An India RTGS transfer (Reserve Bank of India)
A high-value rupee payment settles one transaction at a time across the banks' accounts at the Reserve Bank of India, in real time and with finality — no netting, no waiting for a batch.
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Bank Alfa submits the RTGS transfer
Bank Alfa (remitting bank) → RTGS (Reserve Bank of India)
On its customer Asha Traders' behalf, Bank Alfa sends the RTGS message to the Reserve Bank of India to move INR 5,00,000.00 to a supplier account at Nordbank. This is above the INR 2,00,000 minimum for RTGS. Nothing has moved yet — it is a request.
Step 1 of 5: Bank Alfa submits the RTGS transfer
- 02ProcessingRTGS checks Bank Alfa's settlement balanceRTGS (Reserve Bank of India)
- 03SettlementThe RBI settles the payment in real timeBank Alfa (remitting bank) → Nordbank (beneficiary bank)
- 05PostingNordbank credits the beneficiaryNordbank (beneficiary bank)
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- 02ProcessingRTGS checks Bank Alfa's settlement balanceRTGS (Reserve Bank of India)
The RTGS system checks that Bank Alfa's settlement account at the Reserve Bank holds enough funds to cover the payment. An RTGS system will not create money it does not have.
- 03SettlementThe RBI settles the payment in real timeBank Alfa (remitting bank) → Nordbank (beneficiary bank)
The Reserve Bank of India debits Bank Alfa's account and credits Nordbank's account, transaction by transaction, in the books of the central bank. There is no netting: each payment settles on its own, and settlement is final and irrevocable the instant it happens.
- DR Bank Alfa's settlement account at the Reserve Bank of India — INR 5,00,000.00
- CR Nordbank's settlement account at the Reserve Bank of India — INR 5,00,000.00
- 05PostingNordbank credits the beneficiaryNordbank (beneficiary bank)
Because the interbank leg already settled with finality in the Reserve Bank's books, Nordbank can credit its customer — Riya's business — without waiting for anything else.
- CR Beneficiary's account at Nordbank — INR 5,00,000.00
What this simplifies: One payment settling gross in central-bank money. Real RTGS operation depends on intraday liquidity management and queue handling across the day, and on the 24x7x365 availability RTGS has had since 14 December 2020.
Sources for this flow2
- Official requirement
RTGS and NEFT ↗ — Reserve Bank of India
RTGS settles gross one payment at a time; NEFT settles net in half-hourly batches. Both are operated by the Reserve Bank of India.
- Simplified educational illustration
Payments Signal editorial teaching models — Payments Signal
What this simplifies: Fictional banks and a single high-value payment; real RTGS operation involves many participants, intraday liquidity and daylight-credit management, and queue mechanics not shown here.
Used wherever diagrams, scenarios, figures, or example values are didactic constructions rather than sourced facts; every such use carries a simplifications disclosure. All people, companies, banks, and list entries in examples are fictional.