Ans. The above does not apply to BSBDA as the number of withdrawals from BSBDA is subject to the conditions associated with such accounts.

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).

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.

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. The exemption provided by the Reserve Bank to ‘Not for Profit’ companies (i.e., companies incorporated under Section 8 of the Companies Act, 2013 or Section 25 of the Companies Act, 1956) is applicable to those which are providing microfinance loans as defined in the directions and subject to conditions specified in para 2(i) of our ‘Master Direction – Exemptions from the provisions of RBI Act, 1934’ dated August 25, 2016 (as amended from time to time). This exemption is not applicable to other ‘Not for Profit’ companies engaged in NBFI business and it is incumbent upon such companies to obtain a certificate of registration under Section 45-IA of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 in case these companies are fulfilling the ‘Principal Business Criteria’ as specified in our Press Release 1998-99/1269 dated April 08, 1999.

Ans. Cash withdrawal or funds transfer from these two types of Small PPIs is not permitted.

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.

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.

Once the GAH is granted access to the NDS-OM Web Module, the Primary Member can create Users under the GAH, who can log into the system. The users once created by the Primary Member have to be approved by the NDS-OM Web Admin at CCIL.

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

Yes. The Roadmap to be prepared as per the recommendations of the Approach Paper would enable the banks to set milestones for achieving ADF which in turn would also help in monitoring from time to time the progress made in implementation.

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

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.

Foreign exchange for travel abroad can be purchased from banks against rupee payment in cash up to Rs.50,000/-. However, if the rupee equivalent exceeds Rs.50,000/-, the entire payment should be made by way of a crossed cheque/banker’s cheque/pay order/demand draft only.

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.

RBI will issue securities only in SGL form. It will credit the securities to the CSGL account of the aggregator or facilitator. They will in turn credit the securities to the gilt account or dematerialized account of the investors.

Name and address of the complainant, the name and address of the branch or office of the bank against which the complaint is made, facts giving rise to the complaint supported by documents, if any, the nature and extent of the loss caused to the complainant, the relief sought from the Banking Ombudsman and a declaration about the compliance with conditions which are required to be complied with by the complainant under Clause 9(3) of the Banking Ombudsman Scheme.

The Government of India notifies the auction of government securities. It also notifies the amount and whether it will be a new loan or reissue of an existing loan. It also announces whether the bidders have to bid for the price or the coupon(interest rate).The competitive bidders put in competitive bids for the price or the coupon. The cutoff price or the coupon is then announced by RBI on the basis of the bids received. All successful bidders will be allotted the security auctioned either in full or in part.Example:Recently, an auction was held for government of India's 11 year Government Stock in which the notified amount was Rs.5,000 crore. The coupon rate for cut-off yield was 9.40 per cent. The weighted average yield was, however, 9.36 per cent since allotments were made to different successful bidders at the rates quoted by them at or below the cut off rates (i.e. multiple price auction system).

In case of a term deposit standing in the name of a deceased depositor, interest will be paid in the following manner.i) If the payment of deposit is claimed before the maturity, the interest is payable at the rate prevalent on the date on which the deposit was placed with the bank and as applicable to the period for which the deposit remained with the bank, without charging any penalty.ii) In the event of death of the depositor before the date of maturity and the payment of deposit is claimed after the date of maturity, the interest is payable at the contracted rate upto the date of maturity. From the date of maturity till the date of payment of the deposit, the bank shall pay interest at simple rate of interest prevalent on the date of maturity as applicable to the period for which the deposit remained with the bank from the date of maturity of the deposit till its payment.iii) In the case of death of the depositor after the date of maturity of the deposit the bank shall pay interest at savings deposit rate operative on the date of maturity from the date of maturity till the date of payment.

The criteria for investment under the automatic route are as under:The total financial commitment of the Indian party in Joint Ventures/Wholly Owned Subsidiaries in any country other than Nepal, Bhutan and Pakistan is up to US$ 100 million or its equivalent in any one financial year or 100% of the net worth whichever is lower, and the investment is in a lawful activity permitted by a host country. The financial commitment in respect of Joint Ventures/Wholly Owned Subsidiaries in Myanmar and SAARC countries (other than Nepal, Bhutan and Pakistan) is up to US$ 150 million or its equivalent in any one financial year. (Please also see answer to Question No. 20).The Indian party is not on the Reserve Bank caution/defaulters list or under investigation by the Enforcement DirectorateThe Indian party routes all the transactions relating to the investment in a Joint Venture/Wholly Owned Subsidiary through only one branch of an authorised dealer to be designated by it.In respect of investments in non-core activities (refer Ques.15) the investing company has a proven track record.

