Reserve Bank today announced that the cash withdrawal limits on savings bank account to be raised to Rs 50,000 per week from the existing limit of Rs.24,000 from Feb 20.

And also the limits on cash withdrawals from savings bank account would be removed from March 13.

Removal of limits on withdrawal of cash from Saving Bank Accounts

RBI/2016-17/224
DCM (Plg) 3107/10.27.00/2016-17

February 08, 2017

All Banks
Dear Madam / Sir,

Removal of limits on withdrawal of cash from Saving Bank Accounts
Please refer to our circular DCM (Plg) 2905/10.27.00/2016-17 dated January 30, 2017 on the captioned subject.

2. In the wake of withdrawal of Specified Bank Notes (SBNs) since November 09, 2016 Reserve Bank had placed certain limits on cash withdrawals from Savings / Current / Cash credit /Overdraft accounts and withdrawals through ATMs. On a review of the pace of remonetisation, Reserve Bank partially restored status quo ante by removing the restrictions on cash withdrawals from Current / Cash credit / Overdraft accounts and ATMs effective January 31, 2017 and February 01, 2017 respectively. However, the limits on cash withdrawal from Savings Bank accounts continued to be in place.

3. In line with the pace of remonetisation, it has now been decided to remove the restrictions on cash withdrawals from Saving Bank accounts (including accounts opened under PMJDY) in a two step process as under:

Effective February 20, 2017, the limits on cash withdrawals from the Savings Bank accounts will be enhanced to ? 50,000 per week (from the current limit of ? 24,000 per week); and

Effective March 13, 2017, there will be no limits on cash withdrawals from Savings Bank accounts.

4. Please acknowledge receipt.

Yours faithfully,
(P Vijaya Kumar)
Chief General Manager

Authority: www.rbi.org.in

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Deposit Pre-2005 Currency Notes in Your Bank Accounts before June 30, 2015: RBI urges Public

Soliciting cooperation from the public in withdrawing these notes from circulation, the Reserve Bank of India has urged them to deposit the old design notes in their bank accounts or exchange them at a bank branch convenient to them. The Reserve Bank of India has stated that the public can do so till June 30, 2015. Earlier, in March 2014, it had set the last date for public to exchange these notes was January 01, 2015.

The Reserve Bank has stated that the notes can be exchanged for their full value. It has also clarified that all such notes continue to remain legal tender.

Explaining the move, the Reserve Bank said that now the notes in Mahatma Gandhi series have been in circulation for a decade. A majority of the old notes have also been withdrawn through bank branches. It has, therefore, decided to withdraw the remaining old design notes from circulation. Not having currency notes in multiple series in circulation at the same time is a standard international practice, the Reserve Bank has pointed out.

The Reserve Bank will continue to monitor and review the process so that the public is not inconvenienced in any manner.

Source: CGEN

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08-March-2013 18:33 IST

New Norms for Credit Cards

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) vide Circular dated 28.02.2013on “Security and Risk Mitigation Measures for Electronic Payment Transactions” has directed banks to put in place the following safety measures for Credit and Debit Card Transactions :

• All new debit and credit cards to be issued only for domestic usage unless international use is specifically sought by the customer. Such cards enabling international usage will have to be essentially EMV Chip and Pin enabled. (By June 30, 2013).

• Issuing banks should convert all existing Magstripe cards to EMV Chip card for all customers who have used their cards internationally at least once (for/through e-commerce/ATM/POS) (By June 30, 2013).

• All the active Magstripe international cards issued by banks should have threshold limit for international usage. The threshold should be determined by the banks based on the risk profile of the customer and accepted by the customer (By June 30,2013).

• Banks should ensure that the terminals installed at the merchants for capturing card payments (including the double swipe terminals used) should be certified for PCI-DSS (Payment Card Industry – Data Security Standards) and PA-DSS (Payment Applications – Data Security Standards) (By June 30,2013).

• Bank should frame rules based on the transaction pattern of the usage of cards by the customers in coordination with the authorized card payment networks for arresting fraud (By June 30, 2013).

• Banks should ensure that all acquiring infrastructure that is currently operational on IP (internet protocol) based solutions are mandatorily made to go through PCI-DSS and PA-DSS certification. This should include acquirers, processors/aggregators and large merchants (By June 30, 2013).

• Banks should move towards real time fraud monitoring system at the earliest.

• Banks should provide easier methods (like SMS) for the customer to block his card and get a confirmation to that effect after blocking the card.

• Banks should move towards a system that facilitates implementation of additional facilitates implementation of additional factor of authentication for cards issued in India and used internationally (transactions acquired by banks located abroad).

After discussions with Banks, the RBI had issued the guidelines vide Circular dated 28.02.2013 on “Security and Risk Mitigation Measures for Electronic Payment Transactions”.

This was stated by Minister of State for Finance, Shri Namo Narain Meena, in Lok Sabha today.

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CTS- 2010 Standards implementation : Standardisation and Enhancement of Security Features in Cheque Forms, the introduction and implementation of additional security features on cheque forms will commence from 1.1.2013, this Guidance Note will be called CTS-2010.

Important things on new cheque leaf as follows:

A) Water Mark (to be incorporated at the paper manufacturing stage)

B) Void Pantograph ( at printing stage)

C)Ultra-violet logo of Bank(at printing stage)

D) Standardized field placements of a cheque

E) Cheque printing colours and background.

F) Microlettering.

G) New Rupee Symbol at CAR (Courtesy Amount Recognition) amount in figure field.

H) Printer Name along with CTS – 2010
What would be benefit of cheque truncation to customers of banks?
Before we answer this question, we have to understand the present system of cheque clearance. The cheques presented by customers, today, are sent to the clearing house at the drawee centres by the beneficiaries’ bank. The cheques at the bigger cities, in view of the large volume of paper instruments, are subjected encoding and then to mechanical sorting and thereafter reach the drawee branches.

As per the existing banking practice, these instruments received at the counters of the drawee branches are paid or returned by them. The returned instruments are passed on to the presenting customers through the process of a return clearing. Only after the return clearing process gets over, banks release the credit to the customers. The beneficiaries’ account gets credited on the same day on which the drawees’ account gets debited; however, the beneficiary is permitted to use the proceeds only after the return clearing process.

With the introduction of the imaging and truncation, the physical movement of instruments would be stopped and the electronic movement of images of cheques would speed up the process of settlements and ultimately alter the clearing cycles. The clearing cycle could be shortened and it would be possible for customers to realize the proceeds of cheques early. Thus cheque truncation would reduce effectively the time of float, i.e. time from the point of issue of cheque to the point of time the actual debit takes place. In case such clearing is introduced across the cities, it would ensure the realisation of inter-city instruments faster thus ensuring early availability of funds to beneficiaries.

Thus the benefits could be summarized as:
a) Faster clearing cycle;
b) Better reconciliation/verification process
c) Better Customer Service ñ Enhanced Customer Window
d) T+0 for Local Clearing and T + 1 for inter-city clearing.
e) Elimination of Float – Incentive to shift to Credit Push payments.
f) The jurisdiction of Clearing House can be extended to the entire country – No Geographical Dependence
g) Operational Efficiency will benefit the bottom lines of banks – Local Clearing activity is a high cost no revenue activity.
h) Minimises Transaction Costs.
i) Reduces operational risk by securing the transmission route

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