Contents

SCHEME OF ELECTRONIC CLEARING SERVICE (DEBIT)

1. Short Title of the Scheme

Debit Clearing (Debit) The Scheme shall be called ';Electronic Clearing Service (Debit)'; and will be referred to as ECS (Debit) hereinafter.

2. Date of Effect

At present, the scheme is in operation at 90 centres - 15 centres, where Clearing Houses are managed by Reserve Bank of India (RBI), and other centres, where Clearing Houses are managed by various Public Sector Banks. The list of centres managed by RBI and other banks is given in Annexure XVIII. The list will be updated as and when the Scheme is extended to more centres.

3. Objective

The objective is to provide an alternative method for effecting payment transactions in respect of the utility-bill-payments such as telephone bills, electricity bills, insurance premia, card payments and loan repayments, etc., which would obviate the need for issuing and handling paper instruments and thereby facilitate improved customer service by banks / companies / corporations / government departments, etc., collecting / receiving the payments.

4. Definitions

i) User - Refers to the utility companies, insurance corporations / government departments or any other institution receiving / collecting payments (collection service providers) from a large number of customers / subscribers, under the scheme.

ii) Sponsor Bank - Refers to the bank which has agreed to act as the agent of the User company and will submit the data on electronic media or on the network, containing debit instructions prepared by the User to the National Clearing Cell (NCC) / NPCI / Clearing House (CH) along with an undertaking / mandate to the effect that the standing instruction mandates of the concerned customers / subscribers mentioned in the data have already been collected from the end users (consumers, etc.) and have been forwarded to the respective destination bank branches enabling them to debit the accounts of those customers for collecting and to credit the account of the sponsor bank with the sum mentioned therein. The mandate will also authorise RBI / Clearing Agency to debit sponsor bank's current account maintained with them to the tune of undebited returns.

iii) Reserve Bank of India (RBI) - Means the RBI established under the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 (2 of 1934).

iv) National Clearing Cell (NCC) / Clearing House (CH) - Is the functional unit of the local Bankers' Clearing House or such other agency to be created by RBI which shall process the instructions for debit payment received in data file from the Sponsor Bank and will generate relevant ECS Debit Clearing settlement reports for debit / credit of the current accounts maintained at RBI / Settlement Bank. The institutional arrangements made by RBI shall be final.

v) Destination Account Holders - Refers to the utility consumers / end users such as telephone and electricity users, insurance policy holders, debtors, etc., under the Scheme who opt for making payments to the User company directly by way of debit to their bank accounts as indicated by them in the individual mandate/s submitted by them to the utility company and also to their bank / branch.

vi) Destination Bank Branches - Refers to the bank branches where the Destination Account Holders maintain their bank accounts from which utility payments are debited through ECS Debit Clearing.

vii) Electronic Media - Refers to any media / tool to carry data in electronic form such as floppy / CD / pen drive, etc., or the data being put through a network on the web-site hosted by the NCC / Clearing House.

5. Coverage

The Scheme shall cover transactions of the following characteristics:

i) Repetitive payment collections like periodic (weekly / monthly / bimonthly / quarterly / half- yearly / yearly) payments of telephone bills / electricity bills / loan instalments / insurance premia, EMIs of any loan, etc., by companies / corporations / government departments / banks and such other organisations defined as ';User';. It could also cover Collection Service Providers, providing collection services to utility companies, which shall obtain a specific mandate from the users / subscribers to raise a debit in their destination accounts at the request of such service organisations.

ii) The transactions relating to collections by a single User from a large number of Destination Account Holders.

iii) The debit transactions shall pertain to the Destination Bank Branches which fall under the jurisdiction of the local Bankers' Clearing Houses as present in Bank-Branch master of Clearing House. The jurisdiction of the local Clearing Houses at the centres given in Annexure-XVIII would be known from the respective local Clearing Houses.

iv) The debit instructions from the User would be in electronic form and would form the basis for the Sponsor Bank to credit the User's account and the Destination Bank branches to debit the Destination Account Holder's Accounts. However, it shall be the responsibility of the destination banks to ensure appropriate mandates from their customers authorizing them to debit their accounts exist on their records. If such mandates are not available on their record, they would not be entitled to get any legal protection and are not authorised to affect such debits to the customers’ accounts.

v) Individual debit authorisation may be as specified by the destination account holder; the individual mandate may or may not specify any amount or may cap the maximum debit that can be raised under the relative mandate, if he / she so desires, for meeting the concerned payment, based on past experience.

vi) Such other payment transactions involving a single total-credit to a User's account with sponsor bank and multiple debits to a large number of beneficiaries' accounts at many bank branches (Collecting / Destination-banks) to be specified by local CH from time to time.

