Finance Ministry for zero charges on e-transfer of funds up to Rs1 lakh

MDT/PTI 26 September 2012

In order to promote cashless transactions, the Finance Ministry has asked all nationalised banks to cut fees to zero for electronic transfer of fund of up to Rs1 lakh from Rs5 per transfer

New Delhi: To promote cashless transactions, the Finance Ministry has asked public sector banks to take steps to reduce the fee to zero for electronic transfer of funds up to Rs1 lakh, reports PTI.

Currently, most banks charge a maximum fee of Rs5 per transfer of funds up to Rs1 lakh from one account to another through National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) system.

Transfer of funds up to Rs10,000 through NEFT system attract a maximum charge of Rs2.50 per transaction.

In a recent communication to the state-owned banks, the Ministry had asked them to "take action" to reduce the NEFT charges to zero for value up to Rs1 lakh.

However, some banks are yet to intimate the Ministry about the action taken by them to reduce the charges, sources said.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has, however, retained maximum charges of Rs15 per transaction for electronic transfer of funds beyond Rs1 lakh to less than Rs2 lakh.

The government has been asking banks to encourage transactions through e-payment channels so as to reduce the number of transactions through cheques and other expensive modes of transactions.

The public sector banks have also been asked to identify top 20% branches in respect of business volumes to bring down the number of cheque based transactions by at least one-fifth in the current financial year.

The banks have also been asked to ensure that all payments and disbursements by them, except sundry payments, are made only electronically.

The RBI had recently said that it is "desirable" that the benefits accruing on account of increasing volume of transactions are passed on to the customers so as to incentivise greater use of the electronic payment system.

Comments

User

Apoorva Raval

1 decade ago

Here Ministry is talking about zero fee on NEFT, but do they know Foreign Pvt Bank are charging full fee in spit of AQB of 25000, it full fledge cheating my Foregin Bank like Standard Chartered who charge 5 rs for NEFT upto 1 lac but provide unlimited check book, I don't understand what they want to encourage.. Net Banking or Branch banking which is more.. expensive for bank and customer..

Some time this so called foreign bank behave senseless.