RTGS Fund Transfer System To Be Available 24x7 From December, Announces RBI Governor

The real-time gross settlement (RTGS) fund transfer system is going to be available round-the-clock from December this year, The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced on Friday (9 October).

Currently, the RTGS facility, which has a minimum limit of Rs 2 lakh, is only functional during the working hours of banks.

RBI governor Shaktikanta Das made the announcement at a press conference.

"In December 2019, the RBI made available the National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) system on a 24x7x365 basis and the system has been operating smoothly since then. In order to facilitate swift and seamless payments in real time for domestic businesses and institutions, it has been decided to make available the RTGS system round the clock on all days from December 2020," he said, as reported by Livemint.

It is one of the two inter bank transfer systems maintained by the RBI that use electronic transfer method to send money from the remitter's account in one bank to the beneficiary account in another bank. The other electronic fund transfer system is National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT).

The RTGS is believed to be the more convenient mode of transfer as the beneficiary bank branch receive the fund in real time as soon as it is transferred by the remitting bank. The bank then has to credit the amount to the beneficiary's account within two hours.

Another real time payment system is Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) which is available even on bank holidays and has an upper limit of Rs 2 lakh on transactions.

The RBI governor, at the press conference, announced some key decisions taken by the apex bank of the country.