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जरूरी खबर: अगले महीने से बैंक में पैसा जमा और निकालने पर भी देना होगा चार्ज, ढीली होगी जेब

बिजनेस डेस्क, अमर उजाला, नई दिल्ली Updated Wed, 28 Oct 2020 12:46 PM IST

मौजूदा समय में कई ऐसी बैंकिंग सुविधाएं हैं, जिनका इस्तेमाल तकरीबन हर ग्राहक करता है और इसके लिए ग्राहकों से पैसे वसूले जाते हैं। लेकिन इसके बारे में बहुत कम लोगों को पता है। एसएमएस सुविधा, मिनिमम बैलेंस, एटीएम व चेक के इस्तेमाल तक, पर बैंक आपसे पैसे वसूलता हैं। लेकिन अब से ग्राहकों को बैंकों में अपना पैसा जमा करने और निकासी के लिए भी फीस देनी पड़ेगी।

बैंक ऑफ बड़ौदा ने की शुरुआत
बैंक ऑफ बड़ौदा ने इसकी शुरुआत भी कर दी है। बैंक ऑफ इंडिया, पीएनबी, एक्सिस और सेंट्रल बैंक इस पर जल्द ही फैसला लेंगे। अगले महीने से यानी नवंबर 2020 से तय सीमा से ज्यादा बैंकिंग करने पर ग्राहकों को अलग से शुल्क देना होगा। मालूम हो कि बैंक ऑफ बड़ौदा ने चालू खाते, कैश क्रेडिट लिमिट और ओवरड्राफ्ट खाते से पैसे जमा और निकालने के अलग व बचत खाते से जमा-निकासी के अलग-अलग शुल्क निर्धारित किए हैं। अगले माह से ग्राहक लोन खाते के लिए महीने में तीन बार के बाद जितनी बार भी पैसा निकालेंगे, उन्हें 150 रुपये देने होंगे।

बचत खाते की बात करें, तो ऐसे खाताधारकों के लिए तीन बार तक जमा करना फ्री होगा, लेकिन अगर ग्राहकों ने चौथी बार पैसे जमा किए, तो उन्हें 40 रुपये देने होंगे। इतना ही नहीं, वरिष्ठ नागरिकों के लिए भी बैंकों ने कोई राहत नहीं दी है। जनधन खाताधारकों को इसमें थोड़ी राहत मिली है। उन्हें जमा करने पर कोई शुल्क नहीं देना होगा, लेकिन निकालने पर 100 रुपये देना होंगे।

आइए जानते हैं सीसी, चालू, ओवरड्राफ्ट और बचत खाताधारकों के लिए नवंबर से जमा और निकासी पर कितना शुल्क वसूला जाएगा।

सीसी, चालू व ओवरड्राफ्ट खातों के लिए इतना होगा शुल्क
सीसी, चालू व ओवरड्राफ्ट खाताधारक अगर प्रतिदिन एक लाख रुपये तक जमा करते हैं, तो यह सुविधा निशुल्क होगी। लेकिन इससे ज्यादा पैसे जमा करने पर बैंक आपसे पैसे वसूलेंगे।
ऐसे खाताधारकों के एक लाख से ज्यादा जमा करने पर एक हजार रुपये पर एक रुपये चार्ज देना होगा। इसके लिए न्यूनतम व अधिकतम सीमा क्रमश: 50 रुपये और 20 हजार रुपये है।
अगर सीसी, चालू व ओवरड्राफ्ट खातों से एक महीने में तीन बार पैसे निकाले जाते हैं, तो ग्राहकों से कोई शुल्क नहीं वसूला जाएगा।
चौथी बार निकासी पर प्रत्येक विड्रॉल पर 150 रुपये का शुल्क लगेगा।

बचत खाताधारकों के लिए इतना होगा शुल्क
बचत खाताधारकों के लिए तीन बार तक जमा निशुल्क रहेगा।
हालांकि चौथी बार से खाताधारकों को प्रत्येक बार पैसे जमा करने पर 40 रुपये देने होंगे।
निकासी की बात करें, तो प्रत्येक माह में तीन बार खाते से पैसा निकालने पर ग्राहकों से कोई शुल्क नहीं लिया जाएगा।
लेकिन चौथी बार से ग्राहकों को हर बार 100 रुपये का भुगतान करना अनिवार्य होगा।

