Mumbai: Announcing a favorable move to promote digital payments in the country, the Reserve Bank on Friday said that the RTGS system used for large transactions will start working round the clock from December 14. With this, the central bank raised the limit for contactless transactions to Rs 5,000.
The Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) system currently works from 7 am to 6 pm on all working days of the week except the second and fourth Saturdays of every month. The Reserve Bank has also decided to license long-term basis to units operating payment systems. Companies have been told that they can apply for license again after one year of application being rejected or license withdrawn.
Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das made these announcements in a circular manner after the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) bi-monthly review meeting. Earlier, the three-day meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee ended. On the availability of the RTGS system 24×7, the Reserve Bank said, “It has been decided that the RTGS system should be made available round the clock on all days of the year and it will start from 00:30 am on December 14, 2020.”
The RTGS system is used for high value transactions. Another payment system NEFT is already available round the clock. Das said that to increase digital payments in a secure manner, the limit of transactions that can be done without contact through UPI or card will be increased from Rs. 2000 to Rs. 5000 from January 1, 2021. The Reserve Bank said that the operational guidelines related to this will be issued separately.
It is noteworthy that in order to promote digital payments in the country, the Reserve Bank stopped charging fees from July 2019 on transactions done through NEFT and RTGS. NEFT is used for transactions up to two lakh rupees, while large transactions are done through RTGS.
Das said that Financial Literacy Centers (CFLs) are currently functioning in 100 blocks to promote financial literacy among the people. He said that by March 2024 such centers will be built in all the blocks in a phased manner.
