Electronic fund transfers should come free of cost: Pranab

June 13, 2012 04:25 PM  |
MDT/PTI

The Finance Minister said RBI should proactively work and to see if all electronic banking transactions are possible without any charges being levied

New Delhi: Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee asked RBI to work out a mechanism to ensure that banks charge no fee from customers for electronic transfer of funds. Pointing out that Oriental Bank of Commerce has waived off all charges for electronic transactions up to Rs1 lakh, he said, “I am confident that all the public sector banks would follow this excellent initiative,” reports PTI.
 
 “I would also urge upon Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to proactively work on this front and to see that all electronic banking transactions should be possible without any charges being levied,” he said in his address to CEOs of public sector banks and financial institutions here.

 The Department of Financial Services is working on the implementation of an action plan to bring the country's banking payment structure at par with global standards.

 “Public sector banks must promote electronic mode of transactions over other modes. They should examine the possibility of making NEFT transactions up to Rs1 lakh free of charges, as has been done by Oriental Bank of Commerce,” he later told reporters.

 For outward transactions under RTGS mechanism, banks charge Rs30 for electronic transfer of Rs2 lakh to Rs5 lakh and Rs55 for amounts above Rs5 lakh.

 On the other hand, under NEFT the charges range between Rs5 and Rs25.

 He also told the bank chiefs to that the use of debit cards to the point of sale without any transaction charges at least for micro and small transactions should be their next objective.