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Introduction of Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) related transaction code in NEFT and RTGS Systems

RBI/2022-23/178
CO.DPSS.RPPD.No.S1931/04-03-001/2022-23

February 16, 2023

The Chairman / Managing Director / Chief Executive Officer
of member banks participating in NEFT and RTGS Systems

Madam / Dear Sir,

Introduction of Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) related transaction code in NEFT and RTGS Systems

Under the FCRA, 2010 (amended as on September 28, 2020), foreign contributions must be received only in the “FCRA account” of State Bank of India (SBI), New Delhi Main Branch (NDMB). The contributions to the FCRA account are received directly from foreign banks through SWIFT and from Indian intermediary banks through NEFT and RTGS systems.

2. In terms of extant requirements of Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Government of India, the donor details such as name, address, country of origin, amount, currency, and purpose of remittance are required to be captured in such transactions and SBI is required to report the same to MHA on daily basis.

3. Keeping in view the above, necessary changes have been introduced in NEFT and RTGS systems, technical details of which are provided in Annex. Member banks are advised to 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. The instructions will be effective from March 15, 2023.

4. These instructions are issued under Section 10 (2) read with Section 18 of Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007 (Act 51 of 2007).

Yours faithfully,

(P Vasudevan)
Chief General Manager


Annex

Technical Details related to FCRA Transactions in NEFT and RTGS Systems

A) FCRA Transaction Code in NEFT and RTGS Systems:

Originating banks are required to select the following mandatory fields of NEFT / RTGS systems while remitting foreign donations to the FCRA account at SBI:

Field

Type

Code to be used

6305 (in N06 message)

NEFT

41

PmtTpInf/CtgyPurp/Cd (in Pacs.008 message)

RTGS

FCRA

B) Format for providing Donor Details in 7495 and RmtInf fields of NEFT and RTGS Systems:

Originating banks are required to pass on donor details in the following formats of ‘Sender to remitter information’ (field no. 7495) of NEFT and ‘RmtInf’ tag of RTGS:

System

Field / Tag

Code to be used

Transaction without Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) details

Transaction with LEI details

NEFT

6305
(in N06 message)

41

Field- 7495
line 1: Donor Address
line 2: Donor Address
line 3: Name of the Donor
line 4: Purpose of the Remittance – Alphanumeric
line 5: Country of the Donor – Alphabet
line 6: Currency and Amount - Alphanumeric

Field- 7495
line 1: SL/20-digit sender LEI/
line 2: BL/20-digit beneficiary LEI/
line 3: Name of the Donor
line 4: Purpose of the Remittance- Alphanumeric
line 5: Country of the Donor-Alphabet
line 6: Currency and Amount- Alphanumeric

RTGS

PmtTpInf / CtgyPurp / Cd
(in Pacs.008 message)

FCRA

Tag- RmtInf/Ustrd
loop 1: Name of the donor
loop 2: Donor Address
loop 3: Purpose of the Remittance- Alphanumeric
loop 4: Country of the Donor, currency, and Amount - Alphanumeric

Tag- RmtInf/Ustrd
loop 1: /SL/20-digit sender LEI/
loop 2: /BL/20-digit beneficiary LEI/
loop 3: Purpose of the Remittance – Alphanumeric
loop 4: Country of the Donor, currency, and Amount - Alphanumeric