very very very trusted friend. Eventually, that leaves us to ourselves to do our taxes and do the paper work… doesn’t it? So, roll up your sleeves and let us get started.

Smiley Checklist

Our Check List will be as under

  1. Tax Payee or not ? Where do you fit in?

  2. Know your Income Sources – Calculate TOTAL Income.

  3. Business Related Expenditure – Isolate work related expenditure (Remember to save the bills and receipts)

  4. PROFIT & LOSS – Compute NET Income

  5. Know your Tax Deductions and Exemptions – Calculate Total Deductible Amount.

  6. Calculate TAXABLE INCOME.

  7. Understanding Income Tax Slabs – Compute Tax Amount on your TAXABLE INCOME.

  8. Pay Income Tax – Advance Tax

  9. Due Dates to remember.

  10. Example

  11. Book of Accounts & Auditing.

  12. File your Income Tax Return *

* Not included in this ebook. Hope to have it as a separate ebook.

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Income Tax for Freelancers – 6. PAY INCOME TAX (Online)

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6. Pay Income Tax Online

If the tax-liability (in other words, the amount of tax that need to be paid) is more than ₹ 10,000/-, then the individual is expected to pay this amount in advance before 31-March (of the assessment year) If the tax liability is less than ₹ 10,000/- ,  the assessee is  liable to pay this amount as Self-Assessment Tax before Filing Income Tax Return (on or before 31 July)
Laptop-SmileyOur Income Tax Department has put forth clean and simple how-to on payment of Income Tax, E-Payment Procedure by Income Tax Department, Govt of India.
IncomeTaxSite
From the overview of things, this looks pretty simple and easy to do. But, as with most govt sites, we never know until we try  it out. But then, we can’t really “try out” on Govt. sites.. isn’t it? So, the next best sensible thing to do, was to ask the experts. Taxmantra came forward with the response, and it is most certainly encouraging. Read on !
DGQuestion
So, did you (your associates) use the information in this link to pay taxes online?How was the experience ? Any glitches ?
Do you recommend this to a first time tax payee?
(if no, what other alternatives do you recommend?)
Taxmantra.com Says –

Taxmantra

This system of online payment of Income Taxes is not new and now has established itself as most preferred way of paying taxes online. Infact, there is no other option to remit taxes, if you wish to make payment online. Either, you can directly log on to this page to pay, or if try out from your bank’s online banking, it would take you to this page itself. 

This system has improved a lot and does not have much hitches.

Anyone can make use of this to make payment, the only thing to be noted here is that, there are some taxation terms, which needs to be kept in mind. Like, AY, Nature of payment. We have noticed at times, users make mistake in choosing right terms.

Just so that you are able to get an idea, here is an example calculation

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Income Tax for Freelancers – Table of Contents

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Table of contents

  1. Income Tax for Freelancers, Make an Informed start
  2. Disclaimer and Acknowledgements
  3. Foreword and Introduction
  4. Tax Payee or not ? Where do you fit in ?
  5. Calculate Total Income
  6. Business Related Expenditure
  7. List of Deductions and Exceptions
  8. Calculate Taxable Income & Compute Income Tax
  9. How to pay Income Tax online (Advance Tax)
  10. Due Dates ( for Individuals) & An Example Calculation
  11. Book of Accounts and Auditing
  12. File Income Tax Return (Not included in this series), Recommended Reading & Discalimer (Again, but a different one !)
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MBA graduate who chose to be a homepreneur: Meet Priya Agarwal – Jewellery designer & craftswoman

Homeprenuer_Priya_AgarwalComing from a remote town call KUMARDHUBI (DHANBAD dist, Jharkhand state), the MBA in Priya Agarwal willingly choose to pursue her creative spark, rather than to follow a corporate path… and launched her first homepreneurial venture on 2 Feb 2011, via face book page Stop n Stare. With no other capital investment, other than a few handmade hoops and cards, and through smart networking, her custom made jewelleries are a huge rage amongst ethnic lovers.
Here, in this interview Priya Agarwal shares her dream & vision with aspiring homepreneurs. . Her venture is a standing example of making working from home a practical possibility without being too technologically (read computer/software/ IT) oriented
Hi Priya, great to have you here. During the course of this interview, I made several pit stops at your page @ Facebook, Craftsvilla, Mirraw etc. Your designer jewelleries are awesome. They appear to be light, handy and above all safe (given the era of chain snatchers and knife-point robbers). So, before we discuss your designs and the inspiration behind that, please tell us a bit more about yourself.

