The Reserve Bank of India on Thursday said it has done away with charges on fund transfers through RTGS and NEFT routes to boost digital transactions and asked banks to pass on the benefits to customers.

Clarity on the extebf[,nt of the cut for bank customers will emerge after the RBI comes out with a circular on this.

The Real Time Gross Settlement System (RTGS) is meant for large-value instantaneous fund transfers, while the National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) System is used for fund transfers up to Rs 2 lakh.

The central bank levies minimum charges on banks for transactions routed through these systems for fund transfers. Banks, in turn, levy charges on their customers.

The country’s largest bank, SBI, charges between Re 1 and Rs 5 for transactions through NEFT and between Rs 5 and Rs 50 for RTGS.

In its statement on developmental and regulatory policies, the central bank said that in a bid to provide impetus to digital funds transfer, it is doing away with the charges it levies for transactions processed in the two systems and that banks will be required to pass on these benefits to their customers.

Late last month, while extending the RTGS timings for customer transactions, RBI had given a time varying charge per outward transaction (in addition to a flat processing charge) ranging between Rs 2 and Rs 10. For NEFT transactions, the charges vary in the range of Rs 2.50-25.

HDFC Bank does not levy any charges for NEFT transactions, while that done at its branches range from Rs 2.50-25. For RTGS, the charge ranges from Rs 25-50 for transfers above Rs 2 lakh.