Bank customers can enjoy seamless 24×7 NEFT service on all days (from December 16, onwards)

The Reserve Bank of India advised all the member banks that NEFT service shall be available 24×7 NEFT service including holidays from December 16, 2019, with the first settlement taking place after 00:30 hours on December 16, 2019 (i.e. night of December 15, 2019). The Central Bank advised all the member banks to initiate necessary action and ensure the availability of necessary infrastructural requirements at their end for providing seamless NEFT 24×7 facility to their customers.

There will be 48 half-hourly batches every day. The settlement of the first batch will commence after 00:30 hours and the last batch will end at 00:00 hours. Banks are also asked to keep adequate liquidity in their current account with Reserve Bank of India at all times to facilitate the successful posting of NEFT batch settlements.

The funds transfer transactions under the system after usual banking hours to be automated transactions initiated using ‘Straight Through Processing (STP)’ modes by the banks.

The existing discipline for crediting the beneficiary’s account or returning the transaction (within 2 hours of settlement of the respective batch) to the originating bank will continue.

All provisions of NEFT procedural guidelines will be applicable for NEFT 24×7 transactions as well.  Member banks required to send a positive confirmation message (N10) for all NEFT credits.

From July 1 this year, RBI had decided not to levy charges on transactions through NEFT and Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) system in order to promote digital transactions in the country, and asked banks to pass on the benefits to the customers.   At present,  (Till December 15, 2019) NEFT batches are conducted between 8 am to 7 pm. On the first and third Saturdays, the settlement happens from 8 am to 1 pm. No NEFT transactions are taking place on public holidays declared under NI act including Sundays and second and fourth Saturdays. The new system which is effective from December 16, allows bank customers to do NEFT transactions on all days of the year including on holidays.