I am Priya Agarwal coming from a small town Dhanbad but with big dreams to conquer the world with my creativity and talent. I have done my graduation, PGPM and jewellery designing in Kolkata. The best word to describe me is PASSIONATE. I am passionate about life and try my best to learn and create new things every day.

I basically design all forms of costume/ fashion / imitation jewellery. I especially love to make beaded jewellery. Other product categories are cubic zirconia’s . Victorians , polki’s sterling silver jewellery etc . I ship all over the world .

Indeed, the most creative minds are the most passionate of us all. I have witnessed this more than once, and yet again. The fact that you specialise in handmade jewellery invariably takes me back in time. In our school curriculum, we used to have one class set aside for “Arts & Crafts”. Except for few craft-savy students (such as yourself), rest of us would use this to catch up on chatter and gossip. Did you have a similar exposure to handmade craft items? How did this all start?

I have always been very very creatively inclined. I didn’t realize this myself. Of course, it is our friends who just help us recognize ourselves. I used to doddle doodle and the all the time scribble on my notebooks. During my 12th, like every ambitious girl, way back in 2005 , there weren’t much jewellery designing schools to hone one’s skills.

I moved to Kolkata for higher studies and after much hard work ,found out SINGEM. I also had a list of career choices. But there was just something about these little treasures that I just loved. But, of course, after doing a course one has to start off somewhere. I had been researching and networking with a lot of jewellery designers. But I never really had the confidence to start off big.

After my MBA , I came back home and really had to start off something somewhere. And, I knew the beginning will always be small. I wrote over 100 names then finally decided on the name “Stop n Stare” on face book, never knowing, one day I would writing this as the name it ought to be.

Believe it or not, I didn’t even have any raw materials to start off. All I had was some hoops and recycled beads that I had been collecting from here-and-there. I put lot of love and effort in designing these treasures, be it sketching, or making them with materials. I am really glad the people love them and appreciate my efforts

Oh dear !, It must have been a rough start with such a negligible capital investment. When did you actually take the plunge? And, how long did you have to wait to make your very first sale?

I started with a face book page with a few handmade cards on 2nd Feb 2011, and took around 4 – 5 months to get my first order. Luckily, my friends were my first clients. J Made me so glad.

Since then, I have nurtured this page like my baby. I like to work as much as possible with materials directly in my hands.

As a homepreneur, I am constantly interrupted by sales people, telephone calls, unannounced guests etc. On some days, the interruptions are so severe; I force myself to keep the phone off the hook, and refuse to answer the doorbell.. just so that I donot loose my cool AND my focus.
How do you maintain focus.. especially when your work demands attention to detail. What is your routine?

There is no such fixed routine. I start to work at 5am or even at 11am or someday I don’t work at all, J I am completely dedicated to what I do. My focus never shifts or never gets diverted. If I commit myself to something, I will do it even if I have to sacrifice sleep, food, or rest. The one thing that keeps me going all along is most certainly the proud smile I see on my parent’s face when I share my recent accomplishments with them

You said, friends were your first clients. Most often friends are “nice”, and appreciate our efforts. But when the time comes to pay up for the much appreciated service/ product, they seem to dissipate like trained ninjas. However, you seem to have (honest) friends who actually walk the talk. Lucky you !!! So, how was it to make the very first sale?

It felt awesome. There was feeling of accomplishment that something u did and created with your own heart and mind, and, people loved it & own it. This is just a superb feeling.

I think my first amount was some Rs 400 and I was so happy that I used it to give free gift to everyone. I still have the habit of doing that. All I want is a positive smile burning with energy from whosoever gets in touch with me.

Since then the journey has been very smooth and positive. I have faced lot of issues but I gradually was able to tackle them and solve them all.

