The Real Time Gross Settlement System (RTGS) will be available round the clock on all days of the year. The Reserve Bank of India announced that RTGS 24x7x365 will be launched with effect from 00:30 hours tonight i.e. December 14, 2020. ALSO READ | Post Office Savings Scheme: From PPF to Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana, Here’s What The Schemes Offer You


This directive is issued under Section 10 (2) read with Section 18 of Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007 (Act 51 of 2007).

With this development, India will become one of the few countries in the world to operate its RTGS system round the clock throughout the year.

RTGS, which began its operations on March 26, 2004 with a soft launch involving four banks, presently handles 6.35 lakh transactions daily for a value of Rs 4.17 lakh crore across 237 participant banks. The average ticket size for RTGS in November 2020 was Rs 57.96 lakh making it a truly large value payment system.

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.

ALSO READ | Post Office Minimum Account Balance: Minimum Rs 500 Balance Is Mandatory Or Pay Fine

Round the clock availability of RTGS will provide extended flexibility to businesses for effecting payments and will enable introduction of additional settlement cycles in ancillary payment systems. This can also be leveraged to enhance operations of Indian financial markets and cross-border payments.

Currently, the RTGS transaction facility is available for customers from 7.00 am to 6.00 pm on all working days of a week, except the second and fourth Saturdays of every month.