24-Hour Fund Transfers To Be Allowed Via Payment System NEFT From December

The Reserve Bank of India will allow round-the-clock fund transfers through NEFT from December this year, it said in a statement on Wednesday. "This is expected to revolutionise the retail payments system of the country," noted the central bank. NEFT or National Electronic Funds Transfer payment system, operated by the RBI as a retail payment system, is available for customers from 8 am to 7 pm on all working days except second and fourth Saturdays of a month. 

Here are five things to know about new NEFT timings:

1. In its Payment System Vision 2021 document, the RBI had said that it will make available the NEFT system on a 24x7 basis from December 2019.

2. Earlier in its June policy, the RBI had done away with charges on fund transfers through RTGS and NEFT routes to boost digital transactions and asked banks to pass on the benefits to customers.

3. The Real Time Gross Settlement System (RTGS) is meant for large-value instant fund transfers. RBI had earlier extended the timings for RTGS payments. The new timings - from 8:00 am to 6:00 pm (instead of 4:30 pm previously) - came into effect from June 1.

4. Last month, SBI or State Bank of India, the country's largest lender by assets, had announced that it waived IMPS (Immediate Payment Service) charges for its internet banking, mobile banking and YONO customers, with effect from August 1.

5. Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) cut key interest rate for the fourth consecutive time today. Reserve Bank's MPC cut repo rate by 35 basis points or 0.35 per cent to 5.40 per cent, the lowest in over nine years.