The Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das on Friday announced that the Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) system will be made available round-the-clock in the next few days.

“RTGS system will soon be made available 24×7 in the next few days… with this enablement, it is proposed to reduce settlement and default risk in the system by facilitating settlement of AePS, IMPS, NETC, NFS, RuPay, UPI transactions on all days of the week instead of five days earlier,” said Das adding that this will make the payment ecosystem more efficient.

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The RTGS for large-value instantaneous fund transfers. It happens on a real-time basis and the minimum amount of fund transfer is Rs 2 lakh with no Maximum limited.

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

This decision was taken while keeping the businesses in mind. In a similar move in December 2019, the National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) system was made available on a 24x7x365 basis.

In order to expand adoption of digital payment in a safe and secure manner, Das said, it has been decided to enhance the limits for contactless card transactions and e-mandates for recurring transactions through cards and UPI from Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,000 from January 1, 2021.

This will depend on mandate and discretion of customers, he said.

Contactless card transactions and e-mandates on cards (and UPI) for recurring transactions have enhanced customer convenience in general while benefitting from increased use of technology, the statement on Developmental and Regulatory Policies by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said.

These are also well-suited to make payments in a safe and secure manner, especially during the current pandemic, it said, adding, the recent instructions on disablement of contactless feature on cards and empowering customers to control the limits on their cards have also brought in added safety for users.

Operational instructions will be issued separately.

It is to be noted that RBI stopped levying charges on transactions through NEFT and RTGS from July 2019, with an aim to promote digital transactions in the country.

RTGS is meant for large-value transfers, while NEFT is used for fund transfers of up to Rs 2 lakh.