फोलियो चार्ज भी वसूलते हैं बैंक
फोलियो चार्ज के नाम पर बैंकों को मोटी कमाई होती है। लेजर फोलियो के लिए बैंक 200 रुपये प्रति पेज वसूलते हैं। लेजर फोलियो किसी भी तरह के लोन पर सीसी या ओडी पर वसूला जाता है।

जरूरी खबर: अगले महीने से बैंक में पैसा जमा और निकालने पर भी देना होगा चार्ज, ढीली होगी जेब

 

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Bank to compensate account holders if customers lose money due to online fraud

Author : Lokmat English Desk | January 4, 2021 10:45 PM


In today's age of technology, online hacking and fraud is a common phenomenon and a number of them often ...


In today's age of technology, online hacking and fraud is a common phenomenon and a number of them often fall prey to fraud. Inspite, of lodging official complaints banks often fail to repay their customers the lost amount. Now in a major relief, the National Consumer Commission has released a new law stating if hackers fraudulently withdraw money from a person's bank account, the bank, not the customer, would be responsible for the loss. Announcing their verdict in one of the case, the commission blamed the bank for a flaw within their system. The victim alleged that the money was withdrawn from her account by a hacker. The victim attributed the hacking to a flaw in the bank's electronic banking system. On this, the commission said in its decision that the bank could not present any such evidence, which showed that the credit card of the victim woman was stolen. After which the commission ordered the bank to compensate the victim.
Observing that zero liability rests with the customer when the deficiency lies in the banking system the NCDRC directed the bank to reimburse around Rs 3 lakh fraudulently debited from a Thane woman's pre-paid forex card via over 29 transactions in 2008. Jesna Jose, the complainant who currently lives abroad, will also receive around Rs 80,000 in interest and compensation. The commission rejected the bank's claim that the woman had not taken care of the card and hence was liable for the fraud. Jose had submitted the complaint before the district consumer forum in 2009. She said she procured the card in 2007 and the fraud took place in 2008. Jose even registered a criminal complaint with Los Angeles police. The National Consumer Commission (NCC), while hearing the woman's complaint, directed a private bank to repay the stolen money along with the money spent on her mental distress and lawsuit, along with interest.
Explaining that in the annual report for the year 2017-18, the Reserve Bank of India had clarified who would be responsible in case of hacking. According to the RBI report, who will bear the loss will be decided by whose fault it is. As per RBI rules, if there is negligence or mistake on the part of the bank, the customer need not worry and the entire loss will be borne by the bank. On the other hand, if the fraud is due to the negligence of the customer, then the customer will have to suffer the loss. In a situation where it is neither the fault of the customer nor the fault of the bank, then if the customer lodges a complaint with the bank within 3 working days of the fraud, then the customer will not be responsible for the fraud. On the other hand, on filing a complaint in 4-7 days, the customer will get up to Rs. 5000-25000. But if the customer lodges a fraud complaint after 7 working days, it will depend on the policy of the bank in such cases.

Bank to compensate account holders if customers lose money due to online fraud | english.lokmat.com

 

[Kaitlyn_Duff]

That is good news but I am not sure as to how responsive this is currently. Has there been a case in which this was practiced?

 

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That is good news but I am not sure as to how responsive this is currently. Has there been a case in which this was practiced?

खाताधारकों के साथ ऑनलाइन फ्रॉड पर बैंक जिम्मेदार, राष्ट्रीय उपभोक्ता आयोग का बड़ा फैसला
ग्राहकों के साथ हुए ऑनलाइन फ्रॉड के मामले पर राष्ट्रीय ग्राहक आयोग की तरफ से बैंक खाताधारकों के लिए अच्छी और राहत पहुंचाने वाली खबर है
अपडेटेड Jan 07, 2021 पर 17:35 | स्रोत : Moneycontrol.com

