New NEFT Timings – 24X7 transfer schedule and charges

Effective from 16th December 2019, you can transfer money using NEFT 24X7. These new NEFT Timings – 24X7 transfer schedule is a boon to many of us. You may be aware that earlier NEFT and RTGS charges were waived off. Let us see the new features of NEFT and RTGS with respect to the new timings.

What is the difference between NEFT and RTGS?

Before jumping to understand the new changes, let us have a basic understanding of what is NEFT and what is RTGS.

What is the meaning of NEFT or National Electronic Funds Transfer? 

It is a nationwide payment system facilitating one-to-one fund transfers. Using this system, you can transfer funds from any bank branch to any individual having an account with any other bank within India.

Let us take an example. Mr.X has a bank account with HDFC and he wants to transfer the money to Mr.Y, whose account is with ICICI. Therefore, by using the NEFT facility Mr.X can transfer money to Mr. Y’s bank account.

There is no minimum or maximum limit for NEFT Transfer. However, based on the type of your account, few banks restrict your fund transfer limit for online transfer. There is no such upper limit if the transfer is initiated through offline mode.

What is the meaning of RTGS-Real Time Gross Settlement?

In NEFT, money transfer requests are clubbed together called batches. Such batches are settled based on Deferred Net Settlement (DNS) on an hourly base during NEFT timings. Whereas in RTGS it is real-time. It means money transferred individually instead of batches instantly. Therefore, compare to NEFT, RTGS is faster.

Let us take an example. Mr.X has a bank account with HDFC and he wants to transfer the money to Mr.Y, whose account is with ICICI. Therefore, by using the RTGS facility Mr.X can transfer money to Mr. Y’s bank account instantly. In this transaction, HDFC transfers the initiated transfer amount to ICICI bank instantly. However, ICICI bank has a maximum of 30 minutes’ time to deposit into Mr. Y’s account. Hence, depending on the beneficiary bank’s procedure within two hours Mr.Y gets the amount in his account.

The minimum amount to be transferred under RTGS is Rs.2,00,000. However, there is no upper limit.

New NEFT Timings – 24X7 transfer schedule

Effective from 16th December 2019 12 AM, the new NEFT Timings – 24X7 transfer facility is available. The few features of this New NEFT Timings are as below.

• Even though NEFT fund transfer is available 24X7, there will be 30 minutes of each schedule. For example, the first batch will start from midnight at 12.30 AM and the next one is at 1 AM. The same way it will continue up to the midnight 12 AM. Hence, even if you transferred using these NEW NEFT Timings, there may be certain delay of maximum of 30 minutes to get the money to be credited to the beneficiary account.
• Hence, there are 48 batches in a day starting from midnight 12.30 AM to the next day at 12 AM.
• Earlier, the NEFT fund transfer was not available when there were holidays. However, effective from 16th December 2019, NEFT fund transfer is available in all the 365 days of a year (irrespective of holidays).
• The existing discipline for crediting the beneficiary’s account or returning the transaction (within 2 hours of settlement of the respective batch) to the originating bank will continue.
• All provisions of NEFT procedural guidelines will be applicable for NEFT 24×7 transactions as well.

New NEFT Timings – 24X7 transfer Charges

There was a misconception among many of us that NEFT charges are waived off and hence all NEFT transactions are free.

However, transaction charge for National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) initiated through online modes (i.e. Internet Banking or mobile app) is Nil.

But if the transactions are initiated through OFFLINE mode, then the banks will charge you on such NEFT fund transfer. For example, ICICI NEFT Fund Transfer charges for offline mode are as below.

# Up to Rs.10,000-Rs.2.25+GST

# Rs.10,000 to Rs.1 lakh-Rs.4.75+GST

# Rs.1 lakh to Rs.2 lakh-Rs.14.75+GST

# Rs.2 lakh to Rs.10 lakh-Rs.24.75+GST.

Same way, if you check the HDFC Bank NEFT Fund transfer charges for offline transactions, then it is different and as below.

# Up to Rs.1 lakh-Rs.2+GST

# Rs.1 lakh to Rs.10 lakh-Rs.10+GST.

Hence, banks are free to charge as per their understanding on such offline NEFT Fund Transfer.