Appendix - 1

Appendix - 2
Version 1.0

User Manual
For
Just-In-Time Transfer of funds to State
Governments under Centrally Sponsored Schemes
through SNA (SPARSH)

(Users of State Government)

1
 INDEX

S.no. Particulars Page no.

1. Introduction 3
2. Part I - Roles and Responsibilities of 4-7
Stakeholders
3. Part – II Standard operating Procedure 8-18
4. Annexures 19-28

2
 Introduction

This document is a user guide for all types of stakeholders and users of
SNA-SPARSH being issued in pursuance of Para (ii) of OM No 1
(27)/PFMS/2020 dated 07th August 2023 of PFMS Division, Department of
Expenditure, Ministry of Finance (Annexure-1).

In order to bring more efficiency in cash management at both Centre and

States levels, Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance vide
O.M. No.1(27)/PFMS/2020 Dated 13th July 2023 has notified an alternative
fund flow mechanism for releasing central share to the State Government
on Just-in-Time basis under Centrally Sponsored Schemes. The new
system is based on an integrated framework between PFMS, State IFMIS
and Reserve Bank of India (e-Kuber) platforms. The new system has been
named SNA-SPARSH (समयोचित प्रणाली एकीकृ त शीघ्र हसताांतरण- Real-time System
for integrated Quick Transfers).

Vide OM N 1(27)/PFMS/2020 dated 18TH July 2023, Department of

Expenditure, Ministry of Finance has notified that 2 schemes viz. Rashtriya
Uchhttar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) of Department of Higher Education and
Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Grameen) [SBM(G)] of Department of Drinking
Water and Sanitation, Ministry of Jal Shakti in the State Governments of
Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Telangana, Odisha and Karnataka would be
covered under SNA-SPARSH on Pilot basis. As the module will be
implemented in progressive manner, the names of other Centrally
Sponsored Schemes and States will be notified by DoE, Ministry of Finance
from time to time-to-time.

Part-I of this user guide defines the roles and responsibilities of

various stakeholders and Part-II details the Standard Operating
Procedure (SOP) with the screen shots for detailed guidance for
performing these roles and responsibilities.

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 Part I
Roles and Responsibilities of the Stakeholders

1. State Government

(a) State Treasury shall open state-linked scheme (SLS) wise

drawing accounts with the RBI in which the Central share will
be credited in advance. The details of Single point of Contact
in RBI regional offices shall be mailed by PFMS team to
concerned State Finance Department/Treasury.

(b) After opening of aforesaid drawing accounts in RBI State

Governments will approach the PFMS division, O/o CGA for on-
boarding the scheme onto SNA-SPARSH platform of PFMS by
„marking‟ of the CSS on PFMS. Simultaneously, the State
Governments shall map the CSS with corresponding SLSs as
per the existing protocol.

(c) State Scheme Managers (SSM) shall add SG account against

each SLS and upload the supporting document/email
confirmation received from the RBI for verification by the
approver which is PD Checker of concerned Central
Ministry/Department.

(d) SSM shall capture the Centre and State ratio, SNA-SPARSH
Model (Model 1 only is currently active) and the flag („Y‟ and
„N‟) regarding „Top up‟. In case of „Y‟, the field of Top up in
the payment file shall become mandatory (however, the value
may even be zero). In case of „N‟ the Top up field in payment
file is not mandatory. Suitable validations have been put in
place in the SNA-SPARSH module and the Top-up master is
also available in the report section.

(e) The Implementing Agency shall generate the e-claim file in

JSON format using the State IFMIS through a defined access
control mechanism (user IDs/passwords).

(f) State Treasury shall consolidate the e-claims generated by

different State Implementing Agencies with requisite flags to
identify the Implementing Agency which has raised the claim
and the SLS to which the claim pertains to.
4
 (g) State Treasury will push the SLS-wise consolidated payment
file details (e-claim file digitally signed by the authorized
signatories of State Treasuries) to PFMS through API in the
format prescribed by PFMS for advance release of the central
share

(h) State Treasury shall initially place the e-payment file (to be
shared with the RBI) on their internal server only. The file will
be auto-pushed to the RBI only on receipt of the Debit
Notification against the advance transfer of Central share
(pushed by PFMS through API) of the Centre‟s drawing
account.

(i) Shall reconcile the e-payment files pushed to PFMS with the
CN received from the RBI through the reconciliation API.

