Different types of money transfer:  NEFT, RTGS, IMPS and more (2024)

UPDATED: Mar 25, 2019 15:51 IST

There are numerous ways of transferring money from one bank account to account. With the increasing technology, online money transfer has become the easiest way of transferring money from one bank to another without any difficulty. Here are three major means of transferring money.

1. NEFT (National Electronic Fund Transfer)

The National Electronic Fund Transfer or NEFT is the simplest and most liked form of money transfer from one bank to bank.

To make any NEFT transaction, you just need two important pieces of information -- firstly, account number and secondly, the IFSC Code of the destination account.

In NEFT, there is no cap on the amount of money that can be transferred. However, individual banks may set a limit.

Steps for a NEFT money transfer

Step 1: Go to Fund Transfer tab, and select 'Transfer to other bank' (NEFT)
Step 2: Select the recipient account and enter the relevant details
Step 3: Accept the (Terms and Conditions)
Step 4: Recheck the details, if all and complete the process

2. RTGS (Real Time Gross Settlement

A Real Time Gross Settlement or RTGS is almost similar to NEFT but the minimum payment and how it credits to the destination account differs.
If you want to transfer more than 2 then you can use this. There is no upper cap on the amount.

An RTGS money transfer happens on a real-time basis. The bank of the person to whom the money is transferred gets 30 minutes to credit it to his/her account.

Steps to make RTGS funds transfer:

Step 1: Go to Fund Transfer tab, and select 'Transfer to other bank' (RTGS)
Step 2: Select the recipient account and enter the relevant details
Step 3: Accept the (Terms and Conditions)
Step 4: Recheck the details, if all are correct, then confirm and complete the process

3. IMPS (Immediate Payment Service)

Immediate Payment Service or IMPs an instant fund transfer service and it can be used anytime. IMPS can be simply defined as NEFT+RTGS.

In order to avoid fraud complaints, the cap on transaction limit is set very low. For IMPS transfer, you just need to know the destination account holder's IMPS id (MMID) and his/her mobile number.

Steps to make IMPS money transfer:

Step 1:Using your Customer ID and Password into Net Banking/Mobile Banking
Step 2: Go to Funds Transfer tab (Other Bank Account)
Step 3: Select Debit / Credit Account, mode of transfer as IMPS and beneficiary account
Step 4: Enter the amount to be transferred and click on Submit
Step 5: Click on the confirm button
Step 6: Recheck all the information and approve the transaction using OTP (one time password) received on your registered mobile number
Step 7: And at last, confirm by clicking on the submit button.

Through IMPS, you can transfer money 24/7, But RTGS & NEFT can be done only in working hours on weekdays + a few hours on Saturdays only. Other than NEFT, RTGS and IMPS, you can also transfer your money through UPI and cheque.

1. UPI (Unified Payments Interface):

A Unified Payments Interface is a real-time payment system that allows transactions to be done through any smartphone using VPA (Virtual Payment Address).

No bank account detail is needed for the money transfer through UPI. Only mobile number or name is sufficient and the transactions can be done 24/7. UPI-enabled apps allow the transfers up to Rs 1 lakh.

2. Cheque:

You can transfer money from your one account to another account by cheque. You have to simply draw a stating payee as your name along with the account number wherein you want to transfer the amount along with your signature.

It's done immediately at a branch if the transfer is within your bank.

There is no limit if you want to transfer money from your a/c to another bank a/c, but if you want to withdraw a certain amount, there are restrictions.

Through a cheque, you cannot withdraw more than Rs 50,000 from a non-home branch.