Banks are free to fix Prime Lending Rate (PLR) for credit limits over Rs.2 lakhs with the approval of their respective Boards, which should be the minimum rate charged by them for such credit limits. PLR is to be declared and has to be uniformly applicable at all branches. The banks may authorise their Asset-Liability Management Committee (ALCO) to fix interest rates on Deposits and Advances, subject to their reporting to the Board immediately thereafter. The banks should also fix maximum spread over the PLR with the approval of the ALCO/Board for all advances other than consumer credit.

The Reserve Bank of India has deregulated the charges to be levied by sponsor banks from user institutions. The sponsor banks are, however, required to disclose the charges in a transparent manner. With effect from 1st July 2011, originating banks are required to pay a nominal charge of 25 paise and 50 paise per transaction to the Clearing house and destination bank respectively. Bank branches do not generally levy processing / service charges for debiting the accounts of customers maintained with them.

CG and SG match on a price- time priority basis and T Bills Match on a yield-time priority basis. For a bid in CG/SG to match with an offer, the bid price has to be equal to or greater than the offer price. For an offer in CG/SG to match with a bid, the offer price has to be equal to or less than the offer price. In case of T Bills, the bid yield has to be equal to or less than the offer yield and vice versa for offers. At the same price/yield, the order which has come first to the system will get priority.

Ans. The salient features of PPI-MTS are as follows:

1. These PPIs are issued by MTS operators;

2. Apart from the MTS, these PPIs can be used only at merchants whose activities are allied / related to / are carried on within the premises of the transit system;

3. Reloadable in nature;

4. Maximum outstanding cannot exceed ₹3,000/- at any point of time;

5. Cash-out or refund or fund transfer is not permitted;

6. Shall be revalidated (including through issuance of new instrument) as and when requested by the PPI holder; and

7. The AFA / 2FA for transactions using such PPIs is not mandatory.

Response

All the existing 'No-Frill' accounts may be treated as BSBDA accounts from the date of the circular i.e., August 22, 2012 and banks may offer the prescribed facilities as per the circular such as issuing ATM card etc., to the existing ‘No-Frill’ account holders as and when the customer approaches the bank. However, for customers opening new accounts after the issue of our circular should be provided with the prescribed facilities immediately on opening of the account.

Yes.  Government securities are eligible for conversion from one form of holding to another as well as consolidation, sub-division and renewal as per the terms and conditions prescribed in the G S Regulations.

At the time of making applications, the Promoters/Promoter Group will have to furnish a road map and methodologies they would adopt to comply with all the requirements of the corporate structure indicated in para 2 (C)(ii) and (iii) of the guidelines and realign the business between the entities to be held under the NOFHC [para 2(C)(iv) of the guidelines] within a period of 18 months. After the ‘in-principle approval’ is accorded by RBI for setting up of the bank, the actual setting up of NOFHC and the bank, re-organization of the Promoter Group entities to bring the regulated financial services entities under the NOFHC as well as realignment of business among the entities under the NOFHC have to be completed within a period of 18 months from the date of in-principle approval or before commencement of banking business, whichever is earlier.

The bond can be gifted/transferable to a relative/friend/anybody who fulfills the eligibility criteria (as mentioned at Q.no. 4). The Bonds shall be transferable in accordance with the provisions of the Government Securities Act 2006 and the Government Securities Regulations 2007 before maturity by execution of an instrument of transfer which is available with the issuing agents.

Ans. A resident individual can make a rupee gift to a NRI/PIO who is a close relative of the resident individual [relative’ as defined in Section 2(77) of the Companies Act, 2013] by way of crossed cheque /electronic transfer. The amount should be credited to the Non-Resident (Ordinary) Rupee Account (NRO) a/c of the NRI / PIO and credit of such gift amount may be treated as an eligible credit to NRO a/c. The gift amount would be within the overall limit of USD 250,000 per financial year as permitted under the LRS for a resident individual. It would be the responsibility of the resident donor to ensure that the gift amount being remitted is under the LRS and all the remittances made by the donor during the financial year including the gift amount have not exceeded the limit prescribed under the LRS.

Yes. As per Clause 16 of the RB-IOS, 2021, the RBI Ombudsman may reject a complaint at any stage, if the complaint:

1. is non-maintainable under Clause 10 of the RB-IOS, 2021;

2. is in the nature of offering suggestions or seeking guidance or explanation;

3. in the opinion of the Ombudsman there is no deficiency in service;

4. the compensation sought for the consequential loss is beyond the power of the Ombudsman to award as indicated in RB-IOS, 2021 (please refer to Question 22);

5. the complaint is not pursued by the complainant with reasonable diligence;

6. the complaint is without sufficient cause;

7. the complaint requires consideration of elaborate documentary and oral evidence and the proceedings before the Ombudsman are not appropriate for adjudication of such a complaint;

8. in the opinion of the Ombudsman there is no financial loss or damage, or inconvenience caused to the complainant.

