All complaints involving ‘deficiency in service’ on the part of the RE, except for those listed under Question 14 below are handled under the RB-IOS, 2021. ‘Deficiency in service’ has been defined in RB-IOS, 2021 as ‘any shortcoming or inadequacy in any financial service, which the Regulated Entity of RBI is required to provide statutorily or otherwise, which may or may not result in financial loss or damage to the customer’.

Ans. The above does not apply to BSBDA as the number of withdrawals from BSBDA is subject to the conditions associated with such accounts.

Banks may be guided by para 3.2.3 of the Master Circular - Prudential norms on Income Recognition, Asset Classification and Provisioning pertaining to Advances dated April 1, 2023, as per which in respect of NPAs, fees, commission and similar income that have accrued should cease to accrue in the current period and should be reversed with respect to past periods, if uncollected. Accordingly, in respect of NPA accounts, penal charges shall be reversed to the extent it remains uncollected for the specific purpose of non-recognition of income. However, the same shall be part of the total liability of the borrower to the lender, unless it is waived as per the bank’s Board approved policy.

Response: Banks and the CPTCs/GMCTAs may put in place a mutually acceptable procedure in this regard and notify that to the relevant CPTCs/GMCTAs.

Ans. The exemption provided by the Reserve Bank to ‘Not for Profit’ companies (i.e., companies incorporated under Section 8 of the Companies Act, 2013 or Section 25 of the Companies Act, 1956) is applicable to those which are providing microfinance loans as defined in the directions and subject to conditions specified in para 2(i) of our ‘Master Direction – Exemptions from the provisions of RBI Act, 1934’ dated August 25, 2016 (as amended from time to time). This exemption is not applicable to other ‘Not for Profit’ companies engaged in NBFI business and it is incumbent upon such companies to obtain a certificate of registration under Section 45-IA of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 in case these companies are fulfilling the ‘Principal Business Criteria’ as specified in our Press Release 1998-99/1269 dated April 08, 1999.

Ans. Cash withdrawal or funds transfer from these two types of Small PPIs is not permitted.

Yes. However, the decision to allow services beyond the minimum prescribed has been left to the discretion of the banks who can either offer additional services free of charge or evolve requirements including pricing structure for additional value-added services on a reasonable and transparent basis, to be applied in a non-discriminatory manner with prior intimation to the customers. Banks are required to put in place a reasonable pricing structure for value added services or prescribe minimum balance requirements which should be displayed prominently and also informed to the customers at the time of account opening. Offering such additional facilities should be non - discretionary, non-discriminatory and transparent to all ‘Basic Savings Bank Deposit Account’ customers. However, such accounts enjoying additional facilities will not be treated as BSBDAs.

Ans : User institutions enjoy many advantages as well. For instance,

• Savings on administrative machinery and costs of printing, dispatch and reconciliation of paper instruments that would have been used had beneficiaries not opted for ECS Credit.

• Avoid chances of loss / theft of instruments in transit, likelihood of fraudulent encashment of paper instruments, etc. and subsequent correspondence / litigation.

• Efficient payment mode ensuring that the beneficiaries get credit on a designated date.

• Cost effective.

Residents are permitted to hold foreign currency up to US$2,000 or its equivalent provided the foreign exchange was -

1. acquired by him while on a visit to any place outside India by way of payment for services not arising from any business in or anything done in India;

or

2. acquired by him, from any person not resident in India and who is on a visit to India, as honorarium or gift or for services rendered or in settlement of any lawful obligation,

or

3. acquired by him by way of honorarium or gift while on a visit to any place outside India;

or

4. acquired by him from an authorised person for travel abroad and represents the unspent amount thereof.

Before a loan account of a Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise turns into a Non-Performing Asset (NPA), banks or creditors should identify incipient stress in the account by creating three sub-categories under the Special Mention Account (SMA) category as given in the Table below:

SMA Sub-categories	Basis for classification
SMA-0	Principal or interest payment not overdue for more than 30 days but account showing signs of incipient stress
SMA-1	Principal or interest payment overdue between 31-60 days
SMA-2	Principal or interest payment overdue between 61-90 days

Once the GAH is granted access to the NDS-OM Web Module, the Primary Member can create Users under the GAH, who can log into the system. The users once created by the Primary Member have to be approved by the NDS-OM Web Admin at CCIL.