2. Pay and Accounts Office (PAO) under O/o Pr.CCA/CCAs/CAs

of the of the concerned Ministry/Department:

(a) Pay and Accounts Office (PAO) dealing with the Centrally
Sponsored Scheme (CSS) of the concerned
Ministry/Department shall open a drawing account with the
Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Regional Branch Office, Mumbai
under the existing User Defined Customer Hierarchy (UDCH)
code of the Ministry/Department. The format of the application
to be submitted to RBI and the list of requisite documents is
annexed (Annexure 2). The duly filled up application shall be
submitted to The Manager, Government Banking Division,
Banking Department, Reserve Bank of India, Mumbai Regional
Office, Main Building, Shahid Bhagat Singh Marg, Fort, Mumbai
– 400001. The details of Single point of Contact in RBI shall be
mailed by PFMS team to concerned Pr. CCAs/CCAs/CAs/PAOs.

(b) After opening of aforesaid drawing accounts in RBI, PAO will

inform Program Division to approach the PFMS division, O/o
CGA for on boarding the scheme onto SNA-SPARSH platform
of PFMS by „marking‟ of the CSS on PFMS.

(c) PAO shall add the Central Government (CG) RBI account
opened for SNA –SPARSH on PFMS.

PAO shall issue an e-payment instruction of the Central share

amount on the basis of daily sanction against the e-payment
file received from State IFMIS.
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3. Program Division (Maker and Checker) of the Central
Ministry:

(a) PD checker shall approve the SG account mapped by State

Scheme Manager after thorough verification from the
supporting document. These documents shall be uploaded by
SSMs on SNA-SPARSH.

(b) PD Checker shall approve the Centre: State share and the
information related to Top up with reference to the scheme
guidelines.

(c) PD Checker shall issue the „Mother Sanction‟ through PFMS

which shall act as a state-wise drawing limit for each CSS
scheme. A Mother sanction for a CSS and a particular State
shall be uniquely identified in the system. The format of the
‘Mother sanction’ is annexed (Annexure 3)

(d) PD Checker shall ensure that a new Mother Sanction is created

before the amount of the previous one is exhausted. Thus, for
a particular CSS and State multiple mother sanctions can be
issued but at any point of time only one Mother Sanction will
be active on the system and the balance of the previous ones
shall be carried forward to the active one.

(e) All payment files received from State Treasury shall land in the
work list of PD maker. At the time of login by PD maker the
list of payment files received shall be populated. The payment
file shall have the hyperlink indicating the CSS Scheme code
and name, SLS Scheme code and name, Gross -net- Top
up, Re-issue amount, etc.

(f) PD maker shall create the daily sanction for the Central share
with respect to the Gross amount of the payment file. The
system shall calculate the Central share which will be visible to
the PD for this purpose.

(g) PD Checker shall approve the daily sanction. The balance of

the Mother sanction is updated by the system after the
approval of daily sanction.

(h) PD Checker shall ensure that the Mother sanctions is

replenished periodically based on the pace of utilization.
6
 (i) As stipulated under para 2 (vi) of O.M. dated 07th August
2023, PD maker may return the payment files to States. The
list of payment files returned can be viewed in the drop down
list of Status menu on daily sanction page by PD Maker.

4. RBI (e-kuber):

(a) e-kuber shall facilitate the opening of the Central Government

(CG) Drawing Accounts and SLS-wise State Government (SG)
Drawing Accounts. A SoP for the guidance of the regional
offices of RBI located in States has been issued by DGBA, RBI.

(b) e-kuber shall share the Debit Notification with PFMS once the
CG account is debited with an amount equivalent to the
central share against the e-payment file pushed by State
IFMIS.

(c) Shall process the e-payment file that would be auto-pushed

from the State IFMIS to the RBI on the basis of the DN pushed
by PFMS.

(d) Will share the Debit Notification with both the State IFMIS and
PFMS once the SG account is debited with an amount
equivalent to both the centre and the state share against the
e-payment file pushed by State IFMIS.

(e) Will share the Credit Notification with State IFMIS once the SG
account is debited with an amount equivalent to both the
centre and the state share.

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 Part II
Tasks to be performed by the Stakeholders

1. Opening of State Government (SG) Account for

Ministry/Department

(a) State Government will open a drawing account for each State
Linked Scheme (SLS) with the RBI at the respective Regional
Offices.

(b) Prior to opening the SLS-wise accounts, State Government

and the concerned Ministry/Department dealing with CSS shall
ensure that the Centre-State fund sharing ratio is uniform
under all components of that SLS.

