Makemytrip.com, a online travel website, is offering upto 30% off for ICICI netbanking customers. These discounts are valid upto August 20, 2010.

Some of the salient aspects of this offer are as follows:

Domestic Flights: Upto Rs. 250 cashback
• Rs. 100 per one way ticket or Rs. 250 per return ticket (except Indigo Airlines and Spice Jet Airlines)

Bus: 20% cashback
• Max Rs. 100 per transaction on 5 unique transactions booked on five different dates
• A maximum cash back of Rs. 1000 per account

Online Hotels: Upto 30% cashback
• 30% cashback on bookings above Rs. 5,000
• 15% cashback on bookings uptill Rs. 5,000
• Max Rs. 500 per night and Rs. 1,500 per transaction

International Flights: 10% cashback
• Max Rs. 5,000 per transaction for US travel
• Max Rs. 750 per transaction to any other sector (except SAARC countries)

The deal code to be used is ICICINET. More details of this offer are available on makemytrip.com.

Leave a Comment 

Travel website Yatra.com is offering upto 30% on travel bookings for ICICI Bank Credit and Debit Cardholders. This offer is valid till July 31, 2010.

How to avail these discounts:

1. Search for a flight (domestic or international) or a hotel within India at www.yatra.com.

2. Select your preferred flight or hotel and continue with the booking process.

3. On the Payment Details, enter the promotion code, that is the letters ”ICICI” followed by the first 6 digits of your ICICI Bank Credit or Debit Card Number. For example, if your card number is 5239 5134 5678 9012, the promotion code will be “ICICI523951″.

Book online using your ICICI Bank Credit or Debit card and get following benefits:

1. Get 30% discount on Hotel and holiday booking with your signature, platinum and Titanium Credit card subject to maximum to Rs. 1250/- off.

2. Get 15% discount on hotels and holiday booking within India for Gold and Silver Credit Card subject to maximum to Rs. 750/- off.

3. Get 10% discount on domestic flights subject to maximum of Rs 250/- off.

4. Get 10% discount on International Flights subject to maximum of Rs. 750/- off.

Book a train ticket on Yatra.com using your ICICI Bank Credit or Debit card and get Rs 250 off on your next hotel or holidays bookings. Just make a successful Train booking and Yatra.com will SMS the discount code to you on the Cell no. provided to it during your booking.

Leave a Comment 

Reserve Bank of India (RBi) has indicated through a press release that applications made to various departments of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) can now be tracked on-line through the Application Tracking System (ATS). The Reserve Bank launched the Application Tracking System on its website for convenience of the public. The ATS, cannot be used for tracking complaints made under the Banking Ombudsman Scheme or any other complaints.

For tracking the above applications made, the applicants will have to register on the RBI website (ATS link on the home page of www.rbi.org.in). The tracking system will generate a first time login password and send it to the applicant through email. The applicants must necessarily change their password on first login. Through this facility, the applicant can then submit an online application, attach related documents, view it and track its movement.

Leave a Comment 

June 5, 2010. DBS Bank is offering the highest fixed deposit interest rates among all banks in India currently. DBS offers an interest rate of 8.75% for a term of 5 years for non-senior citizens for deposit amounts upto Rs. 15 lakhs. DBS Bank is a foreign bank headquartered in Singapore with 10 branches in India.

Among other banks, South Indian Bank, Bank of Rajasthan, City Union Bank, Catholic Syrian Bank are all offering attractive FD rate of 8.00%. These are all private sector banks.

Among public sector banks, State Bank of Travancore is offering the highest interest rate of 7.75% for a term of 8 to 10 years.

Visit Ratekhoj.com’s FD comparison section to compare and get the best fixed deposit rates in India at any time.

Leave a Comment 

June 5, 2010. DBS Bank is offering the highest interest rate among all banks in India for NRO fixed deposits. DBS is offering an interest rate of 8.75% for deposit amounts below Rs. 15 lakhs for a NRO fixed deposit period of 5 years. For amounts above Rs. 15 lakhs and below Rs. 50 lakhs, DBS offers an interest rate of 8.60% while you can get an interest rate of 8.40% for amounts above Rs. 50 lakhs.