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.

No. In the event of a bank's liquidation, the liquidator prepares depositor wise claim list and sends it to the DICGC for scrutiny and payment. The DICGC pays the money to the liquidator who is liable to pay to the depositors. In the case of amalgamation / merger of banks, the amount due to each depositor is paid to the transferee bank.

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.

The Ombudsman endeavours to promote settlement of the complaint through conciliation/ mediation by agreement between the complainant and the System Participant. If the terms of settlement (offered by the System Participant) are acceptable in full and final settlement of one's complaint, the Ombudsman will pass an order as per the terms of settlement which becomes binding on the System Participant and the complainant. If the System Participant is found to have adhered to the extant norms and practices in vogue and the complainant has been informed to this effect through appropriate means and complainant’s objections, if any, are not received by the Ombudsman within the time frame provided, the Ombudsman may pass an order to close the complaint.

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.

Ans. No, the RTGS system does not accept future value dated transactions.

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.

The redemption amount will be credited to the bank account furnished by the person in the application form.

The NBFC Ombudsman endeavours to promote a settlement of the complaint through conciliation/ mediation by agreement between the complainant and the NBFC. If the terms of settlement (offered by the NBFC) are acceptable in full and final settlement of one's complaint, the NBFC Ombudsman will pass an order as per the terms of settlement which becomes binding on the NBFC and the complainant. If the NBFC is found to have adhered to the extant norms and practices in vogue and the complainant has been informed to this effect through appropriate means and complainant’s objections, if any, are not received by the NBFC Ombudsman within the time frame provided, the NBFC Ombudsman will pass an order to close the complaint.

Since the swap with RBI will be undertaken in multiples of USD one million, it is possible that a bank may have to wait before it mobilises a minimum amount of USD one million. In such a case, the banks will be allowed to undertake swaps for tenors of marginally less than three years provided they have mobilised fresh eligible FCNR (B) for minimum original tenor of three years with one year lock in period.

• Yes, joint holding will be allowed.

Ans. Yes

Ans. Non-bank PSPs will be allowed only direct membership of CPS. They will not be permitted to sponsor any bank / PSP as sub-member in CPS.

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.

For the purpose of eligibility for resolution under the Resolution Framework, the definition of MSME that would be applicable is the one that existed as on March 1, 2020.

Response: Yes.

Government security held in the form of GPN is transferable by endorsement and delivery, while a bearer bond is transferable by delivery and the person in possession of the bond shall be deemed to be the holder of the bond. Government securities held in the form of SC, SGL/CSGL and BLA are transferable, before maturity, by execution of forms - III, IV and V respectively, appended to the G S Regulations, provided that the same are eligible for transfer as per the specific Government Loan Notification. Further, these transfer forms may also be executed in electronic form under digital signature.

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.

To make the entire process smooth and convenient for the public, a period of over four months has been given for deposit and/or exchange of ₹2000 banknotes. Members of the public, are therefore, encouraged to avail this facility at their convenience within the allotted time.

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. Customers have the option to set and modify per transaction and daily transaction limits for tokenised card transactions.

The Bonds bear interest at the rate of 2.50 per cent (fixed rate) per annum on the amount of initial investment. Interest will be credited semi-annually to the bank account of the investor and the last interest will be payable on maturity along with the principal.

A. Yes. The condition (not less than 51 per cent of the total voting equity shares of the NOFHC to be held by the companies in the Promoter Group, which have not less than 51 percent public shareholding) is applicable to the companies in the Promoter Groups in the private sector that are ‘owned and controlled by residents’[as defined in Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion(DIPP) Press Note No.2, 3 and 4 of 2009/FEMA Regulations as amended from time to time].However, such a company need not necessarily be listed.[para 2 (A) and (C) (ii) of the guidelines]

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.