National Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT) is a nation-wide payments system that allows the transfer of funds from one bank’s account to another. With an increased focus on online banking, NEFT has become one of the most popular ways of transferring funds.
NEFT works on a deferred settlement basis which means the transactions are carried out in batches. Earlier, NEFT transactions were available from 8:00 AM to 6:30 PM from Monday to Friday only. However, RBI has regularized that NEFT transactions will be available 24*7 on all days of the year, including holidays.
Real-time gross settlement (RTGS) systems are specialist funds transfer systems where the transfer of money or securities takes place from one bank to any other bank on a "real-time" and on a "gross" basis. Settlement in "real time" means a payment transaction is not subjected to any waiting period, with transactions being settled as soon as they are processed. "Gross settlement" means the transaction is settled on a one-to-one basis, without bundling or netting with any other transaction. "Settlement" means that once processed, payments are final and irrevocable.