Little or more, money is money. Every paisa matters. For some of us it is of monetary importance and for passionate hearts such as yourself, it is of sentimental value. Glad that you were able share your happiness with such dear ones.
Talking about custom made jewellery; I understand that it is necessary to show / display your wares to prospective customers. At this internet-era, things got much simpler. All one had to do is to take pictures and upload them.
I have seen the pictures of your jewelleries at FB page. I was very much impressed by the quality and attention to detail in the photographs. How did you do it? Did you had to take help from professional photographers?

I do all the photographs, another passion of mine. I simply love each and everything I have made or I have sourced, and, I put a lot of attention to make it look as it looks to my eyes. I try to do everything on my own

That’s the attitude of homepreneurs, we try to do everything ourselves. Not sure if it is a boon or bane, but most of the times, it works. So, armed with the photographs to flaunt your wares online, what are your other marketing efforts?

I try to create good relations with everyone I come across. I don’t like to be professional in my deals. I prefer to deliver good products at affordable prices, so that it doesn’t pinch people’s pockets. And, it gives such a good feeling to the association so that they love to buy from u with a smile.
Initially I tried to use only the facebook page, but now we have online market places as MIRRAW , CRAFTSVILLA etc who have huge audience and its great to work when we get such good exposure.

Indeed, I have always believed in “Every skill has a market, and there is a client at each marketplace. The trick lies in being persistent enough until we locate such a marketplace.
Earlier in our conversation, you mentioned that you had some troubles initially. Can you please elaborate on that and how you came about resolving them? After all, it is our duty to remind aspiring homepreneurs that things are not always rosy-rosy, when we choose to work from home. Every venture has its own share of issues to tackle…be it aam-admi or ambani
Sure,

When I started to make jewellery , I didn’t have any raw materials , I knew what was to be used but then had no idea about where to get them from , what price do they sell , what to make etc. I had placed my trust entirely on my heart, and put my mind to work on the creative side. Soon, I gained the confidence, which grew multi-fold when people kept coming to me with their orders.

That aside, (on a personal level) I had trouble with billing and banking. I was having an ICICI bank account at that time. Every time I get a new order, the bank used to deduct Rs.165 as transaction charges. This might seem like a small amount. But when the number of orders started pouring in, I was losing out a huge chunk of money, and this was creating a rather large hole in my pocket. I had overlooked this aspect at the launch of Stop n Shop (due to the excitement of starting on my own). Later, I had this resolved with the bank.

Then, there was courier. As I sell a physical product, it became important that I find a suitable courier to ship my product…That too… When you have a global customer base, and have to ship worldwide. As I am from a small town, this became a great cause of concern. Most courier agencies (DTCD, Flyking, etc) refused to take my shipment due the label “Jewellery”. Hence I used the good old Indian Postal Service’s Speed Post.

People think that it is old-fashioned and retarded system. But, take it from someone who has actually used this…their service has come a long way..And it is goood… not to mention..Life-saver in my case.

Oh my me!!!
It must have been a heart-ful for someone who has started on baby steps towards work from home. Happy to know that you were able to find the resilience and perseverance to fulfill the demands of Shop n Stop.

Yes, It was a very disturbing phase. Online venture to sell my wares was a new attempt in itself. I had no idea about what price to quote. I was also shy to ask-for-money. Gradually I learnt how to conduct a business.

Another thing I would like to put emphasis to is that, when we are new, we don’t have much idea about prices. So we easily fall prey to those who are here to SELL-AND-GO. So, before you invest somewhere your hard earned money, be pretty sure about it being reasonable. Be calm, have immense patience.

Patience is a MUST.

There will be times when u think

  • nothing is happening,
  • nothing is working out and
  • people around you will say ,what crap , what online , etc etc ,

DO NOT pay heed, move on move on and move on 🙂

If any of you reading this interview has any questions (even if u belong to the same profession, please feel free to ask, I would love to cooperate)

Please don’t hesitate.

