Answer: The policy is not aimed at any specific country. This step is part of a sequenced and calibrated path for increased use of the INR in international transactions.

With the enactment of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development (MSMED), Act 2006, for the goods and services supplied by the MSME units, payments have to be made by the buyers as under:

(i) The buyer is to make payment on or before the date agreed on between him and the supplier in writing or, in case of no agreement, before the appointed day. The agreement between seller and buyer shall not exceed more than 45 days.

(ii) If the buyer fails to make payment of the amount to the supplier, he shall be liable to pay compound interest with monthly rests to the supplier on the amount from the appointed day or, on the date agreed on, at three times of the Bank Rate notified by Reserve Bank.

(iii) For any goods supplied or services rendered by the supplier, the buyer shall be liable to pay the interest as advised at (ii) above.

(iv) In case of dispute with regard to any amount due, a reference shall be made to the Micro and Small Enterprises Facilitation Council, constituted by the respective State Government.

Further, banks are advised to fix sub-limits within the overall working capital limits to the large borrowers specifically for meeting the payment obligation in respect of purchases from MSMEs. (Refer circular  IECD/5/08.12.01/2000-01 dated October 16, 2000 reiterated on May 30, 2003, vide circular No. IECD.No.20/08.12.01/2002-03).

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 : 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.

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

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

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.

Ans : Yes. The maximum exposure that an IDF-NBFC can take on individual projects will be

1. at 50 percent of its total Capital Funds (Tier I plus Tier II) and not to Owned Funds as in the case of NBFCs.

2. An additional exposure up to 10 percent could be taken at the discretion of the Board of the IDF-NBFC.

3. In addition, if the financial position of the IDF-NBFC is satisfactory RBI may, on being satisfied and upon receipt of an application from an IDF-NBFC, permit additional exposure up to 15 percent (over 60 percent) subject to such conditions as it may deem fit to impose regarding additional prudential safeguards.

• IIBs would be a G-Sec and therefore, would be eligible for short-sale and repo transactions.

Ans. Residents may book their tickets in India for their visit to any third country. For instance, residents can book their tickets for travel from London to New York, through domestic/foreign airlines in India. However, the same (air tickets) would be a part of the traveller’s overall LRS entitlement of USD 250,000.

Response

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.

RBI has recommended the following steps to banks for reducing the timeframe for collection of USD cheques -

• Review the collection policy on an on-going basis so as to explore faster methods of realisation.

• Reduce the transit period for movement of cheques from the collecting branches to the centralised pooling branch and from the centralised pooling branch to CBs.

• Explore feasibility of forming / pooling cheques of various collecting banks to a common service bureau to avail benefits arising out of increased volumes, reduced infrastructure costs, etc.

• Explore the possibility of leveraging on Check-21 facility.

• Use of efficient and reliable courier / postal service.

• Yes, joint holding will be allowed.

Ans. Yes

Ans. The customer should keep in mind, among others, the following:

a) There is no requirement of keeping any deposit/ margin/ collateral/ primary security with the lender at any stage of the microfinance loan.

b) Lender is required to provide a loan card to the borrower in a language understood by the borrower which should have following information:

• Information which adequately identifies the borrower;

• Simplified factsheet on pricing;

• All other terms and conditions attached to the loan;

• Acknowledgements by the lender of all repayments including instalments received and the final discharge; and

• Details of the grievance redress system, including the name and contact number of the nodal officer of the lender.

c) Purchase of any non-credit products is purely voluntary. Fee structure for such products shall be explicitly communicated in the loan card.

d) Training provided by the lenders is free of cost.

Ans. Yes. The KYC process adopted by the TReDS entities shall adhere to the “Master Direction – Know Your Customer (KYC) Direction, 2016” dated February 25, 2016 (as amended from time to time) issued by RBI.

Response: Yes.

Ans. Banks including those not having operational presence in India are required to obtain prior approval from Reserve Bank for soliciting deposits for their foreign/overseas branches or for acting as agents for overseas mutual funds or any other foreign financial services company.

Answer: Forex derivatives traded on exchanges are referred to as exchange traded forex derivatives. All other forex derivatives, including those traded on ETPs, are called OTC forex derivatives.

Ans: The amount under default shall act as the ceiling on which the penal charges can be levied.

Ans. The compounding amount as specified in the compounding order shall be paid by way of demand draft in favour of the “Reserve Bank of India” or National Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT), or Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS), or such other permissible electronic or online modes of payment within 15 days from the date of the order of compounding of such contravention. The manner in which the demand draft has to be drawn and deposited/ details of bank account for transferring through electronic mode of payment shall be indicated in the compounding order.

