MAKING payments through cheques may become a costlier affair from tomorrow, as RBI has allowed banks to levy higher service charges for their clearing, especially of high-value and outstation cheques.
As per a RBI circular coming into effect from April 1, 2011, banks would be free to fix service charges on speed clearing of cheques of value above Rs 1,00,000.
At present, RBI does not allow banks to charge more than Rs 150 per cheque for speed clearing of cheques worth over Rs 1,00,000, while there are no charges for value up to Rs 1,00,000.
However, speed clearing of cheques with value up to Rs 1,00,000 would continue to remain exempt of any service charges.
Speed clearing refers to processing of outstation cheques electronically and without movement of cheques from the presentation centre (city where the cheque is presented) to drawee centre (city where the cheque is payable).
For normal local clear ing also, drawee bank can charge up to Rs 1.50 per cheque from tomorrow, as against Re 1 at present. For local clearing through cheque truncation system, which works electronically by processing the scanned image of the cheque, drawee bank can levy a service charge of Re 1 from Friday, up from 50 paise at present.
The service charges by banks should be inclusive of all charges (postal, courier, handling) other than service tax, RBI said.
