NEFT not working? Here’s how you can still transfer money online

New Delhi: On May 18, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had warned bank customers that the National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) facility will remain unavailable for 14 hours on Sunday (May 23) from 00.01 am to 14:00 pm.

The RBI had urged banks to ensure that their customers are aware of the temporary blackout of the NEFT services so that they can schedule their payments accordingly. The central bank has cited technical upgradation of NEFT as the reason why the digital payments facility won’t work on Sunday.  

"A technical upgrade of NEFT, targeted to enhance the performance and resilience, is scheduled after the close of business of May 22, 2021. Accordingly, NEFT service will not be available from 00:01 hrs to 14:00 hrs on Sunday, May 23, 2021. The RTGS system will continue to be operational as usual during this period. Similar technical upgrade for RTGS was completed on April 18, 2021," an RBI statement said.

Other modes of online money transfer 

Since banks are also closed on Sunday, customers might face difficulties in transferring money. In this situation, customers can make use of the money transfer facility through Immediate Payment Service (IMPS). 

IMPS works like NEFT, but is majorly used to transfer money instantly. Funds transferred via IMPS are settled in a snap, in comparison to NEFT, which takes a few hours to complete the transaction. However, banks usually charge a small fee to IMPS transactions for offering a faster way to send and receive money.