6. Procedural Details

i) Institutional Arrangements - The processing Clearing House would be responsible for processing the duly validated input data received from the Sponsor Bank on behalf of its User and for arranging to supply the relevant clearing reports to the Sponsor Bank, Destination Banks and Settlement Bank for accounting of the ECS-Debit settlements. It would monitor the performance of all the constituents in ECS clearing to ensure that the time schedules for various activities under ECS Process Cycle as explained at Annexure-I are adhered to.

Clearing House will have a Steering Committee comprising not more than 10 and not less than 5 member banks to aid and advise it on operational issues. Such steering committees shall be constituted annually and its term shall be one year. The President of the Local Clearing House will be the ex-officio chairman of the Committee. The Committee shall meet at least once in a quarter.

RBI shall provide the settlement service by way of debiting / crediting the accounts of Destination Banks / Sponsor Bank in the books of its Deposit Accounts Department on the basis of settlement figures advised by the Clearing House. At such centres where the settlement service is being provided by any other bank, that bank shall provide the settlement service for this clearing also. The settlement rules for clearing pertaining to minimum balance and withdrawal of favourable balance in clearing as explained in the Rule 10 of the Uniform Regulations and Rules for Bankers’ Clearing Houses (URRBCH) would also be applicable to the settlement under ECS Debit, especially to the Sponsor Bank.

ii) Registration of User Institution with NCC / Clearing House

Institutions who would like to avail of the ECS facility shall get themselves registered with the Clearing House. A format of the application in form E-1 to be submitted by the User through their sponsor bank is given at Annexure-IV Part A. The sponsor bank will forward the application form to the NCC / Clearing House with its recommendations, which inter-alia shall contain information on the conduct of the account with the sponsor bank in Part B. The user number allotted by the NCC / Clearing House will be communicated to the User through the sponsor bank. The registration number would be a 7 digit number, the first 3 digits being the city code number of the city (e.g. Mumbai - 400), the next digit being the number allotted for the type of transaction being put through and last 3 digits being the user number allotted to the User. The Users registered at one centre and allotted a user number may use the same User number at all other ECS Centers across the country. In case of Collection Service Providers registered as a User, they shall give a specific undertaking to the NCC / Clearing House that they will ensure collection of mandates from the consumers / subscribers authorising the destination branches to raise debits in their accounts. They shall also undertake to maintain a copy of the mandate on their record for verification by the NCC / Clearing House, if so required at any time.

iii) Input Preparation - Clearign House / The media and the record layout of the input file would be in a standard format specified by RBI from time to time (Guidelines for Input Preparation and Input Submission are at Annexure-II).

iv) User's Responsibility to Ensure Accuracy of Input Data –

a) The User would ensure the accuracy of the input data with reference to the information received from the Destination Account Holders in the form of a mandate duly authenticated by the destination bank branch.

b) The input data shall contain only the latest and correct account numbers details of customers.

c) Since this facility would be generally used for regular collection of dues from its customers, it will be the responsibility of the User to ensure that the items returned by the destination banks with any one of the reason codes 1, 2, 3, 6, 7 and 8 indicated in Annexure-VI are not resent / re-presented without carrying out the necessary corrections after obtaining the correct details from the Destination Account Holders / Destination Banks. Sponsor Bank may obtain an undertaking from the User in this regard before forwarding the input data to the NCC / Clearing House.

d) Further, on receipt of withdrawal instructions from its customer, it is obligatory on the part of the User institution not to include the transaction pertaining to such customers in the ECS input file, provided the withdrawal instruction is received 15 days prior to the date of submission of ECS file to the NCC / NPCI / Clearing House. In case a debit record is repeatedly presented despite such withdrawal / non-existence of mandate, the NCC / NPCI / Clearing House may consider not entertaining the future processing of the files of that particular User institution.

v) Responsibilities of the Destination Bank –

a) The Debit schemes works on the strength of the mandate or the debit instructions given by the destination account holders to the User institution for effecting payment from their accounts. The mandates are required to be authenticated (primarily for signature verification of the bank’s customer) by the respective destination bank branches within a period of seven days from the date of receipt of such requests. After authentication, the branch would retain a copy for its record, incorporate the mandate information in the bank’s database and the customer would submit the other copy to the User institution. At the time of authenticating the mandates, the destination branches shall ensure the nomenclature of the accounts vis-à-vis those appearing in the mandates.

b) The destination branches can debit their customers’ account only on the basis of the mandates given to them. The account holder / customer is also entitled to withdraw the mandate from his / her banker without involvement of the User institution. The withdrawal instructions of a customer in such cases would be treated equivalent to a ‘stop payment’ instruction in cheque clearing system. The destination bank branches would provide such withdrawal of mandate information to the Users, on request. Thereafter, the User institution shall stop including the relative transaction in the debit files, after receipt of such countermanding by the customer.

c) The destination account holder may also be given the facility of putting an upper limit for each individual transaction in the mandate, and / or a time limit for operations of a particular mandate (life of a mandate) by the end user / destination banker.

