Press Information Bureau

Government of India

Ministry of Finance

30-August-2012 16:52 IST

Expanding Use of Electronic Payment System by Banks

For extending banking facilities to the large section of hitherto uncovered population, PSBs and Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) have decided to increase the number of ATMs with emphasis on rural and semi-urban areas.

The Government, with the objective of providing cost and time efficient mode of banking, has been taking a number of initiatives to promote electronic payment system, which inter-alia include getting interchange charges on ATM transaction reduced, advising Public Sector Banks (PSBs) to make National Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT) transactions upto Rs.1 lakh free of charge, issuing debit cards to all customers, etc.

Under the Financial Inclusion campaign ‘Swabhimaan’, banking services have been extended to 74,194 villages with population of 2,000 and above, as per 2001 census. Greater availability of ATM, Point of Sale (PoS) terminals, etc., is intended to benefit the people, including in the rural areas, to access banking services in a convenient and efficient manner.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Finance, Shri Namo Narain Meena in written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.

***

DSM/RS/Hb

Electronic payment access: government expands ATMs, PoS and free NEFT to extend banking inclusion nationwide. Government and public sector banks are expanding ATMs and Point of Sale terminals, focusing on rural and semi urban areas, while reducing ATM interchange charges, issuing debit cards to all customers, and advising PSBs to make NEFT transactions up to a specified upper limit free of charge to promote financial inclusion under the Swabhimaan campaign.