Remember those old days when you had to stand for hours in front of a bank counter before you could finish your job there? The globalisation and modernisation in Indian Banks was initiated in 1991. And, since then what a remarkable improvements have occured? Even now (May 2012) a lot of improvements are on the pipeline.
From the small improvement of electronic paper tokens as you enter your Branch, the improvements are very many. Lets see some of them briefly.
MICR: Magnetic Ink Character Recognition - for clearance of cheques. Started in late 1980s, there are now over 66 MICR centres in India. Cheques which were once cleared manually, are now checked electronically, thus reducing the time for clearance. Now this system is further being improved with Cheque Truncation System (CTS). Started in NCR area in Feb 2008, in this system the digital image of the cheque is generated and it is this image which is electronically transferred for clearing. Soon to be incorporated in other areas.
Core Banking System (CBS) - Anytime anywhere Banking was started in 1981 and today over 82000 branches have this CBS.
Internet Banking came next.
ATMs: Almost all the Banks have their own ATMs. Once upon a time, we had to use the bank-issued ATM card at their own ATMs, but now you can use your ATM at any Bank's ATM anywhere in India.
Credit Cards and Debit cards: There are over 1.76 crore Credit cards and 23.95 cr Debit cards as on April 2011.
Now, I will write about one other important improvement, in detail --:
Decades ago, I used to visit my SBI branch, Hyderabad, fill up a long form, submit it at the counter along with the money, after waiting for ages. After another wait for hours, i would get a Demand Draft (DD) which i would post to the beneficiary (my father at 1000km away at Cuddalore, say) who would receive it after 5-6 days, visit his bank, present it and receive the money. A horrendous process, but we used to do this every month.
On March 26, 2004 RBI introduced a new system called RTGS, followed by NEFT in Nov 2005. These are two systems through which one can transfer/send money from his account to any account of any Bank/Branch.
RTGS is Real Time Gross Settlement and NEFT is National Electronic Fund Transfer. NEFT_enabled Branches are many and RTGS enabled are a lille less than NEFT-enabled.
If you have Net Banking facility, say in SBI - this is what you do.
Go to Fund transfer section, register a new payee (to whom payment is to be made) first.
Provide details of his name, bank name, branch name, account number, and IFSC. This IFSC (Indian Finance System Code) is a 11-character code unique for a Bank and the Branch. The first 4 characters identify the Bank, the 5th char is always a zero, and the 6th to 11th (maybe digit maybe alphabetic) identify the branch.
Once you provide the above, the Bank sends you within minutes a confirmation SMS over your registerd Mobile. This is the Unique Registration Number (URN). Once you receive the URN, you provide this info and your payee is CONFIRMED. The above two paragraphs are one-time only, for registering a payee. If you would like to add more payees, you repeat these two steps for each of them. Now you can send money immediatly.
Go to the Funds Transfer section, choose the payee. Enter the amount to be sent, and click SEND. Within minutes the money is sent to the payee's account.
Please note that you need NOT have a Internet banking facility for using NEFT. If you don't have Net banking, go to your branch physically and do the transfer from there. Even if you don't have a bank account, you visit any NEFT_enabled bank branch and send the amount. You will have to provide your address, phone number etc etc for this, and the max amount is limited to 60,000 per transaction (if you dont have a bank account, that is)However, the recipient (payee) shall have a bank account for receiving NEFT.
There is a limit of Rs 1,00,000/- for NEFT thru banking (There is no minimum or maximum limit for NEFT as per RBI website); but only Rs 50,000 if you are depositing cash at the branch.
NEFT transfer works every hour from 0900AM to 7 PM on hourly basis (total 11 in a day) on weekdays. On Saturdays, there are 5 settlements on hourly basis from 9 AM to 1 PM.
For upto 1 lakh, the charge is Rs 5/- only for the remitter (that is the sender)
Rs 15 for 1 lakh to 2 lakhs. Rs 25 for above 2 lakhs. ALL FREE for the receiver (Payee).
From the small improvement of electronic paper tokens as you enter your Branch, the improvements are very many. Lets see some of them briefly.
MICR: Magnetic Ink Character Recognition - for clearance of cheques. Started in late 1980s, there are now over 66 MICR centres in India. Cheques which were once cleared manually, are now checked electronically, thus reducing the time for clearance. Now this system is further being improved with Cheque Truncation System (CTS). Started in NCR area in Feb 2008, in this system the digital image of the cheque is generated and it is this image which is electronically transferred for clearing. Soon to be incorporated in other areas.
Core Banking System (CBS) - Anytime anywhere Banking was started in 1981 and today over 82000 branches have this CBS.
Internet Banking came next.
ATMs: Almost all the Banks have their own ATMs. Once upon a time, we had to use the bank-issued ATM card at their own ATMs, but now you can use your ATM at any Bank's ATM anywhere in India.
Credit Cards and Debit cards: There are over 1.76 crore Credit cards and 23.95 cr Debit cards as on April 2011.
Now, I will write about one other important improvement, in detail --:
Decades ago, I used to visit my SBI branch, Hyderabad, fill up a long form, submit it at the counter along with the money, after waiting for ages. After another wait for hours, i would get a Demand Draft (DD) which i would post to the beneficiary (my father at 1000km away at Cuddalore, say) who would receive it after 5-6 days, visit his bank, present it and receive the money. A horrendous process, but we used to do this every month.
On March 26, 2004 RBI introduced a new system called RTGS, followed by NEFT in Nov 2005. These are two systems through which one can transfer/send money from his account to any account of any Bank/Branch.
RTGS is Real Time Gross Settlement and NEFT is National Electronic Fund Transfer. NEFT_enabled Branches are many and RTGS enabled are a lille less than NEFT-enabled.
If you have Net Banking facility, say in SBI - this is what you do.
Go to Fund transfer section, register a new payee (to whom payment is to be made) first.
Provide details of his name, bank name, branch name, account number, and IFSC. This IFSC (Indian Finance System Code) is a 11-character code unique for a Bank and the Branch. The first 4 characters identify the Bank, the 5th char is always a zero, and the 6th to 11th (maybe digit maybe alphabetic) identify the branch.
Once you provide the above, the Bank sends you within minutes a confirmation SMS over your registerd Mobile. This is the Unique Registration Number (URN). Once you receive the URN, you provide this info and your payee is CONFIRMED. The above two paragraphs are one-time only, for registering a payee. If you would like to add more payees, you repeat these two steps for each of them. Now you can send money immediatly.
Go to the Funds Transfer section, choose the payee. Enter the amount to be sent, and click SEND. Within minutes the money is sent to the payee's account.
Please note that you need NOT have a Internet banking facility for using NEFT. If you don't have Net banking, go to your branch physically and do the transfer from there. Even if you don't have a bank account, you visit any NEFT_enabled bank branch and send the amount. You will have to provide your address, phone number etc etc for this, and the max amount is limited to 60,000 per transaction (if you dont have a bank account, that is)However, the recipient (payee) shall have a bank account for receiving NEFT.
There is a limit of Rs 1,00,000/- for NEFT thru banking (There is no minimum or maximum limit for NEFT as per RBI website); but only Rs 50,000 if you are depositing cash at the branch.
NEFT transfer works every hour from 0900AM to 7 PM on hourly basis (total 11 in a day) on weekdays. On Saturdays, there are 5 settlements on hourly basis from 9 AM to 1 PM.
For upto 1 lakh, the charge is Rs 5/- only for the remitter (that is the sender)
Rs 15 for 1 lakh to 2 lakhs. Rs 25 for above 2 lakhs. ALL FREE for the receiver (Payee).
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