Ans. Contravention is a breach of the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), 1999 and rules/ regulations/ notification/ orders/ directions/ circulars issued thereunder. Compounding refers to the process of voluntarily admitting the contravention, pleading guilty and seeking redressal. The Reserve Bank is empowered to compound any contravention as defined under section 13 of FEMA, 1999 except the contravention under section 3(a) ibid, for a specified sum after offering an opportunity of personal hearing to the contravener. It is a voluntary process in which an individual or a corporate seeks compounding of an admitted contravention. It provides comfort to any person who contravenes any provisions of FEMA, 1999 by minimizing transaction costs. Further, cases falling under Rule 9 of Foreign Exchange (Compounding Proceedings) Rules, 2024, shall not be eligible for compounding by the Reserve Bank.

Ans: The valuation criteria as specified for HTM, AFS and HFT would apply.

Valuation (para nos. given are from our MC on investments)

3.1 Held to Maturity

i) Investments classified under HTM need not be marked to market and will be carried at acquisition cost, unless it is more than the face value, in which case the premium should be amortised over the period remaining to maturity. The banks should reflect the amortised amount in 'Schedule 13 - Interest Earned: Item II - Income on Investments', as a deduction. However, the deduction need not be disclosed separately. The book value of the security should continue to be reduced to the extent of the amount amortised during the relevant accounting period.

In the case of IIBs, face value will mean the inflation adjusted principal.

3.2 Available for Sale

The individual scrips in the Available for Sale category will be marked to market at quarterly or at more frequent intervals. Domestic Securities under this category shall be valued scrip-wise and depreciation / appreciation shall be aggregated for each classification referred to in item 2(i) above and foreign investments under this category shall be valued scrip-wise and depreciation / appreciation shall be aggregated for five classifications (viz. Government securities (including local authorities), Shares, Debentures & Bonds, Subsidiaries and / or joint ventures abroad and Other investments (to be specified)). Further, the investment in a particular classification, both in domestic and foreign securities, may be aggregated for the purpose of arriving at net depreciation / appreciation of investments under that category. Net depreciation, if any, shall be provided for Net appreciation, if any, should be ignored. Net depreciation required to be provided for in any one classification should not be reduced on account of net appreciation in any other classification. The banks may continue to report the foreign securities under three categories (Government securities (including local authorities), Subsidiaries and / or joint ventures abroad and other investments (to be specified)) in the balance sheet. The book value of the individual securities would not undergo any change after the marking of market.

3.3 Held for Trading

The individual scrips in the Held for Trading category will be marked to market at monthly or at more frequent intervals and provided for as in the case of those in the Available for Sale category. Consequently, the book value of the individual securities in this category would also not undergo any change after marking to market.

FIMMDA has informed that the price quoted in the market will be the real price and consideration for purchase and sale of the bond will be ((“Real Price x Index Ratio” which is clean price) + (Accrued Interest which is the Broken Period Interest). As per para 5.2 of the Master Circular on Classification, Valuation and Investment Portfolio by banks, broken period interest should not be capitalized but treated as an item of expenditure. In order to be consistent with present valuation norms, only clean price may be considered as acquisition cost.

As regards the mark to market value, in the case of IIBs it is the quoted clean price if available. If it is unquoted, FIMMDA’s valuation methodology for arriving at the clean price as above should be followed.

However, regarding broken period interest, banks would have to be guided by what is indicated in para 5.2 of MC on investments:

5.2 Broken Period Interest

Banks should not capitalise the Broken Period Interest paid to seller as part of cost, but treat it as an item of expenditure under Profit and Loss Account in respect of investments in Government and other approved securities. It is to be noted that the above accounting treatment does not take into account taxation implications and hence the banks should comply with the requirements of Income Tax Authorities in the manner prescribed by them.

In case it falls under unquoted SLR security, FIMMDA’s valuation methodology for arriving at the clean price should be followed.

Ans: It is clarified that ‘time of transfer’ would mean when the associated risks and rewards, to the extent of economic interest transferred and as documented in the loan participation, assignment or novation contract, becomes binding on the transferor and transferee.

