neft

National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) is an Indian electronic funds transfer system for transferring funds between bank accounts held in participating banks across the country. NEFT enables one-to-one transfers in Indian rupees and is designed for transactions that do not require real-time settlement. The system is overseen by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and operated by the participating banks with the payments infrastructure provided by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).

NEFT was introduced in 2005 and has since evolved to offer 24x7 online transfers on all days, including holidays. Transactions are processed in batch mode rather than in real time; the funds are credited to the beneficiary's account after the batch containing the transfer is settled. Batch timings are published by RBI and banks, but generally, funds are settled in fixed intervals throughout the day. Online and mobile banking platforms, as well as bank branches, can initiate NEFT transfers.

To initiate an NEFT transfer, a sender requires the recipient's account details and the beneficiary's bank information, including the beneficiary's name, account number, bank name, branch, and the IFSC code. The sender can be charged a fee by their bank, and charges vary by bank and account type. There is no universal minimum or maximum for an NEFT transfer, but individual banks may set limits.

NEFT is intended for smaller value payments. For high-value, time-critical transfers, banks generally offer RTGS (Real Time Gross Settlement), which settles transactions individually in real time during business hours.

NEFT transfers are widely used for salary credits, vendor payments, bill payments, and personal remittances, and continue to be a foundational component of India's retail payment ecosystem.