Come December and online money transfers will be even more convenient, with the Reserve Bank of India announcing plans for round-the-clock availability of the National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) system.

At present, NEFT is available to customers for retail payments between 8 am and 7 pm on all working days of the week, except the second and fourth Saturdays of the month, which are bank holidays.

“As mentioned in the Payment System Vision Document 2021, the Reserve Bank will make available the NEFT system on a 24x7 basis from December 2019,” the RBI said in the Statement on Developmental and Regulatory Policies, which was released along with the third bi-monthly Monetary Policy Review.

“This is expected to revolutionise the retail payments system of the country,” the RBI further said.

NEFT can be used for fund transfers of a minimum of ₹1, and the receiver gets the money between two and 24 hours. Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) transactions are for a minimum of ₹2 lakh, but the funds are transferred in real time.

Earlier, in June, to promote digital transactions, the RBI had waived charges on fund transfers through RTGS and NEFT routes, and had asked banks to pass on the benefits to customers.

In its Vision Document, the RBI had said it expects NEFT to grow at about 40 per cent annually up till December 2021, while other payment systems such as UPI and IMPS are likely to register average annualised growth of more than 100 per cent.

 

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