केंद्र सरकार द्वारा एक ओर डिजिटल लेन-देन को प्राथमिकता दी जारी है दूसरी तरफ ऑनलाइन हैंकिंग और फ्रॉड की घटनाओं में इजाफा हो रहा है। इसकी वजह से ग्राहकों की नींद हराम हो रही है। कई ग्राहक शर्म और बदनामी के डर से ऐसी घटनाओं की शिकायत भी नहीं करते हैं। जिसकी वजह से उनके खाते से निकाली गई रकम ग्राहकों को वापस देना बैंक के लिए संभव नहीं होता है।
ग्राहकों के साथ हुए ऑनलाइन फ्रॉड के मामले पर राष्ट्रीय ग्राहक आयोग की तरफ से बैंक खाताधारकों के लिए अच्छी और राहत पहुंचाने वाली खबर है। आयोग ने कहा है कि यदि हैंकर ने ग्राहकों के खातों से रकम ऑनलाइन हैकिंग और फ्रॉड के द्वारा गायब किया तो इसकी संपूर्ण जिम्मेदारी बैंक की होगी।
महाराष्ट्र टाइम्स में छपी खबर के मुताबिक 12 साल पुराने एक अपराध के मामले में फैसला सुनाते हुए आयोग ने ऑनलाइन फ्रॉड के लिए बैंक को जिम्मेदार माना है। हैकर ने खाते से रकम निकाली है ऐसी शिकायत एक महिला ने बैंक से की थी।
इस घटना के लिए ग्राहक ने बैंक के इलेक्ट्रॉनिक सिस्टम को जिम्मेदार ठहराया था। संबंधित महिला ग्राहक का क्रेडिट चोरी हो जाने के बारे में कोई भी सबूत बैंक द्वारा उपलब्ध नहीं कराया गया था। ऐसा आयोग ने अपने आदेश में दर्ज किया है और पीड़ित महिला को बैंक द्वारा नुकसान भरपाई देने का आदेश सुनाया है।

बैंक को 3 लाख रुपये की नुकसान भरपाई का आदेश
ठाणे शहर की जेसना जोस ने एक निजी बैंक से प्रीपेड फॉरेक्स कार्ड लिया था। साल 2008 में उनके खाते से 29 ट्रांजेक्शन करते हुए हैकर ने 3 लाख रुपये उड़ा लिये। इसकी शिकायत जेसना ने उपभोक्ता आयोग के साथ ही लॉस एंजेलिस पुलिस के पास भी की। इसके बाद राष्ट्रीय उपभोक्ता आयोग ने बैंक के इस दावे को नकार दिया कि क्रेडिट कार्ड चोरी हो गया था और जेसना को 3 लाख रुपये नुकसान भरपाई देने का आदेश दिया। इसके अलावा मानसिक उत्पीड़न और कानूनी कार्रवाई खर्चे के रूप में 80 हजार अलग से देने का आदेश दिया है।

खाताधारकों के साथ ऑनलाइन फ्रॉड पर बैंक जिम्मेदार, राष्ट्रीय उपभोक्ता आयोग का बड़ा फैसला Bank will be responsible for online fraud with account holders, big decision of National Consumer Commission

 

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Thane: 'Bank liable to pay Rs 3 lakh for fraudulent use of forex card'

Rebecca Samervel | TNN | Updated: Dec 24, 2020, 11:44 IST

MUMBAI: Observing that zero liability rests with the customer when the deficiency lies in the banking system, earlier this week the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission directed HDFC Bank to reimburse around Rs 3 lakh fraudulently debited from a Thane woman's pre-paid forex card via over 29 transactions in 2008. Jesna Jose, the complainant who currently lives abroad, will also receive around Rs 80,000 in interest and compensation. The commission rejected the bank's claim that the woman had not taken care of the card and hence was liable for the fraud.

"The petitioner (bank) has produced no evidence to substantiate its averment that the card was stolen or that the complainant has resorted to any fraud or forgery. In today's digital age, the possibility that the card was hacked or forged cannot be ruled out. In the absence of any evidence that the card was stolen, I hold the bank liable for the unauthorized transactions," the commission said.
Jose had submitted the complaint before the district consumer forum in 2009. She said she procured the card in 2007 and the fraud took place in 2008. Jose even registered a criminal complaint with Los Angeles police.
The forum had ruled in her favour in 2010. Aggrieved, the bank moved an appeal before the state consumer commission in 2011. In 2013, it dismissed the appeal and confirmed the district forum's order. The same year, the bank submitted a revision petition before the national consumer commission.

The bank, in its plea, told the national commission that Jose had "willfully" not opted for an SMS alert facility and thus computer-generated auto responses could not be sent to her. It also submitted that in case of suspicious or fraudulent activity, the bank is not liable to intimate card holders. The bank further claimed the responsibility of tallying the signatures on the transaction slips with the specimen available with the bank did not rest with it, since the chargeslips are not required to be furnished to it as the entire process is automated without any human intervention.

