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RTGS payment system to be available 24x7 from Monday
The RBI’s decision to operationalise the service 24x7 was recently announced after a Monetary Policy Committee meeting.
The Reserve Bank of India on Wednesday announced that the Real Time Gross Settlement System (RTGS) - one of the methods used to transfer funds online - will be available 24x7 on all days throughout the year from December 14. The RBI’s decision to operationalise the service 24x7 was recently announced after a Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting.
The central bank also stated that India will become one of the few countries in the world to operate its RTGS system round the clock throughout the year. The round the clock availability comes within a year of operationalising another popular online money transfer system National Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT) 24x7 by the RBI.
“Round the clock availability of RTGS will provide extended flexibility to businesses for effecting payments and will enable introduction of additional settlement cycles in ancillary payment systems. This can also be leveraged to enhance operations of Indian financial markets and cross-border payments,” the RBI said in a statement.
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RTGS payment system has no amount cap and the funds’ settlement takes place in the books of the RBI, making the transaction final and irrevocable. Currently, the RTGS service window for customer transactions is available from 7 am to 6 pm on a working day, for settlement at the RBI end, however, the timings followed by banks to receive the request may vary from bank to bank.
The average ticket size for RTGS, which uses ISO 20022 format for financial transactions, was Rs 57.96 lakh in November 2020. The feature of positive confirmation for credit to beneficiary accounts is also available in RTGS.
The system is primarily meant for high-value transactions and the minimum amount to be remitted through RTGS is Rs 2,00,000 with no upper or maximum ceiling. RTGS began its operations on March 26, 2004, involving four banks and, according to the central bank, it now handles 6.35 lakh transactions on every working day for a value of Rs 4.17 lakh crore across 237 participant banks.
