To provide a fillip to India's digital payments initiative, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) allowed the transfer of funds through Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) round-the-clock, used for large value transactions from December 1.
As of now, RTGS is available for customers from 7.00 am to 6.00 pm on all working days of the week, except the second and fourth Saturdays of every month.
RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said, "With this, India will be one of the very few countries globally with a 24x7x365 large value real-time payment system,"
In July 2019, RBI stopped levying charges on transactions through NEFT and RTGS, with an aim to promote digital transactions in the country.
RTGS is meant for large-value instantaneous fund transfers. It happens on a real-time basis. Every transaction is settled individually in the case of RTGS.
RBI has already made the NEFT (National Electronic Fund Transfer) facility available 24x7 (from December 16, 2019).
The nation-wide payments system is used for fund transfers of up to ?2 lakh. Besides this, the Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) is also available 24x7. RTGS fund transfer happens on a real-time basis. Every transaction is settled individually in the case of RTGS.