d) The destination branch may also allot a unique identification number to the mandate, which could be referred to by the User in all the transactions. The number could include a reference to the branch identity, the type of account and a reference to the customer's account, the purpose of the debit, etc. This would also serve the destination branch as a control reference tool to monitor the debits being received through the NCC / NPCI / Clearing House/ Clearing Agency.

vi) Safeguards Against Unauthorised Change of Data in Transit – The Sponsor Bank shall not make any changes in the input data received from the User without obtaining his / her prior consent in writing. The input files will be submitted by the Sponsor Bank in a sealed cover on electronic media duly encrypted in consultation with the NCC / Clearing House, to prevent any attempt for fraudulent change of data in transit. The banks may also use the facility offered by some NCC / Clearing Houses of secure on-line submission / retrieval of data like a secured web-site, etc.

vii) Submission of Input Files for Debit to the Beneficiaries Account at Outstation Centres - At all centres that have implemented Regional ECS, debits to customers at outstation centres will be made using RECS.

viii) Validation of Input Files -

a) The input data received from the Users would be validated by the Sponsor Bank with the validation software provided by the NCC / CH to ensure that all records are complete. Sponsor bank would also ensure that the transactions that are repeatedly returned [as detailed in paragraph 6(iv) (c)] are weeded out and the input data contains only the valid records.

b) All files received duly encrypted would be subjected to an initial level of validation at NCC / Clearing House to determine whether the file can be accepted or not. It shall be checked with reference to the User name, User number (allotted by the NCC / Clearing House), Sponsor Bank-Branch sort code, and other User defined parameters.

c) User details (Sponsor Bank code, User number and User name) should be uniform on all data records in the file. The purpose of repeating the User information on all data records is to make each data record self-contained. Therefore, the debit record with the details different from the one recorded on the ' Debit Contra ' record will be rejected.

d) The destination account details would have two parts, the destination sort code and the destination account number. The MICR code number of the branch (9 digit) of the bank where the individual account holders i.e., subscriber / payer maintain their account and to which the debit would be applied is the destination sort code. ECS validation routine checks whether the code indicated in the data record is a valid MICR sort code listed in the compendium of Code Numbers (Master Code file of member bank-branch).

e) The account number particulars is an essential field in the data record. Account number will have a maximum length of 15 digits as indicated at item 5 under 'Debit Records' in Annexure-II. Records with no information on the account number field would be rejected. It would be the responsibility of the User to ensure the accuracy of input data.

f) There will be no outer limit for individual debit record.

g) The decision for rejection of a file / record would depend on the following –

• Defects in the electronic media.

• Header (Debit Contra) record with transaction code 55 is missing or the total value indicated in field number 10 of the Header record differs from the value given in the Sponsor Bank's mandate (Annexure-V) to NCC / CH to credit its account.

• Invalid Sponsor Bank sort code, or incorrect User number and User name details in the Debit Contra record.

• Absence of or invalid destination sort code individual records.

• Absence of account number or account name individual records.

ix) Multiple Debits - User Institutions shall take due care while making multiple debits to the same beneficiaries on the same day by giving additional relevant information to ensure that the beneficiaries are able to identify the purpose of debit.

x) Debit Records with no Ledger Number / Ledger Folio Number - The debit records without Ledger Number / Ledger Folio Number of the account of the subscriber / payer at the Destination Bank branches would not be rejected, because at some branches, the account numbers can uniquely identify the accounts irrespective of whether the Ledger Number / Ledger Folio Number is given or not. In the clearing reports for Destination Bank Branches, these accounts would, however, be shown against the ';Miscellaneous Ledger';.

xi) Data Validation Report (DVR) - When an input file passes the ECS File Acceptance / Validation checks, NCC / Clearing House will provide an advice of acceptance or otherwise to the Sponsor Bank. This would be done through a Data Validation Report (DVR) (format at Annexure-IX) along with the validated file. The DVR would indicate the details of errors encountered, if any, during the validation process and total number and value of records accepted from the file.

The Sponsor Bank would arrange to get the DVR and the validated file verified by the User. Field number 13 of 10 digits in the Debit Records would have contained coded information representing the checksum of the record so as to detect modification, if any, made in the file subsequent to validation process at the NCC / Clearing House. Besides, to facilitate easy identification of rejected debit records, the NCC / Clearing House would have changed the transaction code to 33 and the Item Sequence Number field filled with '9999999999'.

User would have to take into account these records while confirming the DVR or deciding to edit / repair the input file for resubmission. If the records are edited / repaired, the cycle of Test Submission and Data Validation would be restarted.

In case, however, the rejected records are only a few in numbers and the DVR is confirmed by the Sponsor Bank by way of resubmission of the validated file duly encrypted, ECS Process Cycle would commence. In such a case, the encrypted file should be submitted by the Sponsor Bank along with a revised mandate to operate upon its accounts accompanied with a certificate from the Sponsor Bank to the effect that only those debit records have been included in the input file for which the mandates to debit the destination accounts have been received from the clients, duly verified from the destination banks and respective bank accounts can be debited at the Settlement Bank.

