The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has issued a notification introducing Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) related transaction code in NEFT and RTGS Systems. This notification was issued on 16th February, 2023.
It may be recalled that under the FCRA, 2010, foreign contributions must be received only in the “FCRA account” of State Bank of India (SBI), New Delhi Main Branch (NDMB). These contributions to the FCRA account are received directly from foreign banks through Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT) and from Indian intermediary banks through NEFT and RTGS systems.
In such transactions, the donor details such as name, address, country of origin, amount, currency, and purpose of remittance are required to be captured. SBI is also required to report these details to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on daily basis.
Therefore, necessary changes have been introduced in NEFT and RTGS systems. The technical details of these changes are provided in Annex. Member banks should incorporate necessary changes in their core banking / middleware solutions to capture the requisite details while forwarding the foreign donations through NEFT and RTGS systems to SBI. These instructions will be effective from 15th March, 2023.
