RBI scraps charges on RTGS, NEFT payments

Mumbai: The RBI has removed charges for payments through the Real Time Gross Settlement Sys-tem (RTGS) and the National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) and asked banks to pass on the benefits to customers. This means that payments via NEFT and RTGS would become either free or the charges would be drastically reduced.

The RBI, in its bi-monthly monetary policy on Thursday said, “In order to provide an impetus to digital funds movement, it has been decided to do away with the charges levied by the Reserve Bank for transactions processed in the RTGS and NEFT systems. Banks, in turn, will be required to pass these benefits to their customers. Instructions to banks in this regard will be issued within a week.”

The RBI levies minimum charges on banks for transactions routed via its RTGS, meant for instantaneous large-value fund transfers, and the NEFT System, used for non-large fund transfers. Banks, in turn, levy charges on their customers.

The three most commonly used fund transfer methods in India are NEFT, RTGS and IMPS (Immediate Mobile Payment Service). The banks charge between Rs 30 and Rs 55 for an RTGS transaction while it varies between Re 1 to Rs 25 plus GSTfor other modes, depending on the amount transferred.

In another customer-centric development, the RBI would set up a committee to review the ATM Interchange Fee Structure.

 “Usage of Automated Teller Machines by the public has been growing significantly. There have, however, been persistent demands to change the ATM charges and fees,” said the RBI.