The State Bank of India (SBI) has waived IMPS, NEFT and RTGS charges in line with the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) decision to do away with charges levied on such transactions, with an aim to move the country towards a less-cash economy.

The SBI has waived charges on NEFT and RTGS transactions through internet and mobile banking from July 1.

Amid reluctance by banks to pass on the benefits of lower lending rate, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das had in June said the central bank would make sure that transmission of reduced repo rate would be faster and higher.

The real-time gross settlement (RTGS) system is meant for large-value instantaneous fund transfers, while the National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) system is used for fund transactions of up to Rs 2 lakh.

“In order to provide an impetus to digital funds movement, SBI waived-off RTGS and NEFT charges for YONO, internet banking (INB) and mobile banking (MB) customers from July 1, 2019.

“The bank will also waive-off IMPS charges for its INB, MB and YONO customers effective from August 1, 2019,” the state-owned lender said in a statement.

Before July 1, SBI used to charge between Re 1 and Rs 5 for transactions through NEFT, and Rs 5-50 for RTGS route.

At March-end, 2019, the number of SBI customers using internet banking were more than six crores, while 1.41 crore persons were using mobile banking services.

The bank claims to have around 18 per cent market share in mobile banking transactions.

Registered users of YONO (You Only Need One), its integrated digital and lifestyle platform, were about one crore.

Along with customer convenience, the waiver in NEFT, IMPS and RTGS charges will attract more customers towards digital transactions, the bank said.

Additionally, the bank has already reduced NEFT and RTGS charges for customers transacting through the branch network by 20 per cent across all slabs.

The bank has the largest network of 22,010 branches in the country and an ATM/CDM (cash deposit machine) network of over 58,000.

After announcing its decision to waive all charges on fund transfer through RTGS and NEFT systems from July 1, the RBI had also asked banks to pass on the benefits to customers from the same day.

In the Union Budget, Finance Minister Sitharaman too had announced steps to promote digital transactions.

The RBI has constituted a high-level committee under IBA Chief Executive VG Kannan to examine ATM charges and fees by banks amid demands for reviewing the levies.

(With PTI inputs)