No. Model Education Loan Scheme, 2021 is currently applicable to Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs) only. The list of SCBs is available here.

Answer: The settlement through Indian Rupees (INR) is an additional arrangement to the existing system that uses freely convertible currencies and will work as a complimentary system. This will reduce dependence on hard (freely convertible) currency.

Ans. Conversion of the token back to actual card details is known as de-tokenisation.

The Government Securities Act, 2006 (G S Act) is an Act to consolidate and amend the laws relating to Government securities and its management by the RBI and for matters connected therewith.

It is not necessary that individual alongwith his related parties have shareholding in the NOFHC. However, if any individual belonging to the Promoter Group chooses to become a promoter of the NOFHC, he along with his relatives (as defined in Section 6 of the Companies Act 1956) and along with entities in which he and / or his relatives hold not less than 50 per cent of the voting equity shares can hold voting equity shares not exceeding 10 per cent of the total voting equity shares of the NOFHC. [para 2 ( C ) (ii) (a) of the guidelines]

Ans: Debit cards are issued by banks and are linked to a bank account. Credit cards are issued by scheduled commercial banks (excluding Payments banks), Regional Rural Banks (in collaboration with other banks), and Urban Cooperative Banks, Non-Bank Financial Companies (subject to approval from RBI). Prepaid cards are issued by eligible banks and authorised non-banks.

The Group Entities here refer to the RBI Regulated Entities in the Group, which fulfill the definition of Group Entity, as provided in the Circular. Therefore, if any partner of a Chartered Accountant firm is a director in an RBI Regulated Entity in the Group, the said firm shall not be appointed as SCA/SA of any of the RBI Regulated Entities in the Group. However, if an audit firm is being considered by any of the RBI Regulated Entities in the Group for appointment as SCAs/SAs, whose partner is a director in any of the Group Entities (which are not regulated by RBI), the said audit firm shall make appropriate disclosures to the ACB as well as Board /LMC.

Ans: Para 1 of the Annex I to the Circular dated September 02, 2022 specifies that these Guidelines are applicable to ‘Digital Lending’. Hence, only if a lending transaction qualifies under the definition of ‘Digital Lending’, will the service provider facilitating such lending be designated as LSP.

Ans: The provisions of Clause 34, that require the transfer to be only on cash basis at the time of transfer of loans, shall be without derogation of the provisions of clause 15, which pertains to retained economic interest. However, it is reiterated that any retention of economic interest under clause 15 by the transferor must not result in credit enhancement.

Ans: IIBs are government securities and as such should be classified accordingly as indicated in para 2 (i) of Master circular on investments:

Classification

i) The entire investment portfolio of the banks (including SLR securities and non-SLR securities) should be classified under three categories

viz. 'Held to Maturity',

'Available for Sale' and 'Held for Trading'

* However, in the balance sheet, the investments will continue to be disclosed as per the existing six classifications:

viz. a) Government securities,

b) Other approved securities,

c) Shares,

d) Debentures & Bonds,

e) Subsidiaries / joint ventures and

f) Others (CP, Mutual Fund Units, etc.).

Ans. Following links can be perused for understanding RTGS and NEFT systems: -

RTGS System Regulations

NEFT Procedural Guidelines

FAQs on RTGS

FAQs on NEFT

Master Guidelines on Access Criteria for Payment Systems

Ans. Any person who contravenes any provision of the FEMA, 1999 [except section 3(a)] or contravenes any rule, regulation, notification, direction or order issued in exercise of the powers under this Act or contravenes any condition subject to which an authorization is issued by the Reserve Bank, can apply for compounding to the Reserve Bank. Applications seeking compounding of contraventions under section 3(a) of FEMA, 1999 may be submitted to the Directorate of Enforcement (DOE).

Ans. In terms of paragraph 4.22 of Master Direction - Reserve Bank of India (Interest Rate on Deposits) Directions, 2025, reinvestment deposits are those deposits where interest (as and when due) is reinvested at the same contracted rate till maturity which is withdrawable with the principal amount on maturity date.

The pension paying banks credit the pension amount in the accounts of the pensioners based on the instructions given by the Pension Paying Authorities.

Ans: Paragraph 5.1 of the Master Directions requires Regulated Entities (REs) to immediately report incidents of fraud to Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs), subject to applicable laws. Under Section 33 of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS), a person is not mandatorily required to report to LEAs information on commission of all offences, but only on those offences which are listed in that Section. REs are, however, advised to mandatorily report incidents of fraud involving an amount of ₹1 lakh or more to LEAs.

Ans. Yes, KYC is mandatorily required to be carried out:

1. at the time of commencement of an account-based relationship, i.e., opening any type of account with the RE; or
2. when a walk-in-customer carries out occasional transaction of an amount equal to or exceeding ₹50,000 (whether conducted as a single transaction or several transactions that appear to be connected); or
3. when a walk-in-customer carries out any international money transfer operations; or
4. when the RE has a doubt about the authenticity or adequacy of the customer identification data it has obtained; or
5. when the RE sells its own products or third party products as an agent; payment of dues of credit cards/ sale and reloading of prepaid/ travel cards and any other product for more than ₹50,000.

Ans.: Annual.

Ans: e₹ can be held and transacted through e₹ wallets offered by banks and non-banks for person-to-person payments or person-to-merchant transactions. One can start using the e₹ wallet by downloading the e₹ app from the Play Store or the App Store and by following the App instructions. Detailed instructions on using the e₹ wallet can be checked with the banks and non-banks providing the wallet. Payments to merchants can be made by scanning either the CBDC QR code or the UPI QR code available at the respective merchant location.

Ans: Communications to borrowers envisaged in the circular are:

(a) At the time of sanction:

1. Annualised rate of interest/ Annual Percentage Rate (APR), as applicable, shall be disclosed in the Key Fact Statement (KFS) and the loan agreement.

2. The possible impact of change in benchmark interest rate on the loan.

(b) During the tenure of the loan:

1. Subsequently, any increase in the EMI/tenor on account of the external benchmark rate shall be communicated; and

2. Quarterly statements shall be provided disclosing at the minimum, the principal and interest recovered till date, EMI amount, number of EMIs left and annualized rate of interest for the tenor of the loan.