NEFT & RTGS 24X7X365 by RBI

NEFT - National Electronic Funds Transfer

What is NEFT?

NEFT is a nation-wide payment system that allows the transfer of funds from one bank account to another. Individuals, firms, and corporates can transfer the money from one bank branch to any other bank account held by an individual, firm, or corporate in the country.

24X7 Availability

NEFT allows individuals, firms, corporate to transfer money from one bank branch account to another one anywhere in the country. Earlier, this facility could be availed only on working days between 8:00 Am and 7:00 PM. In December 2019, the National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) system was made available on a 24x7x365 basis and the system has been operating smoothly since then. The Reserve Bank of India stated earlier in December 2019 that bank customers will be able to transfer funds through NEFT around the clock on all days including weekends and holidays from December 16, 2019.

No charges on online NEFT transactions

RBI has mandated banks not to charge any fees on NEFT transactions done by savings account holders from January 1, 2020. According to the central bank's press release, this move is aimed at pushing savings bank account customers to transfer money using electronic modes via NEFT.

RTGS - Real Time Gross Settlement

What is RTGS?

The term real-time gross settlement (RTGS) refers to a funds transfer system that allows for the instantaneous transfer of money and/or securities. RGTS is the continuous process of settling payments on an individual order basis without netting debits with credits across the books of a central bank

24X7 Availability

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) vide Press Release No. 2020-2021/748 dated 09th December 2020, has "announced the date for the launching of RTGS 24x7".

Reserve Bank had announced in the Statement on Developmental and Regulatory Policies dated October 09, 2020, that the Real Time Gross Settlement System (RTGS) will be available round the clock on all days of the year. Accordingly, RTGS 24x7x365 will be launched with effect from 00:30 hours on December 14, 2020. India will become one of the few countries in the world to operate its RTGS system round the clock throughout the year. This comes within a year of operationalizing NEFT 24x7 by the Reserve Bank.

Database

RTGS, which began its operations on March 26, 2004, with a soft launch involving four banks, presently handles 6.35 lakh transactions daily for a value of Rs. 4.17 lakh crore across 237 participant banks. The average ticket size for RTGS in November 2020 was Rs. 57.96 lakh making it a truly large-value payment system. RTGS uses ISO 20022 format which is the best-in-class messaging standard for financial transactions. The feature of positive confirmation for credit to beneficiary accounts is also available in RTGS.

Link: https://www.caclubindia.com/news/rtgs-24-7-365-to-be-launched-w-e-f-14th-december-2020-18899.asp

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