RTGS Online Payment Service Now Available for 24x7x365

RTGS Online Payment Service Now Available for 24x7x365

By: Ashwathy Nair

• RTGS facility will be available round-the-clock to give a push to digital payments.
• RBI to raise the limit for contactless card transactions.
• The system will make the online fund transfer smooth.

India became one of the few countries in the world that have started to operate the RTGS (Real Time Gross Settlement System) for high-value transactions to be available round-the-clock.

In October, It has been announced by the RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das that the system will be available at all times from December 2020 aiming to make the online transfer smooth.

“The RTGS facility will be operational 24×7 from 12:30 a.m.” The teams from RBI, IFTAS and the service partners who made this possible, were congratulated by Das through a tweet.” On March 26 2004, RTGS began its operation with a soft launch that comprised of four banks, currently manages as many as 6.35 lakh transactions each day for a value of Rs 4.17 lakh crore across 237 participating banks.

There is no amount cap for this safe and secure system used for fund transfer. The minimum amount is ₹ 2, 00,000 that is to be remitted through RTGS. The settlement of funds is taken place in the books of RBI, so if once made, the payments are final and irrevocable.

“The round-the-clock functionality of the RTGS will provide more flexibility for businesses to make payments and will allow additional settlement cycles to be introduced in ancillary payment systems. This can also be leveraged to improve the operations and cross-border payments of Indian financial markets.”

RBI had made the 24×7 availability of national electronic funds transfer (NEFT), which is a popular medium for small-value transactions up to ₹2 Lakh on December 2019. “The availability of NEFT for 24×7 is part of the Reserve Bank of India idea that focuses on empowering every Indian to access a bouquet of options for e-payment.”