Ans. KYC Identifier means the unique number or code assigned to a customer of an RE by the Central KYC Records Registry (CKYCR). If the customer approaches an RE for opening an account, he can provide his KYC Identifier and give consent to the RE to download the valid KYC data from CKYCR. This can obviate the need for the customer to submit KYC documents again while opening an account with another RE.

In terms of Annexure II Part A (Notes and Instructions for compilation) for Schedule 13: Interest Income of Reserve Bank of India (Financial Statements – Presentation and Disclosure) Directions, 2021, Schedule 13 will include all types of interest / discount income for the banks. Accordingly, banks will disclose fees and charges, including penal charges, recovered from customers in ‘Schedule 14: Other Income’.

Ans: There are no charges or fees associated with using e₹ or e₹ wallets.

Ans. In terms of paragraph 22 of these Directions, interest will be paid as per following:

1. If the period from the date of maturity till the date of renewal (both days inclusive) does not exceed 14 days, the rate of interest payable on the amount of the deposit so renewed shall be the appropriate rate of interest for the period of renewal as prevailing on the date of maturity or on the date when the depositor seeks renewal, whichever is lower.

2.  In all other cases of renewal, interest rates for the overdue period on the renewed amount shall be determined by treating it as a fresh term deposit.

3. If, after renewal, the deposit is withdrawn before completion of the minimum stipulated period under the scheme, banks authorized under FEMA, 1999 may, at their discretion, recover the interest paid for the overdue period i.e., period beyond the original date of maturity.

Certain types of complaints which are classified as non-maintainable complaints due to various reasons as indicated below are not covered under RB-IOS, 2021:

1. Complaints which are filed directly with the Ombudsman without first being taken up with the RE concerned, in writing.

2. Complaints which have been lodged with the RE, but a period of 30 days has not elapsed from such date of lodgment of the complaint with the RE, except for complaints for which the complainant has received a reply from the RE, and is not satisfied with the reply.

3. Complaint made after one year from the date of receipt of the reply of the RE or, where no reply is received, later than one year and 30 days after the date of the representation to the RE;

4. Complaints which have been already dealt with by Ombudsman/ CEPC or those under process/pending on the same cause of action and for similar relief (whether received from the same complainant or along with one or more complainants) with the RBIO;

5. Complaints related to the commercial decision of the RE. For example: grant of a loan;

6. Complaints related to any dispute between a vendor and a RE;

7. Complaints addressed to other authorities and not directly addressed to Ombudsman;

8. Complaints raising general grievances against the management or executives of RE;

9. Complaints pertaining to a dispute in which action initiated by a RE is in compliance of the orders of a statutory or law enforcing authority;

10. Complaints in which the alleged deficiency in the service relates to an entity not regulated by RBI;

11. Complaints related to the disputes between REs;

12. Complaints related to any dispute involving employee-employer relationship of RE;

13. Complaints pending before any Court, Tribunal or Arbitrator or any other forum or authority; or, settled or dealt with on merits, by any Court, Tribunal or Arbitrator or any other forum or authority, whether or not received from the same complainant or along with one or more of the complainants/parties concerned;

14. Complaints that are abusive or frivolous or vexatious in nature;

15. Complaints made after the expiry of the period of limitation prescribed under the Limitation Act, 1963, for such claims;

16. Complaints with incomplete details and those that are not specific/actionable in nature;

17. Complaints lodged through an advocate (except where the advocate himself is the aggrieved person);

18. Complaint in the nature of offering suggestions or seeking guidance or explanation.

Ans.: Total invoice value in Indian Rupees (INR) in actuals (including billing to subsidiary(s)/associate(s) abroad) during the reference period to major countries/regional groups.

Ans.: Please refer to the below table containing the error codes (Fatal error, non-Fatal error) with their descriptions. If a respondent gets 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 accordingly. The revised data may be resubmitted on mf@rbi.org.in. In case 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 mentioned, by email to mfquery@rbi.org.in along with revised data, if applicable to mf@rbi.org.in.

Answer: The balance in Special Rupee Vostro Account (SRVA) can be repatriated in freely convertible currency and/or currency of the beneficiary trading partner country depending on underlying transaction i.e. for which the account was credited. For example, for import payments through SRVA like any Rupee Vostro account the fund can be remitted to overseas exporter either in freely convertible currency or in domestic currency of the overseas exporter.

Response: Joint deposit of two or more eligible depositors is allowed under the scheme. The deposit will be credited to a joint deposit account opened in name of such depositors. The existing rules on joint operation of bank accounts including nomination will be applicable.