The commission, though, observed a bank cannot rely on arbitrary terms and conditions to wriggle out of its liability towards customers. It said the terms and conditions must be in conformity with directions issued by Reserve Bank of India.
The commission further said the first unauthorized transaction took place on December 15, 2008, and this was observed by the bank the same day. Jose's father, though, was contacted in India only three days later. On December 20, 2008, within three days of receiving information from the bank, the father responded saying that the transactions were unauthorized. "In such circumstances, therefore, even if the deficiency was not with the bank, but elsewhere in the system, the bank will be held liable for all the 29 unauthorized transactions which were effected from December 15, 2008, till the card was hotlisted, ie December 20, 2008," the commission said.



Thane: 'Bank liable to pay Rs 3 lakh for fraudulent use of forex card' | Thane News - Times of India

 

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Private, Foreign Banks See The Highest Share Of Customer Complaints: RBI Report
Vishwanath Nair
@Vishwanath4389
February 08 2021, 10:59 PM February 08 2021, 10:59 PM

A naval officer walks past the Reserve Bank of India building in Mumbai. (Photographer: Kanishka Sonthalia/Bloomberg)
Private, Foreign Banks See The Highest Share Of Customer Complaints: RBI Report

• Vishwanath Nair@Vishwanath4389

Feb 08 2021, 10:59 PM
Feb 08 2021, 10:59 PM


Private sector banks and foreign lenders saw more customer complaints as a share of total accounts in 2019-20 when compared with public sector peers.
Private sector banks reported 0.14 complaints per 1,000 accounts against their credit and debit card services, while complaints against other services stood at 0.22 per 1,000 accounts, according to the RBI’s annual ombudsman report for year ended June 2020. Foreign banks saw 0.25 complaints per 1,000 accounts in the case of credit and debit cards, along with 0.3 complaints for every 1,000 accounts across other complaints, he said.
Public sector banks saw 0.09 and 0.08 complaints per 1,000 accounts for card and other services, respectively.
The RBI had launched ombudsman schemes for different financial services providers regulated by it for better quality grievance redressal. If customers are not satisfied with the resolution provided by banks or digital transaction service providers, they can approach an ombudsman and file a complaint. If the complaint is maintainable, the office of the respective ombudsman scheme will investigate and resolve the issue.
Among private banks, lenders such as IDFC First Bank Ltd. and Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. saw the highest share of complaints per 1000 accounts. Large lenders such as HDFC Bank Ltd. and ICICI Bank Ltd. saw maximum complaints in absolute terms.
The annual report, which covers complaints filed between July 2019 and June 2020, also covered the share of complaints against digital services offered by each category of banks. Digital complaints are those relating to services such as automated teller machine, debit card, credit card, mobile and electronic transactions.
As per the analysis provided in the report, payments banks had the highest share of complaints against every 1 lakh digital transactions, at 0.864. Small finance banks had the lowest share of digital complaints per 1 lakh digital transactions at 0.165, as per data provided in the annual report.
Total Complaints Rise
In absolute numbers, the banking ombudsman received more than 3 lakh complaints in 2019-20, a 57% year-on-year rise. The complaints were largely related to ATM or debit card transactions, electronic or mobile banking and non-adherence to fair practices code of the RBI.
While almost all categories showed a sharp rise in number of complaints in 2019-20 compared with previous years, number of complaints fell marginally in the case of non-adherence of fair practices code.
According to the annual report, the total cost of handling complaints fell to Rs 2,412 per complaint compared with Rs 3,145 a year earlier. This is because complaints rose while staffing in the banking ombudsman offices remained unchanged.
The turn around time to resolve complaints rose significantly to 95 days in 2019-20, from 47 days a year ago. This was largely because of the transition to a new complaint management system. While the system allowed all complaints to be seamlessly filed by customers, it took some time for officials at the ombudsman scheme offices to get used to it, the annual report said.
The turn around time of complaints during the second half of the year (January-June 2020) improved considerably to 45 days; a significant drop from the yearly average, showing perceptible increase in disposal efficiency over time, the report said.
Complaints Against Non-Banks
The annual report also focussed on ombudsman schemes launched for the non-banking finance companies and digital transaction services providers, launched in 2018 and 2019, respectively.
In 2019-20, NBFCs saw a significant rise in number of complaints filed against them under the ombudsman scheme. During the financial year, 19,432 complaints were filed against NBFCs compared with 3,991 complaints a year ago.
Most of the complaints against NBFCs were with respect to non-adherence of the fair practices code, non-observance of RBI directions and non-transparency in contracts or loans.
Bajaj Finance Ltd alone saw 4,979 complaints against it during the year, while other large NBFCs such as Fullerton Capital and Aditya Birla Finance saw over 400 complaints against each of them, as per the annual report.
The Office of Ombudsman for Digital Transactions received 2,481 complaints in 2019-20, as compared with 470 complaints received in the five months of 2018-19 when it was initiated.
This included 1,089 transactions received against the Unified Payments Interface, Bharat Bill Payment System and Bharat QR code. Other reasons for complaints included electronic fund transfer, non-reversal of funds despite system error and non-adherence to RBI guidelines for prepayment payment instruments.
While 11 complaints were filed against National Payments Corporation of India, PhonePe received 1,095 complaints and Amazon Pay received 305 complaints, according to data available in the annual report.
While announcing the latest monetary policy decision on Friday, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said the regulator was working on creating a centralised scheme for grievance redressal across entities, rather than having three separate schemes to make the process smoother for customers.

