NEFT fund transfer service to be unavailable till 2pm today

The online banking users who use National Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT) to send money are not able to use the service on Sunday. It will remain inaccessible till 2pm today due to a technical upgrade being carried out, according to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

"A technical upgrade targeted to enhance the performance and resilience is scheduled after the close of business of May 22. Accordingly, NEFT service will not be available from 00:01 hrs to 14:00 hrs on Sunday May 23," the RBI had said in a statement last week.

NEFT is a nation-wide centralised payment system owned and operated by the RBI. It is available round the clock on all days of the year.

However, the Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) service - another one used to transfer funds online - is operational during this period, according the RBI. A technical upgrade for RTGS was completed on April 18.

The RTGS facility was made available round-the-clock on all days from December 14 last year, making India one of the few countries to operate the system 24x7. NEFT was made available on a 24x7x365 basis from December, 2019.

RTGS is used for high-value fund transfers. NEFT is also a near-real-time funds transfer facility. It currently operates in batches on half-hourly intervals throughout the day.

While there is no upper or maximum ceiling on the amount to be transferred through RTGS, NEFT is used for fund transfers of up to ₹2 lakh.

The RBI recently proposed to expand RTGS and NEFT facilities to non-bank payment system firms in a phased manner. The objective of the move is to encourage participation of non-banks across payment systems.

Besides funds transfer, NEFT system is also used for a variety of transactions including payment of credit card dues to the card issuing banks, payment of loan EMI, and inward foreign exchange remittances, among others.

(With inputs from agencies)