SBI reduces NEFT, RTGS charges by 75%

The country's largest lender, State Bank of India (SBI), on Thursday reduced the National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) and Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) charges up to 75%, effective from 15 July.

In a move to promote digital transactions. The revised charges will be applicable on NEFT and RTGS transactions done through internet banking or mobile banking offered by the bank, SBI said in a statement. NEFT and RTGS are electronic payment systems, which allow fund transfer between two accounts of different banks in the country.

Earlier, SBI used to charge Rs. 2 for fund transfers up to Rs. 10,000 through NEFT using internet or mobile banking modes. Now that has been reduced to Rs 1 (excluding 18 per cent GST). For NEFT transactions from Rs 10,000 to Rs 1 lakh, the charge has been reduced to Rs. 2 from Rs. 4 earlier. Similarly, SBI has revised its fees for fund transfers between Rs 2 lakh and Rs 5 lakh through RTGS on its net and mobile banking platform, to Rs 5. This charge was Rs 20 earlier.

Digitalization and excellence in operations is one of our core strategies in providing convenience to customers. It has resulted in reducing turnaround time along with extended benefits to the customers.," said Rajnish Kumar, managing director (NBG) at SBI.

"In sync with our strategy and complementing the focus of Government of India to create a digital economy, we have taken one more step to promote use of internet banking and mobile banking for doing NEFT and RTGS transactions by reduction of the charges," he added.

Additionally, the bank had also waived charges for fund transfer of upto Rs 1,000 done through Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) effective July 1, 2017, the statement said. IMPS is a money transfer service that can be carried out though mobile phones or internet banking. The IMPS service helps to transfer money to the beneficiary's account immediately when a fund transfer request is made through mobile phone or internet banking.

(With inputs from agencies)