Ans. A Small PPI (with cash loading facility) can be held for a maximum period of 24 months only. The 24 months shall be counted from the day of opening such a PPI. Within this period of 24 months, it has to be converted into a full-KYC PPI failing which, no further credit in such PPI shall be allowed. However, the PPI holder shall be allowed to use the available balance.

Ans : Yes, the banking system too benefits from ECS Credit Scheme such as –

• Freedom from paper handling and the resultant disadvantages of handling, presenting and monitoring paper instruments presented in clearing. Ease of processing and return for the destination bank branches.

• Smooth process of reconciliation for the sponsor banks.

• Cost effective.

• IIBs would be a G-Sec and issued as part of the approved Government market borrowing programme.

• Therefore, IIBs would automatically get SLR status.

Ans: The remitter and the beneficiary can track status of NEFT transaction by contacting NEFT Customer Facilitation Centre (CFC) of their bank, respectively. Details of NEFT CFCs of banks are available on the websites of the respective banks. The details of CFC of member banks are also available on the website of RBI at /en/web/rbi/-/customer-facilitation-centres-neft-updated-as-on-june-16-2023-2070-1.

For the purpose of faster tracking of transaction, you may need to provide few details related to transaction such as Unique Transaction Reference (UTR) number / transaction reference number, date of transaction, sender IFSC, amount, beneficiary name, beneficiary IFSC, etc., to your bank.

Ans. Where the medical expenses in respect of NRI close relative [‘relative’ as defined in Section 2(77) of the Companies Act, 2013) are paid by a resident individual, such a payment being in the nature of a resident to resident transaction may be covered under the term “services related thereto” under Regulation 6(2) of Notification No. FEMA 14(R)/2016-RB dated May 2, 2016.

The allotment to the non-competitive segment will be at the weighted average rate that will emerge in the auction on the basis of competitive bidding. (Please see answers to Q14 & Q17 ).

Ans : For the purpose of computing capital adequacy of the IDF-NBFC,

1. bonds covering PPP and post commercial operations date (COD) projects in existence over a year of commercial operation shall be assigned a risk weight of 50 percent.

2. All other assets shall be risk weighted as per the extant regulations as given in para 16 of the Non-Banking Financial (Non-Deposit Accepting or Holding) Companies Prudential Norms (Reserve Bank) Directions, 2007.

Ans. An indicative checklist of documents is given below:

a) Covering Letter for Membership to CPS, including:

1. Part-A: General Information

2. Part-B: Financial and Risk Management Aspects

b) For Current Account:

1. Application Form for Opening Current Account with RBI Regional Office (Annex-I of Master Directions on Access Criteria for Payment Systems)

2. Original Certificate of Incorporation / Registration

3. Original Certificate of Commencement of Business

4. An Up-to-date Copy of the Memorandum and Articles of Association / Byelaws Duly Authenticated by the Chairman of the Board

5. True Copy of a Resolution (as per specimen on the reverse) of the Board of Directors Authorising the Opening of the Account Together with Specimen of the Signatures of the Authorised Signatories Duly Attested by the Chairman

6. List of Officials Authorised to Operate Account

c) For INFINET Membership:

1. Application Form for INFINET Membership (Annex-IV of Master Directions on Access Criteria for Payment Systems)

2. Undertaking to be Given by the Applicant on Letter Head of the Entity

3. Copy of Board Resolution to Obtain INFINET Membership

4. Details of Existing IT Infrastructure

d) For RTGS Membership:

1. Application Form for RTGS Membership (Annex-V of Master Directions on Access Criteria for Payment Systems)

2. Certified Copy of the Advice of INFINET Membership

3. Undertaking in the Prescribed Form (Stamp Paper)

4. Power of Attorney, in Original, in the Prescribed Form (Stamp Paper)

5. Certified True Copy of the Resolution of the Board of Directors Authorising to Apply for the Membership of the RTGS System

6. Standing Instructions for Start of the Day Fund Transfer

e) For NEFT Membership:

1. Application Form for NEFT Membership (Annex-VI of Master Directions on Access Criteria for Payment Systems)

2. Certified True Copy of RTGS Membership Certificate

There are two types of GAH users (i) Transactional Users - users who can do order management- place/modify/cancel/hold/release and trade. (ii) View Users- who can only view orders/traded placed by various transactional users under the same GAH.