The mandate shall be signed by an authorised official of the Sponsor Bank whose signature is on the record of the NCC / CH. For this purpose, the sponsor bank would submit the list of authorized officials along with their specimen signatures on a quarterly basis or whenever there is a change in the incumbency to NCC / CH to avoid hardship to the Users. This day of submission of validated and encrypted file with a mandate would be taken as the Day 1 (T+0) of the ECS Cycle.

xii) Request for Withdrawal / Modification of Input Data - Once the DVR is confirmed by the Sponsor Bank and the settlement process begins at the NCC / Clearing House, withdrawal / modification of file / record shall not be permitted except when, in the opinion of RBI / CH, the transactions cannot be settled on the due date by the banks.

The credit / debit afforded to the member banks through multilateral net settlement systems on the settlement date (Day 2 i.e. T+1) is final and irrevocable in terms of section 10(2) of the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007. The procedure advised by RBI in the Directive on Settlement and Default Handling Procedures (Para xix) will be applicable to the ECS (Debit) Scheme as well.

xiii) Clearing Settlement and Output Data for Destination Banks – On Day 1 (T+0), the NCC / Clearing House would generate the following output data and make available / deliver them to the Destination Bank on electronic media duly encrypted or over the web-server subject to all safeguards relating to accuracy and authenticity -

a) ECS Control Report (format in Annexure-X)
b) Destination Bank Report (format in Annexure-XI)
c) Destination Branch Reports (format in Annexure-XII)
d) Item-wise Destination Ledger Reports (format in Annexure-XIII)
e) Inward Data for Destination Bank for Straight-Through-Processing (Annexure-II(a))

The Service / Main branch of Destination Banks would be responsible for the loss / misuse of the above mentioned data after they receive the same from the NCC / CH. The Service branches of Destination Banks may make their internal arrangements immediately on receipt of the data to debit to the beneficiaries’ account on the appointed date (T+1) by leveraging on the CBS technology or generate hard copy of Destination Branch Reports and Destination Ledger Reports mentioned above on the same / following day so that the Destination Account Holder’s accounts are debited on the appointed settlement date (T+1). On the day of settlement (T+1) of ECS cycle, the NCC / Clearing House would credit the Sponsor Bank's account with the amount indicated in the mandate given by the latter (Annexure-V) and debit the accounts of the various destination banks with the amounts due from them.

xiv) Settlement Report to Sponsor Bank - On Day T+0, Sponsor Bank will also be supplied by the NCC / Clearing House with the User-wise Initial Sponsor Bank Settlement Report (format in Annexure-XIV) which would indicate the volume and value of transactions for which Destination banks would be debited and the amount for which Sponsor Bank would be credited. The Sponsor Bank would make available copy of the report to the User.

xv) Return of Undebited Items - If a Destination Bank branch is not in a position to debit a particular transaction for various reasons as enumerated in Annexure-VI, it shall report the same with a Return Memo (format in Annexure-VI). The same would be forwarded to its Service Branch / Main Branch on the same day (Day 2 (T+1)). On receipt of the undebited items from all the concerned branches, the Service branch of the Destination Bank would arrange to submit a consolidated return file for the bank as a whole in a file structure format as prescribed by NCC / Clearing House (Annexure-III). The responsibility for ensuring accuracy in incorporating the above information in the file lies with the Destination Banks.

The file shall be accompanied by a hard copy indicating the details of the items returned duly signed by the Destination Bank’s authorised officials. Adjustment of the excess debit received by the Destination Bank Branches will be effected through a clearing settlement on the basis of data of undebited items reported by the destination banks.

xvi) Clearing Settlement and Supply of Output Data in Electronic Form - The NCC / Clearing House would generate the Debit Return settlement reports on Day 2 (T+1) whereby the Destination Banks' accounts would be credited based on the return data submitted pertaining to the value date and the Sponsor Bank's account would be debited presuming that the concerned destination bank has debited all the subscribers / payers accounts and there are no further undebited items to be taken for final settlement.

The ECS transaction codes of the undebited records would be modified to ';44'; from ';66';. The Checksum Total of the relative records would undergo corresponding changes with the software used at the NCC / Clearing House. On the same day, the NCC / Clearing House shall provide the following -

(a) Combined List of User-wise Undebited Items - A consolidated list of all undebited items (R-7) reported by all Destination Banks to be given to Sponsor Bank (format in Annexure-XV)

(b) User Status File - An output file containing the details of all transactions (valid and returned as undebited - all items to be suitably flagged / marked off) to be made available to Sponsor Bank for verifying the correctness of the clearing data and for passing on to the User for necessary action (format in Annexure-III(a))

(c) Sponsor Bank Final Settlement Report - A report (R-8) showing the amount originally credited, subsequently debited as undebited items and the final amount credited for ECS Debit Settlement as a whole (format in Annexure-XVI) would be made available to the Sponsor bank for passing on to the Users.

