Ans. Yes, however, BO’s transactions should be restricted to its designated INR account and it should not put any transactions through the agent’s foreign currency account.

Ans. Details of types of membership in RTGS are available in chapter 4 of RTGS System Regulations. The type of membership in RTGS for non-banks PSPs will be decided by Reserve Bank based on the type of transactions they handle.

Ans. The insurance charges included in the factsheet are only for credit linked insurance product as these charges are linked to the microfinance loan. A borrower would not have incurred these charges if he had not taken the loan. The factsheet should contain information related to only pricing of microfinance loans to keep it uncluttered. Disclosures related to other non-credit products should be provided separately from the factsheet as mentioned under para 7.1.5¹ of the directions. All non-credit products (both financial products such as investment products, insurance products etc. as well as non-financial products such as solar lanterns, sewing machines etc.) should be provided only with the explicit consent of the borrower and REs should ensure that there is no direct or indirect linkage between the loan provided to the borrower and other non-credit products. No non-credit product shall be sold as a pre-condition for the loan product. REs should prominently display² that purchase of any non-credit product by the microfinance borrowers is purely on a voluntary basis. Board-approved Fair Practices Code of the REs, as mentioned under para 7.1.1³ of the directions, should also cover this aspect.

Ans. In TReDS, FU can be created either by the MSME seller or the buyer. If MSME seller creates it, the process is called factoring; if the same is created by corporates or other buyers, it is called as reverse factoring.

Ans. PPIs that require RBI approval / authorisation prior to issuance are classified under two types:

1. Small PPIs (or minimum-detail PPIs): These PPIs are issued by banks and non-banks after obtaining minimum details of the PPI holder. These PPIs can be used for purchase of goods and services at a group of clearly identified merchant locations / establishments which have a specific contract with the issuer (or contract through a payment aggregator / payment gateway) to accept the PPIs as payment instruments. Funds transfer or cash withdrawal from such PPIs is not permitted.

2. Full-KYC PPIs: The PPIs are issued by banks and non-banks after completing Know Your Customer (KYC) of PPI holder. These PPIs can be used for purchase of goods and services, funds transfer or cash withdrawal.

NBFCs which are required to comply with Indian Accounting Standards (IndAS) shall, as hitherto, continue to be guided by the guidelines duly approved by their Boards and as per ICAI Advisories for recognition of significant increase in credit risk and computation of Expected Credit Losses. However, the various additional provisions mentioned in the circular dated August 6, 2020 would constitute the prudential floors for the purpose of Paragraph 2 of the Annex to the circular DOR (NBFC).CC.PD.No.109/22.10.106/2019-20 dated March 13, 2020 on Implementation of Indian Accounting Standards.

The aim of introducing 'Basic Savings Bank Deposit Account' is very much part of the efforts of RBI for furthering Financial Inclusion objectives. All the accounts opened earlier as 'no-frills' account vide  UBD.BPD.Cir.No.19/13.01.000/2005-06 dated  November 24, 2005 should be renamed as BSBDA as per instructions contained in paragraph 2 of our Circular  UBD.BPD.Cir.No.5/13.01.000/2012-13 dated August 17, 2012.

Response

The aim of introducing 'Basic Savings Bank Deposit Account' is very much part of the efforts of RBI for furthering Financial Inclusion objectives. All the accounts opened earlier as 'no-frills' account vide RPCD Circular dated RPCD.RF.BC.54/07.38.01/2005-06 dated December 13, 2005 and RPCD.CO.No.RRB.BC.58/03.05.33(F)/2005-06 dated December 27, 2005 should be renamed as BSBDA as per the instructions contained in paragraph 2 of our Circular RPCD.CO.RRB.RCB.BC.No.24/07.38.01/2012-13 dated August 22, 2012 and all the new accounts opened since the issue of our circular RPCD.CO.RRB.RCB.BC.No.24 dated August 22, 2012 should be reported under the monthly report of the progress of Financial Inclusion plans submitted by banks to RPCD, CO.

Response: For a typical credit card with billing cycle from October 1, 2023 to October 30, 2023, let’s assume the bill is generated on October 30, 2023 and the due date of payment is November 19, 2023. The different scenarios for adjustment of credit are detailed below:

Note: The card-issuers may put in place a suitable mechanism to prevent evergreening of the credit facility.