Come August 1, critical banking transactions such as salary, pension and Equated Monthly Installment (EMI) payments will take place round the clock i.e. 24×7.
This should come as a relief as one will no longer have to wait if the first day of a month, the day salary gets credited, falls on a weekend.
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Payments To Beneficiaries To Take Place On All Days
Presently, National Automated Clearing House (NACH) is available only on bank working days i.e. Monday-Friday.
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Shaktikanta Das said that from August 1, NACH will be available on all days of the week.
This is so as to enhance customer convenience and to leverage the 24×7 availability of real-time gross settlement (RTGS).
What Is NACH?
NACH is a bulk payment system which facilitates one-to-many credit transfers such as payment of dividend, interest, salary and pension.
It also arranges for the collection of payments in relation to gas, electricity, water, telephone, periodic instalments towards loans, investments in mutual funds and insurance premiums.
It is operated by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).
Service During The Pandemic
RBI also praised NACH for ensuring transfer of government subsidies during the pandemic in a timely and transparent manner.
This positions NACH as a popular and prominent digital mode of Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) for beneficiaries.
ATM Transaction Fees To Increase
In other news, RBI has also given its approval for ATM transaction charges to be raised to Rs 21.
The earlier going rate was Rs 20 per transaction.
The new charge will come into effect once a customer has completed the 5 free transactions they are allowed per month.
The new rates will come into effect from January 1, 2022.
RBI has raised the charges for the first time in 7 years, when the charges customers had to pay were last revised in August 2014.
Reason Behind Hike
The hike is being brought into place so as to compensate banks which will have to pay higher interchange fees from August 1.
An interchange fee is what a merchant bank has to pay to the card-issuing bank every time a customer swipes their card in the ATM.
The fee currently is Rs 15 which will increase to Rs 17.
Potential Benefits
Potential benefits to this move include a higher penetration of ATMs in semi-urban and rural markets.
This will allow customers in these areas to be better served as part of the government’s financial inclusion agenda.
The economy in general stands to gain from this as well since cash and digital payments are becoming significant pillars driving economic growth.
Pay More Charges For Withdrawing Cash, Using ATM Card: RBI Allows Banks To Raise Fees
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