Ans: The FAQs on “Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) for Large Value Transactions in Centralised Payment Systems” on the RBI website at /en/web/rbi/faq-page-2?ddm__keyword__26256231__FaqDetailPage2Title_en_US=Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) for Large Value Transactions in Centralised Payment Systems can be referred to.

Ans: Yes, a person who does not have a bank account can remit funds through NEFT to a beneficiary having a bank account, with another NEFT member bank. It can be done by depositing cash at the nearest NEFT enabled branch of any bank, by furnishing additional details such as complete address, telephone number, etc. Such cash remittances will, however, be restricted to a maximum of ₹50,000 per transaction.

Ans: Following is the step-wise flow of NEFT transaction.

Step-1: An individual / firm / corporate willing to transfer funds through NEFT can use the internet / mobile banking facility offered by his / her bank for initiating online funds transfer request. The remitter has to provide details of beneficiary such as, name of the beneficiary, name of the bank branch where the beneficiary has an account, IFSC of the beneficiary bank branch, account type and account number, etc. for addition of the beneficiary to his / her internet / mobile banking module. Upon successful beneficiary addition, the remitter can initiate online NEFT funds transfer by authorising debit to his / her account. Alternatively, the remitter can also visit his / her bank branch for initiating NEFT funds transfer through branch / off-line mode. The customer has to fill-in the beneficiary details in NEFT application form available at the bank branch and authorise the branch to debit to his / her account to the extent of the amount requested in NEFT application form.

Step-2: The originating bank prepares a message and sends the message to its pooling centre, also called the NEFT Service Centre.

Step-3: The pooling centre forwards the message to the NEFT Clearing Centre, operated by the RBI, to be included for the next available batch.

Step-4: The Clearing Centre sorts the funds transfer transactions beneficiary bank-wise and prepares accounting entries to receive funds from the originating banks (debit) and give the funds to the beneficiary banks (credit). Thereafter, bank-wise remittance messages are forwarded to the beneficiary banks through their pooling centre (NEFT Service Centre).

Step-5: The beneficiary banks receive the inward remittance messages from the Clearing Centre and pass on the credit to the beneficiary customers’ accounts.

Ans: Indian Financial System Code (IFSC) is an alpha-numeric code that uniquely identifies a bank-branch participating in the NEFT system. It is a 11-digit code with the first 4 alpha characters representing the bank, and the last 6 characters representing the branch. The 5th character is 0 (zero). IFSC is used by the NEFT system to identify the originating / destination banks / branches and also to route the messages appropriately to the concerned banks / branches.

Ans: Bank-wise list of IFSCs is available with all the bank-branches participating in NEFT scheme. List of bank-wise branches participating in NEFT and their IFSCs is also available on the website of RBI at /en/web/rbi/-/list-of-neft-enabled-bank-branches-bank-wise-indian-financial-system-code-updated-as-on-june-30-2023-2009-1. All member banks have also been advised to print the IFSC of the branch on cheques issued to their customers.

Ans: No, there is no limit imposed by the RBI for funds transfer through NEFT system. However, a member bank may place amount limits based on its own risk perception with the approval of its Board.

Ans: The NEFT system is available round the clock throughout the year on all days, i.e., on 24x7x365 basis. NEFT presently operates in batches on half-hourly intervals throughout the day. In case of non-availability of NEFT for any reason, appropriate message will be broadcasted by RBI to all system participants.

Ans: The essential elements of beneficiary's identification are:

Beneficiary's Name
Beneficiary's Branch Name
Beneficiary's Bank Name
Beneficiary's Account Type
Beneficiary's Account No.
Beneficiary's Branch IFSC
Sender and Beneficiary Legal Entity Identifier (for eligible transactions)

Ans: There are no charges to be levied for inward transactions at destination bank branches for giving credit to beneficiary accounts.

For outward transactions undertaken using the NEFT system, RBI stopped levying processing charges on member banks from July 01, 2019.

Also, in order to give further impetus to digital retail payments, banks have been advised to not levy any charges from their savings bank account holders for NEFT funds transfers initiated online with effect from January 01, 2020.

The maximum charges which originating bank can be levy from its customers for other outward transactions, if they so desire, are given below: –

- For transactions up to ₹10,000 : not exceeding ₹2.50 (+ Applicable GST)

- For transactions above ₹10,000 up to ₹1 lakh: not exceeding ₹5 (+ Applicable GST)

- For transactions above ₹1 lakh and up to ₹2 lakhs: not exceeding ₹15 (+ Applicable GST)

- For transactions above ₹2 lakhs: not exceeding ₹25 (+ Applicable GST)

The details about charges applicable for transferring funds from India to Nepal using the NEFT system under the INRF Scheme is available on the RBI website at /en/web/rbi/faq-page-2?ddm__keyword__26256231__FaqDetailPage2Title_en_US=Indo-Nepal Remittance Facility scheme.

Ans: No. NEFT is a credit-push system i.e., transactions can be originated by the payer / remitter / sender only to pay / transfer / remit funds to beneficiary.