Newsletter, October 2009 - IDRBT

Fast Forward
October 2009
TECHNOLOGY SERVICES
Structured Financial Messaging System
INETY four banks are participating in the
Structured Financial Messaging System
N(SFMS) as at the close of July 2009.
Participation of banks in National Electronic Funds
Transfer (NEFT) has also tremendously increased with
the number of branches increasing to 57000+ in 94
banks. With the increase in number of participants, the
utilisation of NEFT in terms of number of transactions
and volume handled have also increased.
The infrastructure for providing a cost-effective
solution to the small and mid-sized banks enabling
them to participate in SFMS and NEFT has been
operationalised and 34 banks have already joined the
Common Gateway
IFSC Directory
The IFSC Directory has been hosted by IDRBT as a
part of the technology infrastructure initiative being
created for the banking and financial sector. 107 banks
have furnished their details and 55779 branches have
been listed.
Common Gateway for Small Banks
The infrastructure for providing a cost-effective
solution to the small and mid-sized banks enabling
them to participate in SFMS and NEFT has been
operationalised and currently 34 banks participate
under Common Gateway.
given to local railways, who could prepare their
payment schedules in SFMS format and same was
uploaded in SFMS at RBI, Hyderabad and RBI New
Delhi. The payment has been linked through Transfer
Responding Advice of IAS, generated in SFMS.
SFMS/NEFT to Royal Monetary Authority
of Bhutan
With a view to provide technical support to the Royal
Monetary Authority of Bhutan (RMAB) in
operationalising Electronic Retails Payments services
in Bhutan, RBI sent a Project Team to Bhutan to study
their system and to provide software/product being
used in India with suitable customisation for use in
Bhutan. A representative from IDRBT too was part of
the team.
RMAB have evinced interest in SFMS/NEFT for their
individual electronic fund transfer and NFS for
providing inter-operability to their ATMs being
operated by their commercial banks.
SFMS/NEFT for Railways
IDRBT's efforts to popularise SFMS is bearing fruits. A
pilot has been completed to link the Railways payments
through SFMS/NEFT at RBI Hyderabad with the able
support from RBI Central Office and RBI, Hyderabad.
The RBI is in dialogue with the railways concerned in
the respective regional offices of RBI and soon all
payments flowing from Railways to the regional offices
of RBI would be channelised through SFMS/NEFT.
In this regard, a utility developed by IDRBT has been
24 x 7 SERVICE : A team of
IDRBTians providing round-the-clock
service to the Banking and
Financial Sector
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