If you planning an online money transfer using the banking system between Saturday midnight and Sunday, you won't be able to. The RBI has said in a tweet that the National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) facility will not be available for at least 14 hours on May 23.
According to Reserve Bank notification, “A technical upgrade of NEFT, targeted to enhance the performance and resilience, is scheduled after the close of business of May 22, 2021. Accordingly, NEFT service will not be available from 00:01 hrs to 14:00 hrs on Sunday, May 23, 2021," it further added.
“Member banks may inform their customers to plan their payment operations accordingly," the regulator said, adding, “NEFT Members will continue to receive event update(s) through NEFT system broadcasts."
The apex bank said, the Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) facility will continue to be operational as usual during this period, RBI said. A similar technical upgrade for RTGS was completed on April 18, the central bank mentioned.
On April 7, the central bank allowed direct membership of non-bank payment system operators in the Centralised Payment Systems (CPS). While RTGS and NEFT were only allowed for banking entities till now, it will now be extended to prepaid payment instruments (PPI) issuers, card networks, white label ATM (WLA) operators, Trade Receivables Discounting System (TReDS) platforms. The aim is to encourage participation of non-banks across payment systems, RBI said.
NEFT, RTGS
RTGS is meant for large-value instantaneous fund transfers, while NEFT is used for fund transfers of up to Rs 2 lakh.
