Round the clock RTGS Money transfer facility becomes operational

Reserve Bank of India has made Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) money transfer facility operational round-the-clock. The announcement to this effect was made by RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das. In a tweet, he said it has been decided to make RTGS available round the clock on all days of the year from last night. 

RBI Governor said, India has become one of the few countries in the world to operate its RTGS system round the clock throughout the year. The move is aimed at giving a push to digital payments in the country. Earlier, RTGS transaction facility was available for customers from 7 am to 6 pm on all working days of a week, except the second and fourth Saturdays.

The RTGS system



is meant for high-value transactions, on a real-time basis. The minimum amount that can be remitted through RTGS is 2 lakh rupees and there is no maximum limit. The beneficiary bank receives instructions to transfer the funds immediately after the transaction is carried out, and the transfer is instantaneous. On the other hand, NEFT handles fund transfers up to 2 lakh rupees and such transactions are usually executed in a couple of hours.

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