Priya, that is such a wonderful gesture.
When I started out as a (part time ) Homepreneur, there was no useful information about how to go about this. Every bit of learning was by trial and error. In this process I (we … would be a more appropriate word) burnt my fingers more than once… not to mention… the huge hole in my pocket with non-paying clients..
We know how it feels to be gullible, and have learnt… How to read the warning signals.
It makes my heart full with pride and happiness when we use our experience as a learning chapter to others who are starting out, and, are in need of direction. I am sure your fan box is going to be flooded with requests to help learn the tactic of working (& doing business) from home.
Thank you Priya for taking time out for Homepreneur-online, and taking us with you along the memory lane. Wish you all the very best in your future endeavours.
Readers, you can connect with Priya @Twitter, @LinkedIn, @Flickr

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Homepreneur during holidays: Meet Divya Aswani – School teacher cum glass painting artist.

That is the fun about being able to work from home. We actually get to choose when and what to work on. It so appears that Divya Diverre from Kolkata has put good use of the philosophy of homepreneurship.
Divya is a teacher by profession who dabbles with paints and glass. One look at her Facebook page, I am awed at her artwork. She says, being a school teacher has its advantages. She gets to enjoy a month of summer vacation completely off work. Such a long vacation would make most of us lazy and lethargic, but, not this teacher. She has taught herself glass painting and other art work. Now, her hobby fetches money. She does customised paintings on tissue holders, vases, clocks etc. Read along how this homepreneur-by-summer-holidays made it this far.
Hi Divya, happy to have you here. Please tell us about yourself.

Hi..I am Divya..Basically I’m a teacher and I teach at The Heritage School, Kolkata. I teach at a the primary level..children who are 3 yrs old and believe you me its not an esay job!! They are so innocent and fragile and its not only fun teaching them but a great responsibility..because they are going to be our future.I love being a guide and friend to them.

Since my working hours are good..I am back home in the afternoon. So I get to do make paintings and products..all on stained glass..lots of colour and happiness :):) I enjoy my Stained glass work.

So, you are a painter by hobby. What kind of paintings do you do? The kind of canvas you specialise in?

Stained glass paintings and products..Like Nameplates, Photo frames, Clocks, Vases, Ganesh and Shubh labh Hangings and even with wooden fittings..I make trays, pen/tissue/letter holders and many more!!!

Wow, that is a huge variety of canvas to showcase your painting skills. In addition to being a school teacher by the academic year, you dabble with paint as well. Since how long have you been selling your work from home?

I started working during Diwali 2012- where I put Ganesh and Shubh-Labh hangings at an exhibition..Which, in turn gave me lot of encouragement and I knew I was on the correct path 🙂

Uoo hoo.. atta girl!.. This nudges me to ask you about your moment of revelation. Do you recall THE moment when the idea of working from home hit you? Or, is that you were ruminating on the idea, and one fine morning it was all just right to start?

The summer holidays..!

Being a teacher I get the luxury of a month’s holiday. So I realised..Since I’m independent on my feet…let me learn how to do glass painting…never thought i will be so encouraged by my parents and family members to take it further..And start venturing more into glass paintings and today I sell my products from home and through the net…
Support from your family and the determination is the success of a Homepreneur 🙂

That seems to have been a rewarding summer vacation for you. Once you realised that you have mastered the art of glass painting, how long did it take to set-up shop? I mean, foray into the market and sell your wares

It took me around 4 months to understand the needs of my customers and get all my work set up!

My friends, my neighbours, my family, all have a great social life. So all I did was show my work to them…let my work do the talking, which impressed them and that’s how it all started. When people saw my products at their friends house they approached me in no time 🙂

As the ABBA’s Money-song goes Money Money Money, Always Sunny in a rich man’s world. We all need money. So, tell us about your first paycheck. this will help aspiring homeprenuers to have a reasonable benchmark to start with, rather than fall for false promises that assure huge returns.

My first payment came from the sale at an exhibition. Though I had not many products..working all by yourself makes it difficult to achieve too many orders. But it felt great holding your hard work and effort..from what I have known and understood money..rs 7000 is not a small amount and I felt very proud and ecstatic having a good start!

That’s absolutely great. So what is/was your best client experience?

