You can now make NEFT payments round-the-clock
NEFT (National Electronic Fund Transfer) is a handy way to speedily transfer money and there's good news for NEFT users as they can now use the facility 24x7. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has allowed banks in the country to facilitate NEFT fund transfer round-the-clock. This means that you no longer have to look at your watch or even your calendar to use NEFT. Earlier, NEFT was available only between 8 am and 6:30 pm. What's more, you could not use NEFT on banking holidays. All these are things of the past as NEFT will be always available at your fingertips.
New NEFT Timings:
Settlement of NEFT money transfers will now take place every half hour. Settlement of the first batch will take place at 12:30 am on a particular day while the last batch of NEFT money transfer requests will be settled by midnight of the next day.
For example, If the first settlement of NEFT money transfer requests taken on a Wednesday happens at 12:30 am, the last settlement will take place at 12 am on Thursday.
This NEFT timing cycle will continue round-the-clock.
NEFT facility will now be available on all days. Gone are the days when you had to opt for other modes just because it was a banking holiday. NEFT can now be availed even on holidays.
NEFT Charges:
In July this year, Reserve Bank of India decided to do away with the charges associated with NEFT money transfer and had asked banks to pass on the benefit to customers. Almost immediately, State Bank of India had waived charges on NEFT, RTGS and IMPS. Major banks such as ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and others don't charge anything for NEFT transaction.
The RBI has mandated that no charges should be levied on NEFT transactions done by savings account holders from January 1, 2020.
NEFT Money Transfer Limit:
Usually, NEFT is used to transfer money up to Rs 2 lakh and for amounts greater than that, RTGS is used. However, the upper permissible limit for NEFT money transfer may vary from bank to bank.
HDFC Bank allows NEFT transactions of up to Rs 25 lakh. ICICI Bank has a limit of NEFT transfer of Rs 10 lakh for most of its customers but for some, it raises the limit to Rs 25 lakh.
NEFT transactions that will take place after banking hours will be processed using 'Straight Through Processing (STP)' modes by the banks. Existing convention of crediting beneficiary's account or returning the amount to payee will continue.
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