(c) In the case of Umbrella schemes having multiple sub-

schemes/components with varying sharing patterns, State
Governments in consultation with Ministry/Department
concerned shall open separate SLS for each sub-
schemes/component with different sharing ratios.

2. Mapping of CSS to SLS

State Government shall map the CSS with corresponding SLSs on

PFMS as per the existing protocol.

3. Mapping of SG account to SLS

SG account shall be mapped by the State Scheme Manager

(SSM) user and will be approved by the PD Checker user of the
concerned Ministry/Department controlling the CSS.

(a) SSM will login on PFMS and go to the menu SNA-SPARSH 

Manage SG Account Mapping

(b) On selecting the sub-menu, user will navigate to the following

screen and click on the “Add SG Account” button:

8
 (c) On clicking the button, the following screen shall open. The
user will select the requisite SLS from the dropdown; enter the
SG Account number provided by the RBI and upload
supporting document/email received from the RBI.
Corresponding Bank Name and IFSC code will be displayed
automatically. The user then clicks on the “save” button.

(d) On clicking the save button, the following message will be

displayed and the entry will be submitted to PD Checker for
approval

9
(e) If an approved SG account is added again, the following error
message will be displayed:

(f) To search for an existing SG account, the user will select the SLS,
CSS and click on the “search” button to view the entry.

10
(g) On clicking the search button, the added SG account will be
displayed as in a tabular form:

(h) On clicking the Account Number hyperlink, the details of the

added SG account are displayed to the user:

(i) The PD Checker will approve the request submitted by SSM.

7. Capturing Centre: State ratio, Model and Top-up for each SLS

Centre: State Ratio, Model and Top Up shall be captured by the

State Scheme Manager (SSM) user and will be approved by the

11
PD Checker user of the concerned Ministry/Department controlling
the CSS.

(a) SSM will login on PFMS and go to the menu SNA-SPARSH 

Manage Scheme Configuration

(b) On selecting the sub-menu, user will navigate to the following

screen and select the CSS and corresponding SLS from the
dropdown and click on the “Add” button

(c) On clicking the “add” button, the following screen will be

displayed

(d) User will select the CSS and required SLS, fill in the Centre
and State ratio, Model on which the scheme shall operate and

12
 whether Top up is applicable as per the scheme guidelines and
click on “Submit for Approval” button.

(e) On clicking the “Submit for Approval” button, following

message will be displayed and the entry will be submitted to
PD Checker for approval

(f) If a duplicate entry is made for a scheme, the following error

message will be displayed

(g) To view the details pertaining to Centre and State ratio, Model
on which the scheme shall operate and whether Top up is
applicable for an approved entry, the user shall select the CSS
and SLS and click on the “search” button.

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 (h) On clicking the search button, mapped details are displayed in
a tabular form.

(i) On clicking the SLS hyperlink, the detailed entry can be

viewed

(j) PD user will approve the request submitted by SSM.

8. Generation of Mother Sanction

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 Mother sanction shall be generated by PD Checker

(a) At the beginning of a financial year, the

Ministries/Departments will create a 'mother sanction' in PFMS
for a particular State and CSS which will define the drawing
limit of the Ministry/Department for the particular CSS.

(b) Mother sanction may be modified by the Ministry during the

financial year with the concurrence of the IFD. A Mother
sanction for a CSS and a particular State shall be uniquely
identified in the system.

(c) PD Checker to ensure that a new Mother Sanction is created

before the amount of the previous one is exhausted.

(d) Multiple Mother sanctions can be created for a particular State

and CSS but only one Mother Sanction will be active on the
system and the balance of the previous ones shall be carried
forward to the active one.

(e) State-wise budget allocation shall be available in the system

out of which Mother sanction of not more than 10 % of the
total Budget allocation for a CSS shall be issued at the
beginning of the FY. This is essential for providing comfort to
the States for planning and incurring expenditure under the
scheme right from day one of the financial year.

9. Generation of e-payment files by State Treasury

(a) Each State Government will develop a State Cyber Treasury

wherein all e-payment files with SLS tags from the State
Implementing Agencies, could be received for payment and
the vouchers could be compiled for their accounting purpose.

(b) The State Cyber Treasury shall make the provision to have the
flags to identify the Implementing Agency which has raised
the claim and the SLS to which the claim pertains to.

(c) All the Implementing Agencies (IAs) down the ladder shall be
registered in State Integrated Financial Management
Information System (State IFMIS) under such State Cyber
Treasury.

(d) Whenever the SNA/IAs need to make payment to

vendors/beneficiaries, they will generate payment files in
JSON format using the State IFMIS through a defined access
control mechanism (user IDs/passwords).

