RBI/2011-12/166
DPSS (CO) RTGS No.388/04.04.002/2011-2012

September 05, 2011

Chairman and Managing Director /
Chief Executive Officer of all RTGS participants

Madam / Dear Sir,

RTGS service charges for members

As you are aware, the Reserve Bank of India has not been levying any service charges on the members for the usage of the RTGS system since its inception.

2. In consultation with stakeholders it has since been decided to levy service charges for all outward transactions of RTGS members. The rationale behind the levy of service charges for outward transactions of members in the RTGS System is to (a) recover operational costs; and (b) to bring in further efficiency in the operations and the liquidity flows in the RTGS system. Inward transactions of the members will not attract any service charges and will continue to be free as hitherto.

3. The RTGS service charges would have three components (i) membership fee, (ii) transaction fee and (iii) time-varying tariff as follows:

(i) Membership fees

(ii) Transaction fee (per transaction)

(iii) Time varying tariff

4. If a RTGS member desires to pass on the time varying tariff to its customers, the charges so levied should not exceed the time varying tariff that Reserve Bank of India is collecting from the RTGS member. The RTGS member should follow the same time band (prescribed by the Reserve Bank of India) while levying the time varying tariff on their customers. Accordingly, members are advised to time-stamp all customer initiated payment transfers to avoid any customer claims and disputes in future. Membership fees and transaction fees cannot be passed on to customers.

5. Accordingly, inclusive of the time varying tariff, the maximum customer charges that can be recovered by a member from its customers (if it so desires) would be as under:

6. Members may note that payment receipts to their customers accounts will continue to be free of any charges as hitherto.

7. RBI will calculate service charges on a monthly basis for each member and the amount would be debited from the current account of the respective member maintained with Deposit Accounts Department, Reserve Bank of India, Mumbai at the end of the month. The necessary reports on service charges collected from each member would be made available by the Deposits Account Department, Reserve Bank of India, Mumbai.

8. The service charges for RTGS members will come into effect from October 1, 2011.

Please acknowledge receipt.

Yours faithfully,

(Vijay Chugh)
Chief General Manager