RTGS Money Transfer Facility to Be Operational 24x7 From Tonight

In a bid to give a push to digital payments, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) allowed the transfer of funds through Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) round-the-clock from tomorrow (December 14). 

RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das announced that the RTGS facility would become operational 24X7 from 12:30 am tonight. "It has been decided "to make RTGS available round the clock on all days of the year with effect from 00:30 hours on December 14, 2020," the RBI said.

Here is all you need to know about RTGS money transfer facility which will be available round-the-clock from tomorrow.

1) RTGS shall be available for customer and inter-bank transactions round the clock, except for the interval between ‘end-of-day’ and ‘start-of-day’ processes, whose timings would be duly broadcasted through the RTGS system.

2) RTGS shall continue to be governed by the RTGS System Regulations, 2013, as amended from time to time.

3) Intra-Day Liquidity (IDL) facility shall be made available to facilitate smooth operations. The Intra-Day Liquidity (IDL) availed, if any, shall be reversed before the ‘end-of-day’ process begins.

4) RTGS transactions undertaken after normal banking hours are expected to be automated using ‘Straight Through Processing (STP)’ modes.

5) Members are further advised to disseminate information on the extended availability of RTGS to all their customers.

6)This directive is issued under Section 10 (2) read with Section 18 of Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007 (Act 51 of 2007).

7) RTGS System is used for high value transactions.

8) It happens on a real-time basis. Every transaction is settled individually in case of RTGS.

9) Currently, the RTGS transaction facility is available for customers from 7.00 am to 6.00 pm on all working days of a week, except the second and fourth Saturdays of every month.

10) RBI stopped levying charges on transactions through RTGS from July 2019

The RBI also decided to increase the limit for contactless card transactions to ₹5,000 from ₹2,000 at Point of Sale (PoS) terminals from January 1, 2021 in view of the COVID-19 pandemic and feedback from stakeholders.