Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced on Monday that the Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) facility would be unavailable on April 18 for at least 14 hours. “After the close of business on April 17, a technological update to the RTGS system is planned, with the aim of improving resilience and disaster recovery time. As a result, on Sunday, April 18th, from 00:00 hrs to 14.00 hrs, the RTGS service will be unavailable “in a statement, the central bank said.
“Member banks will notify their customers to schedule their payment operations accordingly,” the document continued. The central bank stated that “RTGS Members will continue to receive event update(s) via system broadcasts.”
During this time, the National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) mechanism will be operative as usual, according to the RBI.
The central bank expanded the NEFT and RTGS facilities to non-bank payment system operators last week. Until recently, only banks were permitted to use the RTGS and NEFT payment systems. PPI issuers, card networks, White label ATM providers, and Trade Receivables Discounting System (TReDS) platforms will now use the NEFT and RTGS modes.
According to the RBI, the aim is to promote non-bank investment in payment systems. “This facility is intended to reduce financial system settlement risk and expand the coverage of digital financial systems to all customer segments.” These individuals, however, would not be liable for any Reserve Bank liquidity facility to enable the settlement of their transactions in these CPSs. “Necessary guidelines to be given separately,” the banking regulator said in a statement.
“The decision by the RBI to expand NEFT and RTGS facilities to digital payment intermediaries is a promising step. This will be a game-changing event in the digital fintech landscape. It will assist in the further penetration of digital payments and increase digital transactions within the payment space,” said Finshell CEO Zafar Imam.
