Limit for Debit Card CASH WITHDRAWALS at POS Terminals.

The use of debit cards at Point-of-Sale (POS) terminals at different merchant establishments has been steadily increasing. As a further step towards enhancing the customer convenience in using the plastic money, it has been decided to permit cash withdrawals at POS terminals. To start with, this facility will be available for all debit cards issued in India, upto Rs.1000/- per day.

Now it has been decided to permit cash withdrawals at POS terminals falling under Tier 3 to Tier 6 centres (with population upto 49,999 as per Census 2001) upto Rs 2000/-  per day. 

Conditions for 'cash withdrawal at Point of Sale (POS)

1. This facility is available only against debit cards issued in India.

2. The maximum amount that can be withdrawn at POS terminals is fixed at Rs.1000/- per day.

3. This facility may be made available at any merchant establishment designated by the bank after a process of due diligence.

4. The facility is available irrespective of whether the card holder makes a purchase or not.

5. In case the facility is being availed along with the purchase of merchandise, the receipt generated shall separately indicatethe amount of cash withdrawn.

6. Banks offering this facility shall put in place a proper customer redressal mechanism. Complaints in this regard will fall within the ambit of the Banking Ombudsman Scheme.

7. Banks offering this facility shall on approval by their respective Boards obtain one time permission of Reserve Bank of India, Department of Banking Operations and Development under Section 23 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949.

White Label ATM "WLA"

"White Label ATMs" 

RBI has decided to permit non-bank entities incorporated in India under the Companies Act 1956, to set up, own and operate ATMs in India. Non-bank entities that intend setting up, owning and operating ATMs, would be christened "White Label ATM Operators" (WLAO) and such ATMs would be called "White Label ATMs" (WLAs). They will provide the banking services to the customers of banks in India, based on the cards (debit/credit/prepaid) issued by banks. The WLAO's role would be confined to acquisition of transactions of all banks' customers and hence they would need to establish technical connectivity with the existing authorised shared ATM Network Operators / Card Payment Network Operators.

Non-bank entities would be permitted to set up WLAs in India, after obtaining authorisation from RBI under the Payment and Settlement Systems (PSS) Act 2007. Such non-bank entities should have a minimum net worth of Rs 100 crore as per the latest financial year’s audited balance sheet, which is to be maintained at all times.

MCLR "Marginal Cost of Funds based Lending Rate"

The highlights of the guidelines are as under :

1. All rupee loans sanctioned and credit limits renewed w.e.f. April 1, 2016 will be priced with reference to the Marginal Cost of Funds based Lending Rate (MCLR) which will be the internal benchmark for such purposes.

2. The MCLR will be a tenor linked internal benchmark.

3. Actual lending rates will be determined by adding the components of spread to the MCLR.

4. Banks will review and publish their MCLR of different maturities every month on a pre-announced date.

5. Banks may specify interest reset dates on their floating rate loans. They will have the option to offer loans with reset dates linked either to the date of sanction of the loan/credit limits or to the date of review of MCLR.

6. The periodicity of reset shall be one year or lower.

7. The MCLR prevailing on the day the loan is sanctioned will be applicable till the next reset date, irrespective of the changes in the benchmark during the interim period.

8. Existing loans and credit limits linked to the Base Rate may continue till repayment or renewal, as the case may be. Existing borrowers will also have the option to move to the Marginal Cost of Funds based Lending Rate (MCLR) linked loan at mutually acceptable terms.

9. Banks will continue to review and publish Base Rate as hitherto.

How to calculate MCLR

With the RBI issuing guidelines to calculate base rates using the marginal cost of funds, commercial banks are now left with lesser flexibility while fixing lending rates. All loans sanctioned after April 1,2016 will be priced with reference to the marginal cost of funds-based lending rate (MCLR).

The concept of marginal is important to understand MCLR. In economics sense, marginal means the additional or changed situation. While calculating the lending rate, banks have to consider the changed cost conditions or the marginal cost conditions. For banks, what are the costs for obtaining funds? It is basically the interest rate given to the depositors (often referred as cost for the funds). The MCLR norm describes different components of marginal costs. A novel factor is the inclusion of interest rate given to the RBI for getting short term funds – the repo rate in the calculation of lending rate.

Following are the main components of MCLR.

Marginal cost of funds;

Negative carry on account of CRR;

Operating costs;

Tenor premium.

Negative carry on account of CRR: is the cost that the banks have to incur while keeping reserves with the RBI. The RBI is not giving an interest for CRR held by the banks. The cost of such funds kept idle can be charged from loans given to the people.

Operating cost: is the operating expenses incurred by the banks

Tenor premium: denotes that higher interest can be charged from long term loans

Marginal Cost: The marginal cost that is the novel element of the MCLR. The marginal cost of funds will comprise of Marginal cost of borrowings and return on networth.

According to the RBI, the Marginal Cost should be charged on the basis of following factors:

1.Interest rate given for various types of deposits-  savings, current, term deposit, foreign currency deposit

2.Borrowings – Short term interest rate or the Repo rate etc., Long term rupee borrowing rate

3.Return on networth – in accordance with capital adequacy norms.

The marginal cost of borrowings shall have a weightage of 92% of Marginal Cost of Funds while return on networth will have the balance weightage of 8%.

In essence, the MCLR is determined largely by the marginal cost for funds and especially by the deposit rate and by the repo rate. Any change in repo rate brings changes in marginal cost and hence the MCLR should also be changed.

According to the RBI guideline, actual lending rates will be determined by adding the components of spread to the MCLR. Spread means that banks can charge higher interest rate depending upon the riskiness of the borrower.

Powerful element of the MCLR system form the monetary policy angle is that banks have to revise their marginal cost on a monthly basis. According to the RBI guideline, “Banks will review and publish their MCLR of different maturities every month on a pre-announced date.” Such a monthly revision will compel the banks to consider the change in repo rate change if any made by the RBI during the month.