Bloomberg Quint


Private, Foreign Banks See The Highest Share Of Customer Complaints: RBI Report

 

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Faced with outage, TRAI puts off new commercial SMS norms by a week

March 09, 2021 21:39 IST
Telecom regulator TRAI on Tuesday suspended the newly-implemented norms for commercial text messages for one week, following major disruptions in SMS and OTP deliveries for banking, payment, and other transactions.

IMAGE: Kindly note that this image has been posted for representational purposes only. Photograph: sabinevanerp/pixabay.com.


The norms that pertain to content template checks and balances for text messages came into effect on Monday. Its temporary suspension now would give commercial entities, sending out messages and OTPs to customers, a reprieve and more time to comply with the stipulated requirements.
https://www.rediff.com/business/report/adamant-trai-says-will-implement-new-tariff-by-march-1/20200114.htm
The move to suspend the norms would enable the 'principal entities' to register the template of SMS so that no inconvenience is faced by the customers, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said in a statement.
"In order to protect the interest of consumers, it has been decided that scrubbing of SMS by telecom service providers shall be suspended temporarily for seven days...," it said.
According to the regulator, telecom operators are being asked to inform their 'principal entities' to take immediate necessary action in this regard and facilitate their registration, including SMS template, in a time-bound manner.



The temporary suspension comes after transactions, including banking, credit card payment and certain other services that involve SMSs and OTP generation, faced a major outage on Monday, and some estimates pegged the delivery failure and delays of such SMSes at 40 per cent.
The disruption that had even impacted SMS/OTP deliveries for railway ticket bookings and Co-WIN registration occurred after telcos implemented the TRAI norms for commercial messages.
The latest norms, based on blockchain technology, aim to curb unsolicited and fraudulent messages.
The norms require bona fide entities sending out commercial text messages to register message header and templates with telecom operators. The SMS and OTPs, when sent by user entities (banks, payment companies) are checked against the templates pre-registered by them on the blockchain platform -- the implementation of this content template 'scrubbing functionality', as it is called, has now been suspended for seven days.
On Monday, banking and telecom companies traded charges over the SMS, OTP disruptions. While banks and payment entities flagged faulty implementation of procedures by telcos, telecom operators squarely blamed the entities for not complying with regulatory requirements and not doing the needful despite repeated reminders.
"It has been observed that some of the principal entities have not fulfilled the requirements as envisaged in Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations, 2018. As a result, their SMS were getting dropped after implementation of the scrubbing of SMS by telecom service providers," TRAI said.
Pesky calls/messages or Unsolicited Commercial Communication (UCC) has posed major inconvenience to the public and also impinges on the privacy of individuals, the regulator noted.
To curb this, TRAI had issued rules that put in place a framework for controlling such unsolicited communications and spam messages.
"The regulations entirely came into force with effect from 28.02.2019. The regulation provides for registration of senders, telemarketers, headers, content templates, consent templates, registration of fine-grained subscriber preference etc," TRAI explained.
A direction under the rules was issued to all telecom service providers on January 20, 2020, to take due measures for onboarding of senders of messages called principal entities.
Telecom operators publicised the requirements of the new regulatory framework from time to time to inform all such entities to get onboarded.
"Telecom service providers also notified telemarketers and principal entities regarding the implementation of content template scrubbing and other provisions...from time to time," TRAI said on Tuesday.
Uday Reddy, chairman and CEO of Tanla Platforms lauded TRAI's move to allow enterprises and telemarketers more time to comply with regulation.
"Tanla's DLT (Distributed Ledger Technology) platform Trubloq was created to empower users and block spam calls and messages and enable enterprises build trust and faith with end users in the commercial communications domain.
"Towards this objective, Tanla is working closely with enterprises and telemarketers by supporting them to register their content templates and ensure conformity with the regulation," Reddy said.



