Mumbai, March 1 :     The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has increased the normal ways and means advances (WMA) limits of state governments by 65 per cent from Rs 2,234.40 crore to Rs 3,685 crore. The increase is part of the revision in the scheme of WMA done with effect from today on the basis of the B.P.R. Vithal informal advisory committee?s recommendations. The base for the revised WMA limits would be a three-year average of revenue receipts plus capital expenditure. The review for future revision would be made after three years and the criterion of average of three years actuals would be used. RBI has removed the upper limits for special WMA as a multiple of minimum balance and, instead, would provide states special WMA against their actual holdings of dated Government of India securities, according to a release. RBI provides WMA to states banking with it to help them tide over temporary mismatches in the cash flow of their receipts and payments and any amount drawn in excess of WMA is an overdraft. In case an overdraft appears and remains beyond 10 consecutive working days, RBI and its agencies stop payments on behalf of the concerned state. While retaining the 10-day norm for overdraft, RBI has restricted it to 100 per cent of normal WMA limits. RBI said if overdraft exceeds 100 per cent of WMA limit in a financial year, on the first occasion the state governments would be advised and on the second or any subsequent occasion, the state shall be given only three working days? notice to bring down the overdraft within the 100 per cent limit. ?If this is not adhered to, payments will be stopped,? the central bank said. The minimum balance would be revised upward, linking it to the same base as for WMA from the date the central bank would receive the concurrence from the state governments, RBI said. The committee has recommended minimum balance of Rs 37.97 crore for non-special category states (against Rs 12.10 crore at present) and Rs 3.08 crore for special category states (against Rs 1.20 crore at present). The recommendation that no state would be allowed to run an overdraft for more than 20 working days during a quarter in a financial year will be implemented after two years. RBI?s decisions followed discussions on the recommendations at the conference of finance secretaries of state governments organised by RBI on January 16, 1999, where the central government and the Planning Commission were also represented. The committee headed by Vithal, member of the 10th Finance Commission, was constituted by RBI on August 19, 1998, to consider rationalisation of WMA scheme and it submitted its report on November 25, 1998.