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 (e) In States where the IT system is not ready to onboard a large
number of agencies with this protocol, the agencies may
submit manual claims to Treasuries/Sub-Treasuries who in
turn shall process these claims in the State IFMIS.

(f) The payment files generated by SNA/IAs will be consolidated

by the State treasury in State IFMIS periodically after
thorough scrutiny.

(g) The State Treasury shall prepare duly consolidated payment

files in duplicate in the State IFMIS, one such consolidated file
(e-claim/e-payment file digitally signed by the authorized
signatories of State Treasuries) will be pushed to PFMS
through API in the format prescribed by PFMS for advance
release of the central share.

(h) The other copy of the payment file will be kept in the SFTP
folder of the State IFMIS internal server and shall be pushed
to RBI only on receipt of the DN from PFMS and/or CN from
RBI.

(i) The e-payment file will include details such as implementing

agency code, scheme code, beneficiary name, bank account
number, IFSC code, and the amount.

(j) Payment files received from State Treasury in PFMS till the
cut-off time of 3 PM during a working day will be processed
and sanction for the central share will be generated on the
same working day.

(k) Sanction for the central share for payment files received
beyond the cut-off time of 3 PM may be generated on the next
working day.

10. Generation of Daily Sanction against an Active Mother

Sanction

The daily sanction shall be generated by PD Maker and approved

by PD Checker

11. Generation of Payment Authorization

Payment Authorization will be generated by Pr.AO user

12. Disbursement of Centre’s share to the SG Account

The payment authorization will be processed by the Pay and

Account Office

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13. Reconciliation and Treatment of Failed Transactions

A periodic reconciliation and settlement of funds will be carried

including failed transactions between the Centre and State.

(a) The consolidated payment file pushed by State IFMIS to PFMS

should mandatorily have the flagging for reinitiated
transactions against previously failed transactions (if
applicable) to avoid duplicate payments.

(b) State treasuries shall reconcile the e-payment files pushed to

PFMS with the CN received from the RBI through the
reconciliation API. The States will be pulling the validation and
payment status against the e-payment file(s) from PFMS.

(c) State IFMIS shall fetch the following Validation Status either
for a specific e-payment file or for all e-payment files pushed
on to the PFMS for a specific date.

„ACCP‟ File has passed all the validations on PFMS

„RJCT‟ File has been Rejected by PFMS as one or more
validations failed
„INPR‟ File Validation is under processing in PFMS

Payment status can be fetched by State Treasury against a

validated e-payment file only through the same API

(d) If the complete e-payment file is marked as failed by the RBI,

the States shall generate a new e-payment file with unique ID
post rectification of the error. The State IFMIS must ensure
that a reissue tag is added against each beneficiary to avoid
duplicate payments. The PFMS shall only provide an “ack”
against such files as no Central share will be released for
entries with “reissue” tags.

(e) If an e-payment file is marked as „failed‟ by the RBI owing to

the failure of one/a few entries, the same payment file shall be
re-pushed post rectification of the error. The State IFMIS
must ensure that a reissue tag is added against the failed
entries to avoid duplicate payments. The PFMS shall only
provide an “ack” against such entries as no Central share will
be released for entries with “reissue” tags.

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(f) State Treasury shall be responsible for the reconciliation of
accounting of SLS-wise drawing accounts and will act as a sole
unit for reconciliation with PFMS and e-kuber and for
submission of accounts to AG office.

18
Annexure 1

19
20
 Annexure 2

Specimen of the Application Form

(Application must be on the Letter Head of the Ministry/Department)
To
The General Manager
Mumbai Regional Office
Reserve Bank of India
Sub:- Opening of Drawing Account under alternative fund flow mechanism named SNA
–SPARSH for Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) funds
Ref:- Government of India, Ministry of Finance, Department of Expenditure OM F. No. 1
(27)/PFMS/2020 dated July 13,2023 on subject ““Just-in-Time” release of Centrally
Sponsored Schemes (CSS) funds through e-kuber platform of Reserve Bank of India
(RBI).”

Madam/Sir,
As per the direction of Ministry of Finance, Government of India, alternative fund flow
mechanism named SNA–SPARSH (समयोचित प्रणाली एकीकृत शीघ्र हस्ाां तरण – Real time System
of Integrated Quick Transfers) for CSS funds has to be implemented by (Name of the
Ministry/Department). You are, therefore, requested to open a drawing account in Mumbai
Regional Office, RBI under UDCH code ____.