DBS Bank is a bank headquartered in Singapore providing the full range of services in corporate, SME, consumer and wholesale banking activities across Asia and the Middle East. DBS Bank has 10 branches in India.

Among other banks, Tamilnad Mercantile Bank, South Indian Bank, DBS Bank, Bank Of Rajasthan and Catholic Syrian Banks are all offering interest rate of 8.00% for various NRO FD terms.

Visit Ratekhoj.com to compare and get the best NRO fixed deposit rates in India.

Leave a Comment 

Effective from January 01, 2010, banks in India offering NRE deposits have reduced their interest rates. For NRE fixed deposits of 1 to 2 years term, the new interest rate is 2.77%. The interest rate is 2.76% for a term of 2 years and above but less than 3 years. For a NRE deposit of 3 years and above, upto 5 years the interest rate is 3.31%.

Leave a Comment 

As per the advice / directions of Indian Banks’ Association (IBA), five free cash transactions per month will be allowed in other bank ATMs for savings bank customers w.e.f. 15th Oct 2009. Also, the maximum withdrawal limit per transaction is Rs. 10,000/-.

Leave a Comment 

Take advantage of the Loyalty Rewards Program introduced by SBI for Internet Banking customers. This scheme is effective from November 26, 2009.

This scheme rewards existing as well as new retail internet banking customers of SBI by giving them reward points for transacting online. The rewards points can then be redeemed for cash.

According the the release from SBI, internet banking customers will automatically qualify for reward points if they carry on the following transactions of Rs. 100 or above via onlinesbi:

• Bill payments, online shopping, merchant payments etc.
• Government transactions pertaining to retail/individual customers falling under  Central/State taxes (OLTAS,CBEC etc), Cyber treasury.
• Railways ticket booking through IRCTC.
• RTGS/NEFT (retail internet banking transactions only)/Visa Money Transfer.

Based upon the number of transactions a customer will gain points and these points can be redeemed online for cash back. The cash from the redemption proceeds will be immediately credited to the customers transaction account upon opting for redemption, subject to the availability of a minimum of 400 points at the time of each redemption.

The number of points rewarded depends on the transaction type as shown in the table below: 

The value of each rewards point is Rs 0.25.

The best part of this scheme is that no registration is required for enjoying the benefits of this program. All internet banking customers doing online transactions will be automatically eligible for loyalty rewards.

The Loyalty Rewards Program will continue for 1 year and maybe extended at the discretion of the bank. You will have three months after the withdrawal of the scheme to redeem your points.

If you are a internet banking customer doing a lot of transactions, this is an excellent offer from SBI. Find more details of the Loyalty Rewards Program here.

Leave a Comment 

November 30, 2009. DBS Bank, a foreign bank headquartered in Singapore with several branches in India, is offering the highest interest rate for NRO fixed deposits.

DBS Bank is offering an interest rate of 8.60% for NRO fixed deposit terms of over 5 years for deposit amounts of Rs. 15 lakhs to Rs. 50 lakhs. For deposit amounts of less than Rs. 15 lakhs, DBS bank is offering an interest rate of 8.50% for terms of over 5 years.

The second highest interest rate of 8.00% for NRO fixed deposits is offered by DBS Bank also. This interest rate is offered for a term of 5 years.

Many other attractive interest rates of over 7.00% are available for NRO fixed deposits. NRIs can get the best interest rates for NRO deposits by visiting Ratekhoj’s NRO fixed deposit comparison section.

Leave a Comment 

Many of us have sent money to family members living in other parts of India through cheques, DDs, money orders or other means. These transactions can take several days to complete from the time you decide to send the money to when the beneficiary has the money in their hands. Both you and your beneficiary can free yourself from the hassle of having to visit a bank branch to prepare or cash the demand drafts or cheques.

There are faster and simpler ways to transfer money safely through use of RBI supported electronic funds transfer systems such as NEFT and RTGS. The fund transfers happen electronically for a relatively small fees and are completely safe. You can do the money transfer easily as long as you have an internet banking account with your bank and information about the beneficiary bank account. The money will be in your beneficiary’s bank account almost immediately (in case of RTGS) or in a few hours (if you use NEFT). You can execute the transaction entirely from the comfort of your home. Your beneficiary need not have a internet banking account to receive this money transfer.

