Inter Bank Transfer enables electronic transfer of funds from the account of the remitter in one Bank to the account of the beneficiary maintained with any other Bank branch. There are two systems of Inter Bank Transfer - RTGS and NEFT. Both these systems are maintained by Reserve Bank of India.

RTGS - Real Time Gross Settlement - This is a system where the processing of funds transfer instructions takes place at the time they are received (real time). Also the settlement of funds transfer instructions occurs individually on an instruction by instruction basis (gross settlement). RTGS is the fastest possible interbank money transfer facility available through secure banking channels in India.

NEFT - National Electronic Fund Transfer - This system of fund transfer operates on a Deferred Net Settlement basis. Fund transfer transactions are settled in batches as opposed to the continuous, individual settlement in RTGS. Presently, NEFT operates in hourly batches from 8 am to 7 pm on week days and 8 am to 1 pm on Saturdays.

The above mentioned facilities are available to both Retail and Corporate Internet Banking users of SBI (provided they have availed transaction rights).

Under normal circumstances the beneficiary Bank branch receives the funds in real time as soon as funds are transferred by the remitting Bank. The beneficiary Bank has to credit the beneficiary's account within two hours of receiving the funds transfer message.

As stated above, NEFT operates in hourly batches. Currently there are twelve settlements from 8 am to 7 pm on week days and six settlements from 8 am to 1 pm on Saturdays. Therefore, the beneficiary can expect to get the credit for the transactions put through between 8 am to 5 pm on weekdays (between 8 am to 12 noon on Saturdays) on the same day. For transactions settled in the 6 and 7 pm batches on week days and at 1 pm on Saturday, the credit will be afforded either on the same day or on the next working day.

Yes. If the beneficiary's bank is unable to credit the beneficiary's account for any reason, the former will return the money to the remitting bank within 2 hours. Once the amount is received by the remitting bank, it is credited to the remitter's account by the branch concerned.

RBI NEFT transactions are settled in batches based on the following timings :

• 12 settlements on weekdays - at 08:00, 09:00, 10:00, 11:00, 12:00, 13:00, 14:00, 15:00, 16:00, 17:00, 18:00 and 19:00 hrs.
• 6 settlements on Saturdays - at 08:00, 09:00, 10:00, 11:00, 12:00 and 13:00 hrs.

Please note that all the above timings are based on Indian Standard Time (IST) only.

For effecting an RTGS / NEFT remittance the remitter has to furnish the following information :

• Amount to be remitted.
• Remitting customer's account number which is to be debited.
• Name of the beneficiary bank.
• Name of the beneficiary.
• Account number of the beneficiary.
• Sender to receiver information, if any.
• IFSC code of the destination bank branch.

No. RTGS and NEFT services are enabled only in specific bank branches across the country. A list of such RTGS / NEFT enabled branches can be obtained from the RBI website, http://rbidocs.rbi.org.in/rdocs/RTGS/DOCs/RTGEB1110.xls for RTGS and http://www.rbi.org.in/scripts/neft.aspx for NEFT.

Charges for RTGS / NEFT are as listed in the following table :