Ans. Yes, once a customer submits updated KYC information or self-declaration to the RE, it shall provide an acknowledgement to this effect to the customer. Upon updating KYC information, the RE shall also intimate customers about such updation.

Ans.: Please refer to the below table containing the error codes (Fatal error, non-Fatal error) with their descriptions. If a respondent get an acknowledgment of the processed data with any Fatal error codes, then it should study the below mentioned fatal error message/description and revise its data and resubmit it on surveysoftex@rbi.org.in. If the company gets an acknowledgment of the processed data with any Non-fatal error codes then it needs to provide justification/clarification on the errors and send it on itesquery@rbi.org.in along with revised data if applicable to surveysoftex@rbi.org.in.

Sr. No.	Revised- Rejection Criteria	Revised - Error Message/descriptions	Error Code
Fatal Error
1	If the survey year is not provided	The year cannot be left blank. Please specify the reference year and fill the return.	ITES_F_001
2	i) If the survey year is not correct	Survey year should be the subsequent Survey after the latest closed survey year in the system. Please specify the correct Survey year.	ITES_F_001
	ii) If the Survey year is advanced	Please specify proper survey year by filling the form for the survey year - <current survey year>	ITES_F_001
	iii) If the survey is closed	ITES survey for ___________ is closed.	ITES_F_001
3	If PAN number is not provided	PAN number is not provided. Please specify/fill the PAN number of your company.	ITES_F_002
4	If PAN number is not valid	PAN number is invalid. Please provide 10-digit alphanumeric PAN number of your company.	ITES_F_002
5	If CIN number is not provided	CIN number is not provided. Please specify/fill 21-digit the CIN number of your company given by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.	ITES_F_003
6	If CIN number is not valid	CIN number is invalid. Please provide 21-digit CIN number of your company.	ITES_F_003
7	If the details of Business Activity in ‘Item number 3 in Part-A is blank or incomplete AND 3.E Sum of the percentage share of business activities is not equal to 100	Total of Business Activity should be 100; Please specify the correct percentage share of each business activity mentioned in Item number 3 of Part A.	ITES_F_005
8	If in Part-B, item number 5 (a) Total of Export invoice value is blank or ‘0’.	Please provide the Export invoice value of the business activities of your company in item number 5 (a). and if there is no export during the reference period, please select “Nil Statement” option mentioned in 2 (b)	ITES_F_006
Non-Fatal Error
1	If there is more than one percent variation between percentage share of IT Services provided in Part A, item 3 A. and percentage share derived from Part B, item 5 (a) (i) IT Services export invoice amount/ total exports	Please ensure that percentage share of Business activity IT services provided in Part A, item 3 A matches with the corresponding export invoice value provided in Part B, item 5 (a) (i)	ITES_NF_001
2	If there is more than one percent variation between percentage share of ITES/BPO provided in Part A, item 3 B and percentage share derived from Part B, item 5 (a) (ii) ITES/BPO Services export invoice amount/ total exports	Please ensure that percentage share of Business activity ITES/BPO provided in Part A, item 3 B matches with the corresponding export invoice value provided in Part B, item 5 (a) (ii)	ITES_NF_002
3	If there is more than one percent variation between percentage share of Engineering services provided in Part A, item 3 C and percentage share derived from Part B, item 5 (a) (iii) Engineering services exports invoice amount/ total exports	Please ensure that percentage share of Business activity Engineering services provided in Part A, item 3 C matches with the corresponding export invoice value provided in Part B, item 5 (a) (iii)	ITES_NF_003
4	If there is more than one percent variation between percentage share of Software products exports provided in Part A, item 3 D and percentage share derived from Part B, item 5 (a) (iv) Software products exports invoice amount/ total exports	Please ensure that percentage share of Business activity Software products exports provided in Part A, item 3 D matches with the corresponding export invoice value provided in Part B, item 5 (a) (iv)	ITES_NF_005
5	If the total exports amount of Billing to subsidiary(s)/ associate(s) abroad in Part B, item 5 (a) is blank	Please provide the amount of billing to subsidiary(s)/ associate(s) abroad of the total exports in Part B, item 5 (a).	ITES_NF_006
6	If there is more than 5 percent variation between total exports-major currencies reported in INR in item 5 (b) of Part B and total exports provided in item 5(a) of Part B	Please ensure that total exports-major currencies reported in INR in item 5 (b) of Part B matches with total exports provided in item 5(a) of Part B.	ITES_NF_010
7	If there is more than 5 percent variation between total exports-type of services reported in item 5 (c) of Part B and total exports provided in item 5(a) of Part B	Please ensure that total exports-type of services reported in item 5 (c) of Part B matches with total exports provided in item 5(a) of Part B.	ITES_NF_011
8	If there is more than 5 percent variation between total exports-Major Areas reported in item 5 (d) of Part B and total exports provided in item 5(a) of Part B	Please ensure that total exports- Major Areas reported in item 5 (d) of Part B matches with total exports provided in item 5(a) of Part B.	ITES_NF_012
9	If there is more than 5 percent variation between total exports-Mode of supply reported in item 6 of Part B and total exports provided in item 5(a) of Part B	Please ensure that total exports- Mode of supply reported in item 6 of Part B matches with total exports provided in item 5(a) of Part B.	ITES_NF_013
10	If the information on Exports Proceeds- Receipt, Expenditure and Held Abroad in the item number 7 of Part C (i) i.e Cell AB83 is blank or zero	Please provide the complete details on information on Exports Proceeds- Receipt, Expenditure and Held Abroad in the item number 7 of Part C.	ITES_NF_007
11	If the Cell O14 is blank or zero in the information of number of employees in item number 8 of  Part C	Please provide the complete details on Number of employees in the item number 8 of Part C.	ITES_NF_008
12	If the information on Total Number of Subsidiaries/ Associates Abroad in item number 9 (a) of Part D is blank.	Please provide information on Total Number of Subsidiaries/ Associates Abroad in the item number 9 of Part D.	ITES_NF_014
13	Number of non-zero rows in 9 (b) should be equal to number of Subsidiaries/ Associates Abroad provided in item number 9 (a) of Part D.	Please check the number of subsidiaries provided in 9(a) of part (D) matches with the numbers of subsidiaries details provided in 9(b)	ITES_NF_009
14	If Form of Organisation is null or select as blank	Please provide the Form of Organisation in item 4 of part A	ITES_NF_015

