RBI removes NEFT, RTGS payment charges to push digital transactions

RBI has removed charges for payments via NEFT and RTGS and asked banks to pass on the benefits to customers. This means that payments via NEFT and RTGS would become either free or charges would be drastically reduced. This was announced in the Statement on Developmental and Regulatory Policies, which was released today by the central bank as part of its monetary policy review.



The Reserve Bank levies minimum charges on banks for transactions routed through its Real Time Gross Settlement System (RTGS) meant for large-value instantaneous fund transfers and the National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) System for other fund transfers. Banks, in turn, levy charges on their customers. In order to provide an impetus to digital funds movement, it has been decided to do away with the charges levied by the Reserve Bank for transactions processed in the RTGS and NEFT systems. Banks will be required, in turn, to pass these benefits to their customers. Instructions to banks in this regard will be issued within a week.



1. National Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT)
NEFT is a payment system facilitating funds transfers from one bank account to another. One can access this service either by using Internet banking or by visiting the bank branch. (Not all bank branches are enabled with this service.)

Once you initiate the transfer, the money reaches the beneficiary account within hours. There is no limit on the minimum or maximum amount you can transfer, however, individual banks may put restrictions on the per transaction amount.



Currently NEFT charges of the State Bank of India (SBI) are as follows:

Amount	Internet banking charges	Transaction charges at bank branch
Up to Rs 10,000	Rs 1 plus GST	Rs 2.50 plus GST
Above Rs 10,000 and up to Rs 1 lakh	Rs 2 plus GST	Rs 5 plus GST
Above Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2 lakh	Rs 3 plus GST	Rs 15 plus GST
More than Rs 2 lakh	Rs 5 plus GST	Rs 25 plus GST

The above charges are applicable as per transaction basis and attracts Goods and Services Tax (GST) at the rate of 18 percent.

2. Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS)
This is a facility used for transferring high value amounts. In RTGS, the minimum amount that can be currently transferred is Rs 2 lakh.



Below are SBI’s RTGS charges:

Amount	Internet banking charges	Transaction charges at bank branch
From Rs 2 lakh and up to Rs 5 lakh	Rs 5 plus GST	Rs 25 plus GST
Above Rs 5 lakh	Rs 10 plus GST	Rs 50 plus GST

The above charges are applicable as per transaction basis and attracts Goods and Services Tax (GST) at the rate of 18 percent.

You can only transfer funds using RTGS on any working day between Monday and Saturday either via internet banking or bank branch.