E-transaction limits may go up: Rakesh Mohan

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is contemplating relaxing the limits put for electronic fund transfer (EFT) and electronic systems.

Addressing a seminar on e-security organised by the Indian Banks' Association, Rakesh Mohan, deputy governor, Reserve Bank of India, said that keeping the security concerns in view, the present limit on the EFT and ECS will be reviewed. It could either be relaxed or completely removed.

At present, while there is a limit of Rs 2 crore imposed on the EFT transactions, ECS has a ceiling of Rs 5 lakh for credit and Rs 1 lakh for debit in corresponding accounts.

Mohan said that though in the urban areas, banks have been very proactive in setting up the information technology infrastructure, they have been rather slow in the rural areas.

The banks should try to computerise their rural set-up which will, in turn, help them for speedy credit appraisal of rural loans, he said. Thereafter, these banks can cater to small and medium scale industries.

Moreover, the RBI is engaged in online tax collection system which is being done under the OLTAS project which will give a boost to the state level value-added tax (VAT) as and when it comes.

He urged the banks to look forward to not only sharing of systems but also for cross border sharing of information. As far as real time gross settlement is concerned, Mohan said already 60 banks have joined the platform and another 15 are having the pilot run.