RBI rejects proposal to impose fee on cheque payment, slashes risk
04 May 2007
Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India has rejected its study group's suggestion to impose charges on cheque payments for promoting paperless transactions.
RBI has decided not to accept the recommendation of the internal study group to levy a charge for the paper-based transactions for quickening the pace of migration from paper-based to electronic fund transfers, the central bank said in a release.
The RBI had invited public comments on the study group's recommendation to levy fees on customers for paper-based transactions by banks in a bid to encourage them to move to electronic funds transfer.
The central bank had twice earlier rejected similar suggestions, the press release said.
The RBI also clarified that the recommendations of any study group - internal or external - constituted by it are only recommendatory in nature and do not reflect the views of the central bank.
The RBI also decided to slash the risk weight in respect of housing loans of up to Rs20 lakh to individuals against the mortgage of residential housing properties from 75 per cent to 50 per cent.
The notification follows RBI's decision to this effect in its credit policy last month.
The central bank also reduced the risk weight for banks' investment in mortgage backed securities, issued by the housing finance companies, to 50 per cent from the existing 75 per cent.
RBI said that it would review the risk weights after one year keeping in view the default experience and other relevant factors.
