Big fund transfers may need bank visits

Customers who prefer to transact and transfer funds online under the shadow of the coronavirus pandemic may run into bank-specific caps for high-value transactions, prompting them to visit bank branches.

The cap on daily transfers limits the risk of people falling prey to fraud. The RBI sets no cap on the amount transferred via National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) and Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS), while payments via Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) and Unified Payments Interface have a cap of ₹2 lakh and ₹1 lakh, respectively.

Experts said banks also tend to cap the transaction amount to lower liquidity risk.

“The RBI has given banks the freedom to set their own upper ceiling on the NEFT and RTGS transactions based on their risk management and liquidity management. Banks have placed certain upper limits on their NEFT transactions applicable on RTGS holidays and off-business hours since the introduction of 24x7 NEFT facility,” said Sahil Arora, director, Paisabazaar.com.

State Bank of India, for instance, has a cap of ₹10 lakh on RTGS transactions, while HDFC Bank has a ₹25 lakh upper limit. Kotak Mahindra Bank has a per-beneficiary cap of ₹5 lakh and a per-day transaction limit of ₹10 lakh for NEFT transactions.

“Our retail customers can transfer up to a maximum of ₹20 lakh in a day using both mobile and internet banking channels via RTGS, NEFT, IMPS and UPI,” said Jithesh P. V., deputy vice president and head digital, Federal Bank. “We have set a daily upper cap limit of ₹10 lakh for our retail mobile banking app. Our customers can do payments/transfers including NEFT up to this limit on a daily basis.”

Adhil Shetty, chief executive, BankBazaar, said the limits vary depending on the customer segment, the tool used for transaction and the channel. “Some banks allow customers to transfer as much as ₹25 lakh, while others restrict it to ₹10 lakh. For instance, one bank limits NEFT transfer to ₹2 lakh, but allows multiple transactions for a total value of ₹25 lakh or third-party transfer limit chosen by customers.”

Further, banks also give customers the choice to put a cap on the transaction limit.

“A retail customer can transfer up to a maximum of ₹20 lakh in a day using both mobile and internet banking channels. Customers can always use the branch channel to transfer money beyond this limit. However, in our corporate net banking channel, corporate clients can set their required limit without any restrictions,” said Jithesh.