Bank customers will no longer have to wait for a working day to do important transactions such as pension, salary transfers and EMI payments etc. This is because the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has changed the rules of the National Automated Clearing House (NACH) which will come into effect from August 1, 2021.
Reserve Bank of India’s Governor, Mr Shaktikanta Das, announced in the bi-monthly policy review that the National Automated Clearing House (NACH) will now be available on all seven days to make transactions. It is now convenient for customers to leverage real-time gross settlement services (RTGS) around the clock.
Currently, NACH is only available from Monday to Friday, making it inconvenient for bank customers when the first day of the month falls on a weekend.
This change in NACH services is expected to help customers during times when the first day of the month falls on a weekend. Normally, customers would have to wait for the next working day to get their salaries credited to their accounts, but with the changes to NACH services in effect, customers would be able to get their salary or pension credited to their account during the weekend.
NACH is, basically, a bulk payment system that is managed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). The system is used for several types of credit transfers such as interest, dividend, pension and salary. Through NACH, users can also facilitate the payment of various bills, loan EMI, mutual investment and even insurance premium.
RBI has explained that NACH has emerged as a popular digital mode of Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) for beneficiaries. It added that NACH had helped in the timely and transparent transfer of government subsidies to beneficiaries during the COVID-19 outbreak.