(d) Destination Bank Final Settlement Report - Destination bank-wise summary report (R-9) showing branch-wise initial debit and subsequent credit based on the return information submitted to NCC / CH by the destination banks (format in Annexure-XVII).

xvii) Late Submission of Undebited Items - The destination bank which fails to submit the undebited items data on Day 2 (T+1) will need to be handled outside the ECS Processing Cycle. The delay of the Destination Bank to submit the return can be liable for penal action. The President of the NCC / CH may take such action / decide penalty against the destination bank as he / she deems fit, in accordance with the Dispute Resolution Mechanism prescribed under para 8 of these Guidelines.

The President of the NCC / CH, however, has the power to grant 24 hour extension under exceptional circumstances to any member bank for submitting returns, in the same way, as is done in regular cheque clearing system.

xviii) Settlement and Default Handling Procedure - The settlement so arrived at by the CH / NCC under ECS (Debit) clearing through multilateral netting shall be final and irrevocable, in terms of section 23 of the “Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007” as soon as the same is determined in terms of the procedure notified by RBI. The settlement and default handling procedures will be in accordance with the Directive on Settlement and Default Handling Procedure issued by RBI and as duly amended from time to time.

The continued eligibility of the member bank to participate in clearing operations shall be reviewed by the President of the Clearing House in case of permanent default by a member bank. Default will be considered permanent if the process of recalculation (elaborated in the Settlement and Default Handling Procedure) is necessitated in respect of a member bank on more than three occasions in a calendar month. The number of occasions shall be calculated separately for each multilateral and deferred net settlement system.

xix) Preservation Period of Data - The Sponsor Bank and the User shall preserve the User Status File for a minimum period of 10 years. A copy of the User Status File would be preserved at the NCC / Clearing House also for 10 years.

xx) Advice to the Destination Account Holders - It would be the responsibility of the User to advise the Destination Account Holders of the ECS debit. Immediately after the receipt of the User Status File, the User would issue Payment Advices to the Destination Account Holders indicating the particulars of payment and the date on which payment has taken place as per their extant practice. Care need to be taken by the User to ensure that Payment Advices are sent only for those items (transaction code 66) which could finally be debited to Destination Account Holders' accounts. Rejected Items (transaction code 33) and Undebited Items (transaction code 44) should be perused by the User. The Destination Account Holders whose accounts could not be debited should also be advised by the User with reasons thereof and payments arranged through alternate means.

If a User makes use of the ECS mechanism for receiving payments to the same set of beneficiaries every quarter / month or at more frequent intervals, and there is no likelihood of any debit item being returned undebited, an advance one-time intimation can be issued on yearly basis indicating the dates on which ECS settlement would take place. This would replace issuance of payment advice on every occasion. This procedure is most suitable for collection of monthly / quarterly interest payments or insurance premia or loan installments of companies / corporations where the modifications in the data file are minimum and likelihood of returns is almost ';Nil';.

xxi) Narration in the Pass Book / Pass Sheet / Account Statement - The entry in the Pass Book / Pass Sheet / Statement of Account made by the destination bank branches should be clear enough to indicate that the transaction in question was through ECS with such other additional information as provided by the User. The relevant information may be picked up from the field number 9 (“User name” of 20 alpha-numeric characters) and the field number 10 (“User Debit Reference No.”) from the destination bank ECS input file (Annexure-II(a)). In addition to this, banks are free to provide any additional information as they deem necessary or useful. In order to provide useful feedback to the destination account holders, the User Institutions may standardise the information that may be captured in this field, so that the details recorded by the destination branches in the pass books would reveal the correct picture of the debits.

Destination Bank would not be liable to issue separate advice to the Account Holders. If a Sponsor Bank / User wishes to send the payment advices through the Destination Bank Branches, a separate arrangement outside the ECS framework would have to be worked out

xxii) Destination Account Holder's Right to Information on ECS / NACH - When the User invites option from the Destination Account Holders, the User should inform the Destination Account Holders, in a readily understandable written statement that the proposed mode of making the payment is purely voluntary and the Destination Account Holder would have the right to withdraw the same after giving an advance notice of 2 weeks (as indicated in paragraph 3 of Annexure-VII).

The destination account holder is entitled to withdraw the mandate / ECS Debit instructions after giving due notice to the User Institution and the destination bank / branches. The withdrawal instructions of a customer to the destination bank / branch would be treated equivalent to a ‘stop payment’ instruction in cheque clearing system. The User institution should stop including the relative transaction in the ECS file, after receipt of such countermanding by the customer. However, the customer has to notify the User institution 15 days prior to an ECS run.

