RBI proposes fee on cheque payments
21 Apr 2007
1
Mumbai:
The Reserve Bank has proposed a fee on paper cheque
payments to encourage customers switch to electronic mode
for transferring funds. The charge on payments made through paper-based cheques should be borne by the customers, a study group of the central bank suggested in a report.
RBI has posted the report, "Migration of paper-based funds movement to electronic funds transfers", on its website for public comments, which would accepted till May 15.
In order to make electronic fund transfers cheaper than paper mode payments, the report said: "To begin with, ECS-based transactions should be made free for three years" and legal protection be made available to such transfers.
The report suggested that customers should not be allowed to pay credit card dues and mobile bills through cheques instead they be asked to compulsorily pay bills for online transactions through electronic mode.
Currently, the cost of processing cheques is borne by the banks.
They might have to educate their customers on the need to shift to electronic processing, and in case cheques were used, processing charges might be passed on to the customers, the report said.
The panel has also recommended that banks should be prohibited from using real-time gross settlement (RTGS) system for transactions below Rs10 lakh and for regular and repetitive payments such as salaries.
It said that repetitive payments should be routed through electronic clearing service (ECS)/ National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT). The panel has also prepared a roadmap to shift from paper-based transactions to electronic payments.
On moving large value transactions to the electronic platform, the report said, the central bank could make it mandatory that all major inter-bank transactions among commercial banks having accounts with the central bank were routed only through the real-time gross settlement (RTGS) from September.
