Just within a year of operationalising NEFT 24×7, the Reserve Bank has announced that the Real Time Gross Settlement System or the RTGS facility will now be available for round the clock transactions, with effect from 12:30 AM on Monday. In a statement, RBI has informed that round the clock availability of RTGS will provide extended flexibility to businesses for effecting payments. It added that the system can also be leveraged to enhance operations of Indian financial markets and cross-border payments.
RTGS, which began its operations on 26th March, 2004 with a soft launch involving four banks, presently handles 6.35 lakh transactions daily for a value of 4.17 lakh crore rupees across 237 participant banks. RBI has informed that RTGS uses ISO 20022 format which is the best-in-class messaging standard for financial transactions. The feature of positive confirmation for credit to beneficiary accounts is also available in RTGS.