Ans. Financial Market Infrastructure (FMI) is defined as a multilateral system among participating institutions, including the operator of the system, used for the purposes of clearing, settling, or recording payments, securities, derivatives, or other financial transactions. (Please see “Oversight Framework for Financial Market Infrastructures and Retail Payment Systems”, available under the link: /en/web/rbi/-/oversight-framework-for-financial-market-infrastructures-fmis-and-retail-payment-systems-rpss-3864). The term FMI generally refers to systemically important payment systems, Central Securities Depositories (CSDs), Securities Settlement Systems (SSSs), Central Counter Parties (CCPs), and Trade Repositories (TRs) that facilitate the clearing, settlement, and recording of financial transactions. CSDs, SSSs, CCPs are designated as “payment systems” under the PSS Act. TR has been defined and covered under the PSS Act.

The FMIs are subjected, on an on-going basis, to the rules and regulations that are consistent with the Principles for Financial Market Infrastructures (PFMIs) issued by the Committee on Payment and Settlement Systems (CPSS is rechristened as Committee on Payment and Market Infrastructures- CPMI) and International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO). The Reserve Bank, on June 13, 2020, issued a press release on “Reserve Bank of India publishes the Oversight Framework for Financial Market Infrastructures and Retail Payment Systems”, available under the link: /en/web/rbi/-/press-releases/reserve-bank-of-india-publishes-the-oversight-framework-for-financial-market-infrastructures-and-retail-payment-systems-49947

Yes. The Roadmap to be prepared as per the recommendations of the Approach Paper would enable the banks to set milestones for achieving ADF which in turn would also help in monitoring from time to time the progress made in implementation.

Ans: The funds availed under TLTRO 2.0 are to be deployed in investment grade bonds, commercial paper (CPs) and non-convertible debentures (NCDs) of Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) and MFIs in the manner outlined in the press release dated April 17, 2020.

FAQs pertaining to On Tap TLTRO/ reversal of TLTRO/ TLTRO 2.0 transactions

User institutions enjoy many advantages as well. For instance, Savings on administrative machinery and costs of printing, dispatch and reconciliation of paper instruments that would have been used had beneficiaries not opted for ECS Credit. Avoid chances of loss / theft of instruments in transit, likelihood of fraudulent encashment of paper instruments, etc. and subsequent correspondence / litigation. Efficient payment mode ensuring that the beneficiaries get credit on a designated date. Cost effective.

Foreign exchange for travel abroad can be purchased from banks against rupee payment in cash up to Rs.50,000/-. However, if the rupee equivalent exceeds Rs.50,000/-, the entire payment should be made by way of a crossed cheque/banker’s cheque/pay order/demand draft only.

Ans: No. NEFT is a credit-push system i.e., transactions can be originated by the payer / remitter / sender only to pay / transfer / remit funds to beneficiary.

An AD Category – I Bank / AD Category - II/ FFMC should apply to the respective Regional Office of the Reserve Bank, in Form RMC-F (as given in Part I: Annex-II of the FED Master Direction No.18/2015-16 on Reporting under FEMA 1999) for appointment of franchisees under this Scheme. The application should be accompanied by a declaration that while selecting the franchisees, adequate due diligence has been carried out and that such entities have undertaken to comply with all the provisions of the franchising agreement and prevailing Reserve Bank regulations regarding money changing. Approval would be granted by the Reserve Bank for the first franchisee arrangement. Thereafter, as and when new franchisee agreements are entered into, these would have to be reported to the Reserve Bank in Form RMC-F on a post-facto basis along with similar declaration as indicated above.

RBI will issue securities only in SGL form. It will credit the securities to the CSGL account of the aggregator or facilitator. They will in turn credit the securities to the gilt account or dematerialized account of the investors.

Name and address of the complainant, the name and address of the branch or office of the bank against which the complaint is made, facts giving rise to the complaint supported by documents, if any, the nature and extent of the loss caused to the complainant, the relief sought from the Banking Ombudsman and a declaration about the compliance with conditions which are required to be complied with by the complainant under Clause 9(3) of the Banking Ombudsman Scheme.