NEFT, RTGS transactions hit by technical glitch at RBI

Transactions via National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) and Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) were affected for almost 12 hours beginning Monday midnight due to a technical glitch at the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) end, said bankers.

The problem seems to have been encountered by Indian Financial Technology & Allied Services (IFTAS), a RBI subsidiary, when moving the disaster recovery site from one location to another, they added. This, however, could not be confirmed.

NEFT restored

“We are trying to complete the end-of-day for RTGS transactions of the previous day. The start-of-day for RTGS has not happened. NEFT transactions have now been restored,” said a banker, adding normalcy in RTGS is expected to be fully restored shortly.

A message sent to the RBI requesting information on the status of NEFT and RTGS did not elicit any response at the time of publishing this story.

NEFT is a nationwide payment system facilitating one-to-one funds transfer. Under this, individuals, firms and corporates can electronically transfer funds from any bank branch to any individual, firm or corporate having an account with any other bank branch in the country participating in the scheme. There is no limit — minimum or maximum — on the amount of funds that can be transferred using NEFT.

RTGS is a system where there is continuous and real-time settlement of funds transfers, individually, on a transaction-by-transaction basis (without netting). The system is primarily meant for large-value transactions. While the minimum amount that can be remitted through RTGS is ₹2 lakh, there is no upper ceiling.