This article aims to give you a primer on what you need to know if you are looking to transfer money to a beneficiary who has a bank account in the same or different bank as yours in a different part of India. This article has been compiled based on various sources including RBI and FAQs from major banks in India.

What is Inter Bank Transfer?

Inter Bank Transfer is a special service that allows you to transfer funds electronically to accounts in other banks in India through:

NEFT - The acronym “NEFT” stands for National Electronic Funds Transfer. Funds are transferred to the credit account with the other participating Bank using RBI’s NEFT service. RBI acts as the service provider and transfers the credit to the other bank’s account.

RTGS –The acronym “RTGS” stands for Real Time Gross Settlement. The RTGS system facilitates transfer of funds from accounts in one bank to another on a “real time” and on “gross settlement” basis. The RTGS system is the fastest possible inter bank money transfer facility available through secure banking channels in India.

What is the minimum/maximum amount for RTGS/NEFT transactions under Retail Internet Banking? 

When does the beneficiary get the credit for a RTGS payment?

Under normal circumstances the beneficiary bank’s branch receives the funds in real time as soon as funds are transferred by the remitting bank.

When does the beneficiary get the credit for a NEFT payment?

The funds will be sent to the RBI within three hours of the transaction. The actual time taken to credit the beneficiary depends on the time taken by the beneficiary bank to process the payment.

If an RTGS transaction is not credited to a beneficiary account, does the Remitter get back the money?

Yes. If it is unable to credit the amount of the remittance to the account of the beneficiary for any reason, the beneficiary’s bank has to return the money to the remitting bank within 2 hours. Once this amount is received back by the remitting bank, the amount is credited to the Remitter’s account by the remitting bank branch.

If an NEFT transaction is not credited to a beneficiary account, does the Remitter get back the money?

Yes. If the money cannot be credited for any reason, the beneficiary’s bank has to return the money to the remitting bank. Once this amount is received back by the remitting bank, the amount is credited to the Remitter’s account by the remitting bank branch.

At what time during the day/week the RTGS & NEFT services are available?

RTGS transactions will be sent to RBI based on the following schedule:

NEFT transactions will be sent to RBI based on the following schedule:

NEFT transactions are settled in batches based on the following timings:

1. 6 settlements on weekdays - at 09:00, 11:00, 12:00, 13:00, 15:00 and 17:00 hrs.
2. 3 settlements on Saturdays - at 09:00, 11:00 and 12:00 hrs.

Please note that all the above timings are based on Indian Standard Time (IST) only.

What is the mandatory information required to make an RTGS & NEFT payment?

The Remitter has to provide the following details:

• Amount to be remitted.
• Account number which is to be debited.
• Name of the beneficiary bank.
• Name of the beneficiary.
• Account number of the beneficiary.
• Remarks or description, if any.
• The IFSC code of the beneficiary branch.

 How to find the IFSC code of the beneficiary branch?

You can find it from various sources including visiting Ratekhoj.com’s bank IFSC code search page (http://www.ratekhoj.com/banks/index.php).

Do all bank branches in India provide RTGS & NEFT services?

No. RTGS facility is enabled only in specific bank branches across India. You can view a list of these branches in the RBI website: www.rbi.org.in/Scripts/Bs_viewRTGS.aspx. NEFT is enabled only in specific bank branches across India. You can view a list of these branches in the RBI website: http://www.rbi.org.in/scripts/neft.aspx.

 What are the service charges applicable for RTGS/NEFT transactions?

Typical Charges for RTGS/NEFT as recommended by RBI are as listed in the following table:

However, please check with your bank about their charges for the RTGS and NEFT services since they may differ slightly. Also note that typically there are no service charges that need to be paid by the beneficiary who is receiving this money transfer in their account.

As a note of caution, if you decide to remit or transfer money using the above electronic services, try it out with a small amount first using the NEFT system. Verify that your beneficiary has received this amount in their account. Once you are comfortable with the NEFT or RTGS modes of transfer, then you can transfer larger amounts.

Leave a Comment 

Next Page →