2. The details of the Central Government Ministry/Department drawing account are as under:
-
Name of the Central Name of the Name of Head of the Ministry/
Government drawing account Ministry/ Department, Address, email id,
Department contact number
Eg: CGSPARSH PAO
Description
(Maximum character is 30
alphabets, no special characters
allowed)
E-mail ID(s) on which account statements etc. are to be sent :
3. The purpose for opening of this account in RBI is to implement the above mentioned
scheme under the SNA SPARSH mechanism as prescribed by the Ministry of Finance,
Department of Expenditure, Govt. of India.
4. There will be following authorised signatories in the account. The names of the authorised
signatories are as under:
Name and Designation of the First Authorised Name and Designation of the Second
Signatory Authorised Signatory

5. The specimen signatures along with the proof of identity, email id, mobile no. and KYC
who will operate the account in the RBI, duly attested by authorized official of
Ministry/Department are enclosed herewith.
Yours faithfully,

(sign with stamp) (sign with stamp)

PAO of Ministry/Department Authorized official of
Ministry/Department
(Pr. CCA/CCA/CA)

21
Specimen Signatures of the Authorised Signatories who will operate the account

Sno Name, Designation, Name of the KYC/OVD

Contact number, email id document attached of the first
of the authorised signatory

First
Authorised
Signatory
Second
Authorised
Signatory

Specimen Signatures of the First Authorised Signatory

1.

2.

3.

Specimen Signatures of the Second Authorised Signatory

1.

2.

3.

Signature and Stamp of authorized signatory of Authorized official of

Ministry/Department (Pr CCA/CCA/CA), Government of India.

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KYC documents to be submitted to RBI, Mumbai Regional Office
(MRO):-

1. Covering letter of your office mentioning request for account

opening
2. Duly filled attached Account Opening form / KYC submission form
3. Document showing name of the person authorised to act on behalf
of the entity (such as office order or transfer order or joining order
etc.)
4. Self-attested* copy of Officially Valid Documents (OVD) for proof of
identity and address of the person authorised to act on behalf of the
entity (such as Aadhaar card or Ration card or Driving license)
5. Self-attested# copy of Official ID of the person authorised to act on
behalf of the entity

*Both front and back side of the copy of Aadhaar may be self-attested.

#
Front side of the copy of PAN card may be self-attested.

2. All documents may be scanned and sent by mail

to padmumbai@rbi.org.in and shriharitripathi@rbi.org.in and thereafter,
the hard copies need to be sent to The Manager, Government Banking
Division, Banking Department, Reserve Bank of India, Mumbai Regional
Office, Main Building, Shahid Bhagat Singh Marg, Fort, Mumbai – 400001
(Telephone number: 022 22603329).

23
ANNEXURE 3- Format for Mother Sanction

24
 ANNEXURE 4- Format for Daily Sanction

Government of India
Ministry of Finance
Department of Expenditure
O/o Controller General of Accounts
E-Block, GPO Complex,
INA, New Delhi 110023
Place: DELHI
Dated: 21-06-2023

To

PAO 022744 - PAO (Sectt.), New Delhi

Department of HOME AFFAIRS
Ministry of HOME AFFAIRS

Sir,

Sanction of the Competent Authority is accorded/conveyed for release/payment of

Rs.100.00 (One Hundred Only) to Shri/Smt/Messrs

This is in continuation of the earlier release/payment vide Sanction number 21_San

dated 4/5/2023 12:00:00 AM. This is to certify that the present sanction/expenditure is
covered under MEP for the month of April/2023. The necessary authorization may be
issued in the case the above release is covered under TSA. (wherever applicable )

The expenditure involved on this account would be debitable to the under-mentioned Head of
Account for the year 2023-2024 under Demand-for-Grant No. 049

Major Sub- Minor Sub- Detaile Object Object- Category

Head Major Head Head -Head
d Head Head
Head (Descripti on)

3602 08 104 16 00 31 GRANTS- VOTED

IN-AID
GENERAL
L
This issues with the concurrence of the IFD, Department of HOME AFFAIRS , Ministry of
HOME AFFAIRS vide their U.O. / Diary/ e-fileNo. 324 dated 3/2/2023 12:00:00 AM.
(wherever applicable )

Yours faithfully

Sanctioning/Conveying Authority PD Code:PD00000021

– Prerna
Copy to :

(All concerned authorities including DDO 222745 - Under Secretary, Ministry of

Home Affairs(Proper/Sectt.))
25
Annexure 5 – Format for Payment Authorization
Annexure 6– e-payment file details