A franchiser, i.e. AD Category–I Bank/ AD Category–II / FFMC should undertake the following minimum checks while conducting due diligence of its franchisees:

1. existing business activities of the franchisee/ its position in the area

2. minimum Net Owned Funds of the franchisee

3. Shops & Establishments / other applicable municipal certification in favour of the franchisee

4. verification of physical existence of location of the franchisee, where restricted money changing activities will be conducted

5. conduct certificate of the franchisee from the local police authorities (certified copy of Memorandum and Articles of Association and Certificate of Incorporation in respect of incorporated entities)
   
   Note: Obtaining of Conduct Certificate of the franchisee from the local police authorities is optional for the franchisers. However, the franchisers may take due care to avoid appointing individuals/ entities as franchisees who have cases / proceedings initiated / pending against them by any law enforcing agencies.

6. declaration regarding past criminal case, if any, cases initiated / pending against the franchisee or its directors / partners by any law enforcing agency, if any

7. PAN Card of the franchisee and its directors / partners

8. photographs of the directors / partners and the key persons of franchisee

The above checks should be done on a regular basis, at least once in a year. The franchiser should obtain from the franchisees proper documentary evidence confirming the location of the franchisees in addition to personal visits to the site. The franchiser should also obtain a Chartered Accountant's certificate confirming the maintenance of minimum Net Owned Funds of the franchisee, i.e., Rs.10 lakh on an ongoing basis.

In case the aggregate amount bid is more than the reserved amount through non-competitive bidding, allotment would be made on a pro rata basis.

Example:

Suppose, the amount reserved for allotment in non-competitive basis is 10 crore. The total amount of bids for non-competitive segment is 12 crore. The partial allotment percentage is =10/12=83.33%. That is, each bank or PD or specified stock exchange who has submitted non-competitive bids received from eligible investors will get 83.33% of the total amount submitted by him. It may be noted that the actual allotment may vary slightly at times from the partial allotment ratio due to rounding off with a view to ensuring that the allotted amounts are in multiples of 10,000/-.

Ans. A customer is required to pay only those charges which are explicitly mentioned in the factsheet provided by the lender. Besides this, the customer should also note the following:

• There is no pre-payment penalty on microfinance loans.

• Penalty, if any, for delayed payment can be applied only on the overdue amount and not on the entire loan amount.

• Any change in interest rate or any other charge shall be informed to the borrower in writing well in advance and these changes shall be effective only prospectively.

Response

Yes. Please refer to response to the above query (Query No.14). However, if the bank does not levy any additional charges and offers more facilities free than those prescribed under BDBDA a/cs without minimum balance then such accounts can be classified as BSBDA.

• The minimum investment limit is Rs. 5,000/- (five thousand).

• The maximum limit is Rs. 10 lakh per annum for eligible individual investors and Rs. 25 lakh per annum for institutions such as HUFs, Charitable Trusts, Education Endowments and similar institutions which are not pro-profit in nature.

Ans. No

Ans. A settlement file provides information as to how much amount has to be debited from and credited to the accounts of participants (sellers, buyers and financiers), due on a particular date / time. In other words, it indicates how much a financier has to pay to an MSME seller, and how much a buyer owes to the financier on a particular date / time. The TReDS entities generate the settlement file and send the same to existing payment systems (for instance, National Automated Clearing House) for actual payment of funds.

Resolution Framework is applicable in respect of all eligible borrowers subject to the exclusions prescribed in Paragraph 2 of the Annex to the circular dated August 6, 2020. In respect of those sectors where the sector-specific thresholds have not been specified in the circular dated September 7, 2020, lending institutions shall make their own internal assessments regarding TOL/ATNW and Total Debt/EBITDA. However, the current ratio and DSCR in all cases shall be 1.0 and above, and ADSCR shall be 1.2 and above.

Response: A co-branding partner (CBP) acting as a BC or technology service provider for the card-issuer shall abide by the rules as prescribed in the instructions issued by RBI for such activities. However, a CBP shall not have access to card transaction data irrespective of any other service offered by them to the card-issuer. For the purpose of customer convenience, card transaction related data may be drawn directly from the card-issuer’s system in an encrypted form and displayed in the CBP’s platform with robust security. The information displayed through the CBP’s platform shall be visible only to the cardholder and shall neither be accessed nor be stored by the CBP. 

Ans. No ratings or guidelines have been prescribed under LRS of USD 2,50,000 on the quality of the investment an individual can make. However, the individual investor is expected to exercise due diligence while taking a decision regarding the investments which he or she proposes to make and such investments shall be in accordance with Overseas Investment Rules and Regulations, 2022 and the directions made thereunder.

Ans: Penal charges such as cheque bounce/mandate failure charges, which are necessarily levied on a per instance basis may not be annualized. However, these charges must be disclosed separately in the KFS under ‘Details about Contingent Charges’.