The DLT platform was commercially launched in September 2020.
"Tanla has onboarded more than 34,000 enterprises and the DLT platform currently processes around 70 per cent of A2P (Application to Person Messaging) traffic in India, topping more than 1 billion interactions in a single day recently," Reddy said.



Faced with outage, TRAI puts off new commercial SMS norms by a week

 

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RBI warns bond markets to avoid ‘tandav’ of high interest rates
By: FE Bureau|
March 20, 2021 3:30 AM
Investors must understand their exposures when they set about to scour the landscape and exploit signs of market dysfunction.

“It is recovering but certainly not out of the woods yet,” the report said.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has warned the bond markets against pushing yields higher at a time when the central bank is aiming for an orderly evolution of the yield curve. There is “no way” the economy can withstand higher interest rates at this stage, the RBI said in its bulletin for March.
“As countries rush to inoculate their populations, the global economy should regain lost momentum in Q2. Bond vigilantes could, however, undermine the recovery, unsettle financial markets and trigger capital outflows from emerging markets. The Reserve Bank is striving to ensure an orderly evolution of the yield curve, but it takes two to tango and forestall a tandav,” the ‘State of the Economy’ report in the bulletin said.

Investors must understand their exposures when they set about to scour the landscape and exploit signs of market dysfunction. According to the central bank, what markets do not realise beyond the break evens, TIPS and policy stimulus is that there is no way the economy can withstand higher interest rates in its current state. “It is recovering but certainly not out of the woods yet,” the report said.
The benchmark 10-year yield, which had averaged 5.93% during April, 2020 to January, 2021 surged to 6.13% on February 2 on the announcement of the market borrowing programme of the central government, which turned out to be higher than what was expected. Following the announcement of measures by the RBI on February 5, the benchmark eased to 5.96% by February 11.
The report attributed the hardening of yields thereafter to global spillovers in the form of hardening crude prices, announcements of fiscal stimulus, inflation fright as revealed in break-evens and fears of central bank stance reversals, and a lukewarm response to the US Treasury’s primary auction. “It is a familiar script. The pandemic stirs a heady cocktail – fiscal stimulus; monetary accommodation; release of pent-up demand; vaccine rollout – on which the bond vigilantes thrive,” the report said. As growth forecasts for 2021 are raised, these “vigilantes” see in them the looming possibility of long dormant inflation. With these latent anxieties, they turn sceptical about the central bank’s promise to remain accommodative and start the rout.
“Nevertheless, forewarned is forearmed: bond vigilantes are riding again, ostensibly trying to enforce law and order on lawless governments and central banks but this time around, they could undermine the economic recovery and unsettle buoyant financial markets,” the RBI said.


RBI warns bond markets to avoid ‘tandav’ of high interest rates

 

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From cheque payment to FASTag, rule changes that will affect YOU in 2021
By Bindisha Sarang
Last updated on: January 06, 2021 09:30 IST


Cheque payments will be safer; the limit for contactless card transactions hiked.
Bindisha Sarang reports.

Illustration: Dominic Xavier/Rediff.com

Several rules that have a bearing on your financial life changed on January 1, 2021.
Adapt to them at the earliest so that you are able to benefit from them.
Failure to do so could result in lost opportunities and, in some cases, even a fine.


Contactless payment limit hiked
Starting January 1, the limits for contactless card transactions and e-mandates for regularly occurring transactions through cards and the Unified Payment Interface have changed from Rs 2,000 to Rs 5000.
T R Ramachandran, group country manager (India and South Asia) at Visa, says: "The Reserve Bank of India's announcement comes at an opportune time. 2021 is expected to be pivotal for contactless payments growth as usage accelerates among merchants and consumers."

Users will now be able to wave their contactless cards across more categories.
"Food, grocery and fuel were the primary categories that drove contactless transactions. With the upward revision of limits, customers can use this facility across other categories like health care, apparel, and restaurants,” says Sanjeev Moghe, executive vice-president and head (cards & payments), Axis Bank.