A model letter from a User to a prospective customer / payer is given in Annexure-VII and a model Mandate Form given in Annexure-VIII. The sort-code (i.e. city-bank-branch code) information would be available by seeing the MICR code line of the cheque book issued by his / her banker. The form on which the Destination Account Holders would furnish the information would be clear and free of ambiguities. To make sure the authenticity of the bank details furnished, the banker must certify the correctness, verify the customer’s signature by putting his / her own to the mandate. The specimen forms are only illustrative and Users may use formats of their choice provided the information contained in the Model Letter / Model Mandate Form is available.

Information furnished by a beneficiary to the User shall not be utilised by the User for purposes other than transfer of funds through ECS without the consent of the beneficiaries. This should be indicated by the User while inviting options from the beneficiaries.

xxiii) Minimum and Maximum Number of Transactions - There would be no stipulation on the minimum number of transactions to be put through.

7. Service Charges

The service charges to be levied by the Sponsor Bank would be decided mutually by the User Institution and Sponsor Bank. There are no processing charges levied by the processing centres / CH up to March 31, 2011. The same would be reviewed periodically. The RBI may, if it so desires in future, decide to levy any other charge / fee on the Sponsor Bank / Destination Bank as also the quantum thereof. Destination Banks would not claim service charge for passing on the credit to the Destination Account Holders’ accounts.

8. Dispute Resolution Mechanism

The mechanism for resolution of disputes will be in accordance with the Directive on Dispute Resolution Mechanism issued by RBI and as duly amended from time to time.

9. Amendment to Procedural Guidelines

The Procedural Guidelines can be amended only by RBI. The NCC / Clearing House may forward their suggestions for amendment after a debate on the suggestions at the Steering Committee Level. RBI may amend the procedure guidelines by issuance of instructions to the effect whenever such change is warranted.

Annexure-I

Electronic Clearing Service (Debit)

ECS Debit Process Cycle

DAY 1 (T+0)

1. Submission of encrypted input file with a mandate from the Sponsor Bank.

2. Processing and generating output data at the NCC / Clearing House in soft copy and their encryption, for onward transmission to Destination Banks.

3. The NCC / Clearing House making available output data through designated web server / soft copy in a secure mode.

4. Destination Banks (Service branches) generating the clearing reports from the destination bank data / reports supplied by the NCC / Clearing House, after decrypting the same.

5. Service Branches of Destination Banks ensuring accounting of the transactions either centrally or at the destination branches either by giving soft copy of the transaction details or delivering the hard copy of the Destination Branch Reports and Destination Ledger Reports to the respective branches.

6. The NCC / Clearing House making available Sponsor Bank settlement Report to the Sponsor Bank.

DAY 2 (T+1)

2. Destination Bank branches debiting accounts of the beneficiaries (i.e. the Destination Account Holders).

3. Destination Bank Branches reporting the undebited items to the Service Branch.

4. Service Branches of Destination Banks submit consolidated undebited data to CH.

5. The NCC / Clearing House to arrive at the Debit Return settlement based on undebited items data received from all the Destination Banks and generate the relevant Debit Return Settlement reports.

6. Destination Bank's accounts credited and consolidated debit given to Sponsor Bank for undebited items.

7. Sponsor Bank crediting the account of the User with the total amount finally debited as detailed in the Sponsor Bank Final Report (Annexure-XVI).

8. NCC / CH to supply the following clearing reports -

Annexure-II

Electronic Clearing Service (Debit)

Guidelines for Input Preparation and Input Submission
(User Institution → Sponsor Bank → NCC / Clearing House)

File preparation - The input file would have two types of data records - A large number of Debit Records (transaction code - 66) and one balancing credit record called Debit Contra (transaction code - 55). The Debit Contra would be the first record in the input file and contain the details of the User such as User No., User name, Sponsor Bank sort code, the upper limit of the individual debit entry the total value of all debit items etc. which would act as control information while processing the debit records. Certain key information in the Debit Contra record would be repeated in the debit records as well so as to make each debit record self-contained with both credit and debit particulars of the transaction.

The following is the description of the various fields for preparing the data on input file in ASCII format:

The Debit Contra would have a record length of 156 ASCII characters of which last three fields of 23 characters would be left blank.

Debit Records

The Debit records would have the length of 156 ASCII characters with the last four fields kept blank. These four fields would be filled up while processing the input file at the CH / Destination Bank.

Annexure-II (a)

Electronic Clearing Service (Debit)

Record Layout of Inward File for Destination Banks
(NCC / Clearing House → Destination Banks)

Header Record and Trailer Record

Debit Records

Annexure-III

Electronic Clearing Service (Debit)

Record Layout of the Return File
(Destination Banks → NCC / Clearing House)

This is the file generated by the destination banks for returning the undebited items to the NCC / Clearing House. The file has only one type of data records of length 50 characters. The following table gives the details of the fields and their length of the contra record and the repetitive records.

