Your Money

Public sector lender State Bank of India, and its private sector peers ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank, among several other financial institutions, are members of payments systems RTGS and National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT). There are more than 1.1 lakh RTGS-enabled bank branches, according to the RBI website.

Banks also charge a penalty from customers who fail to maintain an average monthly balance in their savings account.

Institutions such as small finance banks and post offices also offer the facility of recurring deposit account

SBI online banking: From National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) to Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) and Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS), SBI customers can remit funds using one of these payments systems. NEFT operates on a deferred net settlement basis, meaning the transactions are settled in batches as opposed to the continuous, individual settlement in RTGS, according to SBI's corporate website, sbi.co.in. In RTGS, the processing of funds transfer instructions takes place at the time they are received (real time).

An employee contributes 12 per cent of his salary towards the EPF, while an employer pays another 12 per cent, out of which 8.33 per cent is invested in the Employee's Pension Scheme (EPS) while the balance 3.67 per cent is invested in EPF, according to epfindia.gov.in.

Deposits in the post office National Savings Certificate (NSC) also qualify for deduction under Section 80C of the Income Tax Act

IRCTC train ticket booking: The request for a refund can be made online through the IRCTC's booking portal or through it mobile app before the preparation of chart, according to the Railways arm. Such cancellation of train tickets is not permitted by the Railways in offline mode, by way of visiting a Railways ticket counter. For trains starting till 12 noon, the chart preparation is usually carried out the previous night, according to IRCTC's website (www.irctc.co.in). IRCTC is the online ticketing arm of Indian Railways.

Provident fund account balance: Retirement fund body EPFO or Employees' Provident Fund Organisation allows EPF subscribers to access their passbook - which contains information on their account balance - electronically. EPF members can access their EPF account passbook through EPFO's member portal, epfindia.gov.in. EPF subscribers can also check the passbook through mobile app UMANG.

EPFO nomination: It is important to nominate members to the EPF account, according to EPFO's website. In the event of a subscriber's sudden demise, only the nominated members can withdraw the EPF savings. Subscribers can also nominate more than one nominee and also fix the percentage of sharing among all such nominees.

NEFT or National Electronic Funds Transfer works on a deferred net settlement basis, wherein transactions are lined up and settled in batches.

The RBI specifies Know Your Customer (KYC) norms to be followed by banks and other entities regulated by it for various customer services, including opening of bank accounts

Post office scheme: India Posts, which operates a network of more than 1.5 lakh post offices across the country, provides interest rates to the tune of 4-8.7 per cent on small savings schemes. Designated post offices provide a range of deposit/investment options in the form of small savings schemes, among other financial products. Meanwhile, India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) offers savings and current accounts, money transfer and direct benefit transfer services as well as bill/utility payments.

Tatkal booking rules: Bookings under the Indian Railways' Tatkal ticket reservation programme open at 10:00 am every day for air-conditioned (AC) class and 11:00 am for non-AC class, according to the carrier's website - indianrail.gov.in. Indian Railways' Tatkal facility provides an Advance Reservation Period of one day, excluding the day of journey. For example, if the train is to depart on the second day of the month, the Tatkal quota booking for that particular train will open at 10:00 am for AC class bookings (1A/2A/3A/CC/EC/3E) and 11:00 am for non-AC class bookings (SL/FC/2S) on the first day of the month, according to the IRCTC website.

New RTGS timings: Payments system RTGS is primarily meant for transactions of Rs 2 lakh and above. RTGS enables instantaneous transfer of funds according to applicable timings. The RBI has announced an extension in the timings applicable to RTGS transfers by one-and-a-half hours, with effect from June 1, 2019.

The minimum amount to be remitted through RTGS is Rs 2 lakh with no upper or maximum ceiling.