Cheque payment gets safer
From January 1, RBI started implementing its 'positive pay system' (PPS) cheque initiative.
The PPS requires cheque issuers to submit cheque details like the beneficiary name, the amount, and the cheque date to the drawee bank through channels like SMS, mobile banking, Internet banking, and ATM.
This system will be available for all account holders issuing cheques of more than Rs 50,000 and will be mandatory for cheque amounts of Rs 5 lakh and above.
"The PPS will introduce an additional layer of security and reduce instances of frauds and tampering of high-value cheques," says Naveen Kukreja, CEO and co-founder, Paisabazaar.com.

Multi-cap funds allocation to change
Sebi's new rules for multi-cap equity funds have made it mandatory for them to have at least 75 per cent of their allocation in equities and equity-related instruments, with minimum of 25 per cent allotted to each category: Large-, mid- and small-cap stocks.
Earlier, most multi-cap funds were biased towards large-cap stocks and gave similar returns as large-cap funds.
"Sebi has tried to ensure that multi-cap funds offer true diversification across market caps," says Harsh Jain, co-founder and COO, Groww. "Investors looking for diversified investment in equities can opt for them."


FASTag to become compulsory
All four-wheelers will have to have FASTag from January 1, 2021.
With FASTag, drivers do not have to stop at toll plazas because the toll fee gets automatically deducted from their account.
Making FASTag compulsory will pave the way for its wider application, such as paying for parking, fuel, and inter-state movements, and e-challan.

GST compliance gets easier
GST assessees who have an annual aggregate turnover up to Rs 5 crore will need to fill only four GSTR 3B forms instead of 12 in 2020.

NAV rules to change
From January 1, equity and debt mutual fund investors will get the purchase net asset value of the day when their money reaches the fund house.
At present, for investment up to Rs 2 lakh in an equity or debt fund, the NAV of the same day is given if the application is submitted before 1 pm.

"This change will impact investors who use cheques to purchase mutual funds," says Groww's Jain.
Rules for liquid and overnight funds have not changed.
LPG prices will change every week from January 1.
This could make your cooking gas bill more volatile but market-aligned.
UPI transactions will cost more.



From cheque payment to FASTag, rule changes that will affect YOU in 2021

 

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Why did Citibank exit India consumer business?
For foreign banks, retail is a tough game in this country. It has always been so. Over the years, the US multinational has been facing challenges from local competitors in the retail business, steadily but surely, losing its share
DINESH UNNIKRISHNAN

APRIL 20, 2021 / 11:49 AM IST

Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus Area, Fort, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India - October 25, 2017 - A closeup of the trademark brand logo of Citibank hanging outside their office building. Editorial credit: Rahul Ramachandram / Shutterstock.com


On 16 April, global banking behemoth Citibank said it will exit consumer/retail operations in 13 countries across Asia and Europe, including India.
The other markets are Australia, Bahrain, China, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Poland, Russia, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Although Citi's exit from consumer business is part of a global decision, it had its own – and good - reasons to review retail operations in India as well.
Over the years, Citibank has been facing challenges from local competitors in India. The lender has been steadily losing market share. "If you are not among the top three players in a market, then the question is whether you want to be in that market at all," said Sanjiv Bhasin, former India head of DBS Bank and a veteran Indian banker who has spent long years abroad in the business.
Citi’s share in retail business has been falling over the years and local competition has intensified.


After Citigroup, Africa's FirstRand to cut presence in India: Why the country is a minefield for for...

• 
  DBS, other rivals may be taking a closer look at Citi's India retail assets

Here's how the business stood till last year.
The bank had close to 30 lakh customers in retail, 22 lakh credit cards and 12 lakh bank accounts, as of March 2020. It had around six per cent market share of credit card spends in December 2020, but this percentage would have declined further since then.
The bank had advances of Rs 66,507 crore and deposits of Rs 1,57,869 crore. Citi's retail revenue contributed 30 percent to the total in March, 2020, while corporate pitched in with 50 percent.
In 2018-19, retail contributed 34 percent and corporate 46 percent, according to the details available. Thus, the retail business had been struggling.
The percentage of non-performing assets (NPAs) to net advances has gone up to 0.56 percent as of March, 2020 from 0.51 percent in the previous year.
Return on assets slightly moderated to 2.55 percent from 2.57 percent and business per employee improved to Rs 43.6 crore in FY20 from Rs 37.6 crore in the previous year. Interest income declined to 6.73 percent from seven percent during the period. To sum it up, there was no compelling reason for Citi to hold on to this market; an exit made sense.
Compared with this, Citi’s local rivals have been increasing share of retail business increasingly using digital channels. For instance, HDFC Bank’s retail portfolio has grown by around 7 per cent as on March, 2021 from the year-ago period. Within the retail, HDFC Bank grew its credit cards business by 12 per cent and home loans by around 10 per cent. Similarly, Axis Bank has increased the share of retail loans by 9 per cent on a year-on-year basis as per the data available till December, 2020.