Return Reason Codes

Annexure-III (a)

Electronic Clearing Service (Debit)

Record Layout of the Final Output File
(NCC / Clearing House → Sponsor Bank → User Institution)

This is the file generated by the NCC / Clearing House and sent to the User institution on completion of the return settlement through the Sponsor bank. The file has two types of data records, viz., one header record called the contra record and the repetitive records. The following table gives the details of the fields and their length of the contra record and the repetitive records.

Contra Record

Annexure-III (a)

Repetitive (Debit) Records

Annexure-IV

Form No. E-1

Electronic Clearing Service (Debit)

Application for Registration with the Sponsor Bank to Avail of ECS Facility

Part A - To be filled in by the User

USER DETAILS

1 Name of the Organisation

2 Address

3 Contact person and telephone number

4 Types of transactions sought to be put through ECS during the first year of availing ECS services

5 We will ensure that the NRE accounts of beneficiaries, if any, will be included in the Input Data only after ensuring that such debits are in accordance with the existing Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) and Regulations thereunder, as also under the Wire Transfer Guidelines.

6 Complaints from beneficiaries, if any, relating to non-debit / delayed debit / non-reporting of un-debited items will be pursued by us with the respective banks/branches in co-ordination with the Sponsor Bank.

Authorised Signatory of the User with Stamp

Date

Part B - To be used by the Sponsor Bank

1 The User has been explained the role and responsibilities of various parties under ECS. They have, inter-alia, been advised that the responsibilities of ensuring the accuracy of input data, input preparation and preliminary validation of data as well as issuance of payment advices to the beneficiaries rest with the User. They have also been explained that NCC / CH would be processing data and working out the clearing settlement based on this data and in no way be responsible for ensuring the accuracy of input data or breach of responsibility expected of the Destination Banks. Complaints, if any, received from the customers / investors / beneficiaries would have to be handled by the User.

2 We will ensure that the NRE accounts of beneficiaries, if any, will be included in the Input Data only after ensuring that such debits are in accordance with the existing Foreign Exchange Management Regulations Act (FEMA) and Regulations thereunder, as also under the Wire Transfer Guidelines.

3 All complaints relating to non-debit / delayed debit / non-reporting of un-debited items to RBI or Sponsor Bank would be attended to expeditiously and all possible help will also be given to the User in this regard.

4 The User has been advised that the User shall preserve the output file to be provided to / by the NCC / CH for a minimum period of 10 years and the data shall not be tampered with during the period of preservation.

5 We recommend that the above named organisation may be allowed to participate in the ECS debit clearing scheme as a User.

6 The registration number may be allotted to the User.

Dated

Authorised Signatory of the Sponsor Bank

Part C - For use at NCC / Clearing House

User No. Allotted:

Remarks:

Authorised Signatory of the NCC / Clearing House

Annexure-V

Form No. E-2

Electronic Clearing Service (Debit)
Mandate by the Sponsor Bank

Our bank has to act as the Sponsor Bank for M/s... .... ..... ...... ..... ....... ......... ........ ...... ....(User No.) ------ (name of the User institution) and authorises Reserve Bank of India / Clearing Agency, ..... ...... ....... ...... ....... ....... to credit our account maintained with you for the total value of Debit Contra  of Rs....... ..... .... ... (Rupees....... ........ ........ ...... ...... ...... ...... ........ ........ ....... ....... ....... ...... ...... ...... ...... .....) as given in the Debit Contra record of the input files which are being forwarded herewith.

The User has already carried out a preliminary validation check. The upper limit for individual Debit item is Rs..... ..... .... .... (Rupees .... .... .... .... .... ........ .... .... .... .... .... .... .... ..... ..... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... ... .... ).

We are fully aware of our role and responsibility in the ECS debit clearing operation as stipulated in the Guidelines and also ensure that adequate balance would be available in our account for adjustment, if any, for wrong / disputed debit. The settlement date (...../......./............) indicated by the User in the Input File may be amended by NCC / CH, if required, as per their convenience under information to us.

(Authorised signatory of the Sponsor Bank)

Place :

Date :

Name : ........... .... ........... ....
Designation : ........... .... ........... ....
Telephone No.: ........... .... ........... ....

Annexure-VI

Form No. E-3

Electronic Clearing Service (Debit)

Return Memo

Bank:
Branch:
Sort Code of the Destination Bank-branch (XXX XXX XXX)
Settlement Date : .../..../.....

Details of Un-debited ECS items are as under –

Total number of transactions: ..... .... ..... Amount Rs..... ..... ..... .... ....

(Rupees: …………………………………………....... .... ...... ....... ...... .......)

(Authorised Signatory of the Destination Bank branch)

Reason Codes Allotted for Returns

Note: In case there no un-debited items, a ‘nil’ report has to be sent in the above format. The return memo has to be sent to the Service branch in case of all transactions put through ECS.

