The online banking facility National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) will not be available for 14 hours on May 23. “A technical upgrade of NEFT, targeted to enhance the performance and resilience, is scheduled after the close of business of May 22, 2021," the Reserve Bank of India said in a notification earlier this week.
As a result, the 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 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.
In April, the central bank extended the NEFT and RTGS facilities to non-bank payment system operators.
Now, Prepaid Payment Instrument (PPI) issuers, card networks, White label ATM operators and Trade Receivables Discounting System (TReDS) platforms can use NEFT and RTGS modes. The aim is to encourage participation of non-banks across payment systems, RBI said.
