Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS)

RTGS is the continuous (real-time) settlement of fund transfers individually, on an order-by-order basis. 'Real Time' means the processing of instructions at the time they are received, rather than at some later time; 'Gross Settlement' means the settlement of funds transfer instructions occurs individually (on an instruction-by-instruction basis). Considering that the funds settlement takes place in the books of the Reserve Bank of India, the payments are final and irrevocable.

Under normal circumstances the beneficiary branches are expected to receive 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 30 minutes of receiving the funds transfer message.

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 1 hour. Once the amount is received by the remitting bank, it is credited to the remitter's account by the branch concerned.

Yes, RTGS transactions can be scheduled in advance.

The beneficiary can obtain the IFSC from his/her bank branch. The IFSC is also available on the cheque leaf. The list of IFSCs is also available on the RBI website.

No. All the bank branches in India are not RTGS enabled. Presently, there are more than 1,00,000 RTGS enabled bank branches. The list of such branches is available on the RBI website.

Visit any ICICI Bank branch or call our Customer Care on 1800 1080. You can also raise a Service Request by visiting www.icicibank.com/feedback or contact the Beneficiary Bank through their Customer Facilitation Centre (CFC) details by visiting www.rbi.org.in/Scripts/bs_viewcontent.aspx?Id=2070

If the issue is not resolved to your satisfaction, a complaint may be lodged to the Principal Nodal Officer and subsequently to the Banking Ombudsman.

For details, visit nli.icicibank.com/NewRetailWeb/complaint.htm .

The credit is given to the account number written/given by the remitter in his/her application/instruction. Credit to the beneficiary account is released solely based on the account number. It is the responsibility of the remitting customer to write the correct account number. The originator/sender should exercise due care in providing the correct account number of the beneficiary, in the RTGS remittance instruction/application.

For a funds transfer to go through RTGS, both the sending bank branch and the receiving bank branch would have to be RTGS enabled. The lists are readily available at all RTGS enabled branches. Considering that more than 1,00,000 branches at more than 20,000 cities/towns/talukas are covered under the RTGS system, getting this information would not be difficult.

No. If the transaction has failed/timed out/declined due to technical reasons, Bank shall not bear any liability to compensate the same in the form of interest or actual amount sent to the beneficiary.

NEFT is an electronic system of fund transfers, which operates on a Deferred Net Settlement (DNS) basis. In other words, the transactions made through NEFT are settled in batches. In DNS, a cut-off time is provided beforehand and all the transactions received till that particular time are settled together, in batches.

These transactions are netted (payable and receivables) in NEFT, whereas in RTGS, the transactions are settled individually. So, in NEFT, any transaction initiated after a designated settlement/cut-off time would have to wait till the next designated settlement time. Contrary to this, in the RTGS system, transactions are processed continuously throughout the RTGS business hours.