The Reserve Bank of India plans to rationalize and bring in uniformity in the mode and amount of service charges for electronic payment products and outstation cheque collection through the Real Time Gross Settlement System and the National Electronic Fund Transfer mechanisms.

"The endeavour should be to migrate to electronic modes of payment - Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS), National Electronics Fund Transfer (NEFT) and Electronic Clearing Service (ECS) - more so for large-value and inter-city transactions and the benefit of waiver of charges offered by the RBI should get passed on to customers to the extent possible," the RBI stated.

RBI has suggested the charges for these services. The Bank mentions that no charges would be levied for the inward transactions using RTGS, NEFT and ECS. While for outward transactions, RBI has considered mandating some cap on the charges.

An amount not exceeding Rs 25 and Rs 50 per transaction would be charged for outward RTGS in the range of Rs 1-5 lakh and above Rs 5 lakh respectively.

For transactions through NEFT, banks may levy charges of Rs 5 for a transaction upto Rs 1 lakh and Rs 25 for transaction above Rs 1 lakh. Banks may prescribe charges not higher than cheque return charges for ECS debit returns.

For outstation cheque collection, no bank would be allowed to charge more than Rs 50 for an instrument upto Rs 1 lakh and for amounts above Rs 1 lakh, RBI proposes to put a ceiling on charges at Rs 100.

To confirm that no additional charges are levied on the customers, RBI said that these charges will be all inclusive. The Central Bank stated: "No additional charges such as courier charges, out of pocket expenses and the like should be levied to the customers. No bank should refuse to offer the products to its customers or decline to accept outstation cheques deposited by its customers for collection."

The RBI stated that "it offers electronic products free of charge to member banks. Multiplicity of slabs levied by banks and lack of transparency in norms adopted by them for various segments of customers has led to confusion in the minds of customers, acting as a hindrance to the overall growth of the electronic payment products."

Under the new regime, RBI aims to bring uniformity in the charges levied by different banks along with a reduction in charges on outstation cheques and electronic payment. The Bank feels the existence of an efficient payment system is a pre-requisite for better development of economic activity in the country.