Ans. The Magnetic Stripe card stores card data on the magnetic stripe present on the card while the data in an EMV Chip & PIN card is stored in a chip.

Ans. The meaning of KYC is as defined in paragraph 6 of the MD-PPIs. The KYC / Anti-Money Laundering (AML) / Combating Financing of Terrorism (CFT) guidelines issued by the Department of Regulation (DoR), RBI, in “Master Direction – Know Your Customer Direction, 2016”, shall apply mutatis mutandis to all the entities issuing PPIs.

Yes. Such customers should give their consent in writing and they should be informed of the features and extent of services available in BSBDAs.

• Fixed Income Money Market and Derivatives Association of India (FIMMDA) will come out with valuation guidelines shortly.

Ans. Yes, Reserve Bank has the authority to conduct on-site inspection, under the PSS Act.

However, foreign entities located in overseas jurisdictions may be exempted from certain requirements applicable to domestic payment systems (India) subject to the RBI concluding cooperative agreements with the home regulator/s.

Residents may book their tickets in India for their visit to any third country. That is residents can book their tickets for travel for instance to London/New York through domestic/foreign airlines in India itself.

An illustrative list of Intermediary Agencies is as under: 1. State sponsored organizations for on-lending to Weaker Sections.@ 2. Distributors of agricultural inputs/implements. 3. State Financial Corporations (SFCs)/State Industrial Development Corporations (SIDCs) to the extent they provide credit to weaker sections. 4. National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC). 5. Khadi and Village Industires Commission (KVIC). 6. Agencies involved in assisting the decentralized sector. 7. Housing and Urban Development Corporation Ltd. (HUDCO). 8. Housing Finance Companies approved by National Housing Bank (NHB) for refinance. 9. State sponsored organization for SCs/STs (for purchase and supply of inputs to and/or marketing of output of the beneficiaries of these organizations). 10. Micro Finance Institutions/Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) on-lending to SHGs. @ ‘Weaker Sections’ in Priority Sector includes following: Small and marginal farmers with land holdings of 5 acres and less, landless labourers, tenant farmers and share-croppers; Artisans, village and cottage industries where individual credit requirements do not exceed Rs.25,000/-. Small and marginal farmers, sharecroppers, agricultural and non-agricultural labourers, rural artisans and families living below the poverty lines are the beneficiaries. The family income should not exceed Rs. 11,000/- per annum. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Beneficiaries are persons whose family income from all sources does not exceed Rs.7200/- per annum in urban or semi urban areas or Rs.6,400/- per annum in rural areas. They should not own any land or the size of their holding does not exceed one acre in the case of irrigated land and 2.5 acres in the case of unirrigated land ( land holding criteria do not apply to SC/ST). Beneficiaries under Scheme of Liberation and Rehabilitation of Scavengers (SLRS). Advances granted to Self-Helf Groups (SHGs) for reaching the rural poor.

An application for direct investment in a JV/WOS may be made in form ODI to:The Chief General Manager,Overseas Investment Division,Exchange Control Department,Reserve Bank of India, Central Office,Amar Building, Sir P.M.Road,Mumbai 400 001.