My best client has been one of my relatives…she puts up a stall at an exhibition every time during Diwali…having diyas… and it was her suggestion of me making some wall hangings which will go during Diwali. It is then, when I thought of making Ganesh and Shubh Labh Hangings…

And the worst client?

The worst hasn’t come so far, thankfully!! But I had this lady who had picked a lot of stuff from me. And since it was my beginning I gave her a good discount and things were fine. 🙂

But she called up recently and asked me if I had any item of Rs 10-12!!!
Its very hurtful to hear such a thing…what exactly do you get at that amount??? And, it is not just that..she has seen my work..and she knows I work hard. I think sometimes people just forget to look at quality. But I got over that conversation with her..lol…that is the extreme experience I have had 🙂

Since then, how has been the journey like, till now? Expectations and lessons learnt

I would say it is going fine.
Lesson learnt is give in all u have..!!
Give in your best 🙂

How do you maintain focus and deliver work on time? Who would you say has a tremendous impact on your homepreneurship efforts? Our readers would certainly want to hear from someone who has made working from home a realisable dream (and not some far fetched idea)

Working hard on weekends, and, evenings during the weekdays made it all possible to finish my work on time. As you get used to your work, your pace increases and you are able to do your best part! My support network as I have said before is foremost my family! Then my friends, relatives, my colleagues at school, and probably everyone to come to think of!! They all see my work recognise my talent and encourage me all the time!

But if I have to take one name then it would be my mother. She is my friend my guide my strength and my support. Her constant positivity, belief in me, has made me come so far in life. I am here writing this because she has been there all the time, helping me in every way she can, and giving me lot of space and time to work!!! even when, I haveve been unable to help her with the household chores!

Nothing like a mother’s love and care 🙂

True, Nothing can replace a mother’s care and prayers.
Homepreneurs have to severely self-motivated irrespective of success or failure of a project. You seem to have crossed this bridge already. So, what would be your advice to aspiring homepreneurs? Would you be willing to share your knowledge if our readers were to approach you?

I think, read a lot of books on self improvement, on entrepreneurship, search the internet and you will be surprised all the information you will get!

Yes sure, I would love to talk and share my thought with your readers 🙂

Such simple, yet totally helpful for those who are persistent in their homepreneurial dream. So, what is your next milestone, or rather, Where do you see yourself in the next 5 yrs ?

I see myself doing a lot more, and reaching out to people all over the world 🙂

We learn everyday of our lives, and I take that, and i believe sky is the limit…Work hard and you will reach the top!!

Doing glass interiors of people’s houses and able to take my work far and wide is what I am aspiring to achieve 🙂

Thank you Divya, It was great having you with us today. 90% of the queries I receive start with the notion that anyone with a computer and internet connection can work from home. I have gone hoarse screaming that, this is just one aspect of homeprenuership. Please look into yourself and find your talent-spot.
Divya, even though you use the internet to procure clients/orders, your WORK is literraly Hands-On. This goes to prove one just need to look a wee bit closer and stay on the path a wee bit longer.

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Its official now : Paypal enables automated withdrawals for Indian Users

For those who have been following the Paypal – RBI issue, would have taken note of conversation with Paypal support – VERBATIM sometime in April 2011

……. If you will not transfer the funds on the given time frame, our system will automatically transfer the funds to your bank account.
If your balance is less than $10.00 USD (minimum withdrawal amount), our system will not be able to automatically transfer the funds to your bank account. Therefore, you will need to wait until your balance is enough or more than the minimum withdrawal amount before you can transfer them to your bank account.

However, this news is now official, via the Paypal FAQ Page (login to read )
What is more intriguing is, this page has been very recently updated, 7 Aug 2011 as seen in my FFox Page info dialog. (Click to enlarge and view )
Wonder when they will make a similar public announcement for ” waiver of 50/- service fee for withdrwals less than 7000 /-”

In order to comply with RBI, we will be waiving all fees on withdrawals.Even if you will be transferring funds lower than 50.00 INR, rest assured that you will not incur any withdrawal fees.

Thanks to Techiebuzz & Mayur Agarwal

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