Ans. The Reserve Bank owns and operates following CPS:

i. Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) System – It is the country’s Large Value Payment System and was introduced in March 2004. It was subsequently enhanced to Next Generation-RTGS (NG-RTGS) built on the ISO 20022 standard with advanced features such as hybrid functionality, liquidity management functions, future date functionality, scalability, etc. The transactions settle real-time on a gross basis in the books of RBI and have a floor value of Rs. 2 lakh. RTGS also settles Multilateral Net Settlement Batch (MNSB) files emanating from ancillary payment systems such as CCIL and NPCI. It is available round the clock on all days of the year with effect from December 14, 2020.

ii. National Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT) system – It is a retail payment system and was introduced in November 2005. NEFT has a straight through process which operates in 48 half-hourly batches 24x7x365 with effect from December 16, 2019. There is no floor or ceiling for the amount that can be transferred in a single transaction, because of which NEFT has emerged as a popular hybrid payment system.

Local Cheques

Local cheques are payable within the jurisdiction of the clearing house and will be presented through the clearing system prevailing at the centre. Credit arising out of local cheques shall be given to the customer’s account as indicated in the Cheque Collection Policy (CCP) of the concerned collecting bank.

Notwithstanding to the CCP of concerned collecting bank, ideally, in respect of local clearing, banks shall permit usage of the shadow credit afforded to the customers’ accounts immediately after closure of the relative return clearing on the next working day or maximum within an hour of commencement of business on the third working day from the day of presentation in clearing, subject to usual safeguards.

Under grid-based Cheque Truncation System (CTS) clearing, all cheques drawn on bank branches falling within in the grid jurisdiction are treated and cleared as local cheques. The grid clearing allows banks to present / receive cheques to/ from multiple cities to a single clearing house through their service branches in the grid location.

If there is any delay in credit, beyond the period specified above, customer is entitled to receive compensation at the rate specified in the CCP of the concerned collecting bank. In case, no rate is specified in the CCP for delay in realisation of local cheques, compensation at savings bank interest rate has to be paid for the corresponding period of delay.

Outstation Cheques

Maximum timeframe for collection of cheques drawn on state capitals / major cities / other locations are 7/10/14 days respectively.

If there is any delay in collection beyond this period, customer is entitled to receive compensation at the rate specified in the CCP of the concerned bank. In case the rate is not specified in the CCP, interest rate on Fixed Deposits for the corresponding maturity to be paid. Banks' cheque collection policy also indicates the limit up to which outstation cheques are given immediate / instant credit.

Ans. Under the facility of cash withdrawal at PoS terminals, cardholders can withdraw cash using their debit cards and full KYC prepaid cards issued by banks and non-banks in India. However, credit cards cannot be used under this facility. Cash can also be withdrawn at PoS terminals through Unified Payments Interface (UPI) as well as through use of electronic cards that are linked with overdraft facility provided along with Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) accounts.

RBI issued circular RPCD.PLNFS.BC.NO.83/06.12.05/2000-01 dated April 28, 2001 on ‘Educational Loan Scheme’ advising all Scheduled Commercial Banks to adopt the Model Education Loan Scheme, formulated by Indian Banks’ Association (IBA). The Scheme has been revised by IBA from time to time and its latest revision is Model Education Loan Scheme (MELS), 2021.

For detailed information on guidelines to banks on education loan, please refer to MELS, 2021 and its related circulars. Copy of the aforesaid Scheme is available on the IBA website.

It is to be noted that the MELS, 2021 provides broad guidelines to the banks for operationalizing the educational loan scheme and implementing banks will have the discretion to make changes as deemed fit.

Ans: The phrase ‘largely by use of seamless digital technologies’ has been used in the Digital Lending definition to accord operational flexibility to REs in ‘Digital Lending’. Therefore, even if some physical interface with customer is present, the lending will still fall under the definition of Digital Lending. However, while doing so, the REs should ensure that the intent behind the Guidelines is adhered to.

Ans. Tokenisation refers to replacement of actual card details with an alternate code called the “token”, which shall be unique for a combination of card, token requestor (i.e. the entity which accepts request from the customer for tokenisation of a card and passes it on to the card network to issue a corresponding token) and device (referred hereafter as “identified device”).

In all such cases, the borrower will deemed to be a ‘Specified borrower’ from April 1, 2016 and the disincentive mechanism will be applicable from April 1, 2017 if the borrower borrows from the banking system beyond the NPLL.