Bonus rates of PLI for the year 2009-10 declared

The rates of Bonus for the year ending 31.03.2010 on the Postal Life Insurance Policies on their becoming claim due to death or maturity declared vide Directorate of Postal Life Insurance Notification No.4-1/2008-LI dated 17^th September, 2012 are as follows.

Sl.	Type of Insurance Policy	Rate of Bonus
(i)	Whole Life Assurance (WLA)	Rs.85 per thousand sum assured
(ii)	Endowment Assurance (EA)	Rs.60 per thousand sum assured
(iii)	Money Back Policies (AEA)	Rs.55 per thousand sum assured
(iv)	Convertible Whole Life Policies	Whole Life Bonus would be applicable but on conversion, Endowment Bonus rate will be applicable
(v)	Terminal Bonus	Rs.20 per sum assured of Rs.10,000 subject to maximum of Rs.1,000 for whole life policies and Endowment policies with term of 20 years and above.

The rate of Bonus for the year 2009-10 will be applicable from the date of receipt of this notification by the Circles and this will also be applicable to claim cases received but not settled till the date of receipt of this Notification.

Interim Bonus at the rates mentioned above will also be payable for all claims arising due to maturity or death until future valuation is completed.

Finance Ministry for zero charges on e-transfer of funds up to Rs 1 lakh

To promote cashless transactions, the Finance Ministry has asked public sector banks to take steps to reduce the fee to zero for electronic transfer of funds up to Rs one lakh. 

Currently, most banks charge a maximum fee of Rs 5 per transfer of funds up to Rs 1 lakh from one account to another through National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) system. 

Transfer of funds up to Rs 10,000 through NEFT system attract a maximum charge of Rs 2.50 per transaction. 

In a recent communication to the state-owned banks, the Ministry had asked them to "take action" to reduce the NEFT charges to zero for value up to Rs 1 lakh. 

However, some banks are yet to intimate the Ministry about the action taken by them to reduce the charges, sources said. 

RBI has, however, retained maximum charges of Rs 15 per transaction for electronic transfer of funds beyond Rs 1 lakh to less than Rs 2 lakh, 

The government has been asking banks to encourage transactions through e-payment channels so as to reduce the number of transactions through cheques and other expensive modes of transactions. 

The public sector banks have also been asked to identify top 20 per cent branches in respect of business volumes to bring down the number of cheque based transactions by at least one-fifth in the current financial year. 

The banks have also been asked to ensure that all payments and disbursements by them, except sundry payments, are made only electronically. 

The RBI had recently said that it is "desirable" that the benefits accruing on account of increasing volume of transactions are passed on to the customers so as to incentivise greater use of the electronic payment system.