Annexure-VII

Form No. E-4

Electronic Clearing Service (Debit)

Model Letter from a User to a Prospective Destination Account Holder

Date: ..... .... .....

Dear Customer / Investor,

An alternative method of payment is offered by Reserve Bank of India which provides you an option to pay your monthly / quarterly / half-yearly / yearly, utility bills like telephone, electricity, loan instalments, insurance premia, school fees, etc., directly through your bank account. Your bank account would be debited through this payment mechanism right on the due date. You would be advised in the usual manner to pay the bill. Payment instruction would be issued by us electronically through our banker to the Clearing House and the Clearing House would supply debit reports to the bank with which you maintain the specified account. The branch will debit your account and indicate the debit entry as ‘ECS’ with such other additional information such as Policy / Telephone / Consumer / Service / Student Roll Number, etc., in your pass book / statement of account.

2. If you maintain more than one bank account, payment can be made from any of these accounts. You do not have to open any new bank account for the purpose.

3. This would be only an additional mode of payment and would be optional. You would have the right to withdraw from this mode of payment by giving an advance notice of 2 weeks. Your complaint, if any, would be immediately dealt with and we assure you to give a reply within 15 days.

4. If you are agreeable to participate in this payment mechanism, you are requested to fill in the Mandate Form attached herewith. The information to be supplied should accurate and complete in all respects and duly certified by your bank.

5. The information provided by you will be kept confidential and would be utilized only for the purpose of effecting the payments due from you.

Authorised signatory For ABC & Co.

Annexure-IX

Report No. R-1

Electronic Clearing Service (Debit)

Data Validation Report (DVR)

Part - A

Part - B

Particulars of Rejected Records

Annexure-X

Report No. R-2

Electronic Clearing Service (Debit)
ECS Control Report (ECR)

(......................................................)
Authorised Signatory for NCC / CH

Annexure-XI

Report No.R-3

Electronic Clearing Service (Debit)

Destination Bank Report
(To be retained by the Service / Main branch)

(* Settlement date is the date on which Destination Bank’s account would be debited at RBI / Settlement Bank. Destination Bank branch must debit the Destination Account Holder’s account on this date and return the un-debited items to their Main / Service Branches by way of a return memo. Main / Service Branch of the Destination Bank should incorporate this information in the file to be returned to NCC / Clearing House)

(Authorised Signatory of Service Branch)

Annexure-XII

Report No. R-4

Electronic Clearing Service (Debit)

Destination Branch Report
(To be sent to the concerned branch)

Ledger-wise summary:

Number of pages:

(Authorised signatory of the Service / Main branch)

Date :

Encl. :.....Pages of Item-wise Destination Ledger Reports

Annexure-XIII

Report No. R-5

Electronic Clearing Service (Debit)

Item-wise Destination Ledger Report
(To be sent to the concerned branch)

Type of the account : SB Account / Current Account

Ledger No:

The amounts indicated against each of the account number may be debited to the respective accounts maintained with your branch.

No. of pages :

(....................................................)
Authorised Signatory of the Service / Main branch

Date :

Annexure-XIV

Report No.R-6

Electronic Clearing Service (Debit)

Initial Sponsor Bank Settlement Report
(To be provided to the Sponsor Bank by NCC / Clearing House)

Amount for which Sponsor Bank would be credited on settlement date :

Rs.

Rupees....................................................

Authorised signatory of the NCC / CH

Date :

Annexure-XV

Report No. R-7

Electronic Clearing Service (Debit)

Combined List of User-wise Un-debited Items
(To be given to the Sponsor Bank)

User Name :

Sponsor Bank :

Sponsor Branch :

Settlement Date :

Items returned un-debited

With reason code 1 ............... items (A/c closed / transferred)
With reason code 2 ............... items (No such account)
With reason code 3 ............... items (A/c Description does not tally)
With reason code 4 ............... items (Insufficient balance)
With reason code 5 ............... items (Not arranged for / exceeds arrangement)
With reason code 6 ............... items (Payment stopped by drawer)
With reason code 7 ............... items (Payment stopped under court orders)
With reason code 8 ............... items (ECS mandate not received)
With reason code 9 ............... items (Miscellaneous (to be specified))

Date

(Authorised signatory of the NCC / Clearing House)

Annexure-XVI

Report No. R-8

Electronic Clearing Service (Debit)

Sponsor Bank Final Settlement Report

Debit Details

Amount now debited on account of un-debited returned items - Rs.....................

Rupees......................................................(in words)

Date:

(Authorised signatory of NCC / Clearing House)

Annexure-XVII

Report No. R-9

Electronic Clearing Service (Debit)

Destination Bank Final Settlement Report
(To be given to the Destination Bank)

Total :

Note : Destination Bank should report discrepancy, if any, to NCC / Clearing House immediately.

Date :

(Authorised Signatory of NCC / Clearing House)

Annexure-XVIII

List of Centres where ECS (Debit) Facility is Available