Focus on institutional business to continue
Citi will henceforth focus on institutional business, which wouldn't require a lot of branches and people. That's a relatively safer bet for the global bank in India.
Ashu Khullar, CEO Citi India said in a statement post the global announcement: "We will continue to deliver our innovative digital solutions, backed by our global network, and devote our resources to large and mid-sized Indian corporates and multinationals, financial institutions, start-ups in the new age sectors, amongst others. India is a strategic talent hub for Citi. We will continue to tap into the rich talent pool available here to continue to grow our five Citi Solution Centers which support our global footprint."

India-a tough game for foreign banks
It’s not just Citi. Most foreign banks have struggled to catch up with their local competitors. The RBI insists that foreign banks have wholly local owned subsidiaries to get 'near-national' treatment. In the aftermath of the global financial crisis and building on the lessons from the crisis, the RBI issued a Discussion Paper in January 2011 on the mode of presence of foreign banks in India.
It was decided to allow foreign banks to operate in India either through branch presence or they could set up a wholly owned subsidiary (WOS) with near national treatment, which refers to equal treatment on regulation with local banks. The foreign banks had to choose one of the above two modes of presence and would be governed by the principle of single mode of presence. But, there weren't too many takers for the WoS model, with the possible exception of DBS.
The privilege of 'near-national treatment' came in with a big burden of compliance.
Among the rules that hurt foreign banks the most were those related to priority sector lending. The RBI rules state that if a foreign bank wants to incorporate locally and wants to be treated at par with local banks, they will have to comply with a norm that requires at least 40 percent of the overall loans be given to economically weaker sections. This wasn't feasible for foreign banks, which were mostly confined to metros and urban centres. It was tough to break even in rural branches with Citi's business model and cost structure.
"To compete in retail, you require feet on the ground. Foreign banks, due to their high cost structure (on staff and infrastructure), couldn't expand like local banks," said Naresh Malhotra, former SBI banker and a senior banking consultant.
For those foreign banks which wanted to expand through a branch-only model, getting fresh permits from the central bank was tough. Consider this: Standard Chartered Bank, which is the largest international bank (in terms of branch network) in India, has only 100 branches in 43 cities--and it has been operating in India since 1858! Compare that with the State Bank of India, which has over 22,000 branches or the HDFC Bank that has over 5,600 branches.
And the competition has been getting tough for foreign banks over the years. "In the last two or three decades, Indian banks have garnered much more meaningful share of retail banking and with digital penetration, their reach has more market share," said Bhasin. "Citi has been challenged by ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank quite impactfully," he added.
Banks like ICICI, HDFC Bank and Kotak, along with a bunch of small and mid-sized lenders, were aggressively upping their game to get a bigger pie of the retail business. Reason: Low rate of defaults and decent margin; in short a safer bet compared to risky corporate loans.
"India's retail banking industry is turning more competitive, more intense and more local. Foreign banks are at a disadvantage here compared to Indian banks," said Ashvin Parekh of Ashvin Parekh Advisory Services. "This is the right time for Citi to put their retail assets on the block or gradually wind it up," he points out.
That argument makes sense given that India has now opened up banking to multiple layers of institutions such as small finance banks, payment banks and, most recently, to digital lenders. More number of private banks would mean intense competition for foreign players who don't have a level playing field here.
The only major foreign bank which has prospered is Singapore-based DBS that got its permission in 2017 to set up a local subsidiary. The bank is in the process of building its retail business along with the SME (small and medium enterprises) book, which it secured through acquiring the Lakshmi Vilas Bank in November last year.

For others, retail continues to be a tough game in India.

DINESH UNNIKRISHNAN


Why Did Citibank Exit India Consumer Business?