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The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday proposed a set of measures to make it easier and faster for individuals and businesses to receive money from abroad, seeking to eliminate delays between the receipt of funds by a bank and the credit to the recipient’s account.
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Under the proposed norms, banks will be required to credit inward remittances received during foreign exchange market hours to beneficiaries’ accounts on the same business day, and those received after market hours on the next business day, the central bank said in a draft circular.
“One of the challenges with the speed of cross-border payments is the delay between the receipt of the payment at the beneficiary bank and the credit to the beneficiary’s account,” the RBI observed.
To accelerate the process, the regulator has suggested that banks introduce a ‘straight-through’ automated system to directly credit inward payments after conducting necessary risk assessments. It also encouraged banks to set up digital platforms that allow customers to upload required documents and track the progress of their foreign exchange transactions.
“Banks should inform their customers of the receipt of cross-border inward transactions immediately upon receiving the message. Messages received after the close of operating hours should be notified to customers at the start of the next business day,” the RBI said.
The central bank noted that several banks still rely on end-of-day nostro account statements to confirm and reconcile receipts, often resulting in delayed credit. “To expedite this process, banks are advised to undertake reconciliation and confirmation of credits in nostro accounts on a near real-time basis or at periodic intervals not exceeding thirty minutes,” it said.
The RBI further advised banks to, “within a reasonable timeframe, provide digital interfaces for customers to facilitate foreign exchange transactions — including document submission, information exchange, and real-time monitoring of transaction status.”
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The move is part of the RBI’s broader effort to modernise India’s cross-border payments ecosystem, reduce friction in fund flows, and align the country’s banking system with international best practices for speed and transparency.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
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