NEFT, RTGS, IMPS and UPI: which one to use

India has four everyday ways to move money from one bank account to another. All four work on all days of the year, day and night. They differ in speed and in how much you can send.

	NEFT	RTGS	IMPS	UPI
Speed	In half-hourly batches; usually within 2 hours	At once	At once	At once
Smallest amount	No minimum	₹2 lakh	No minimum	No minimum
Largest amount	No limit set by the Reserve Bank; your bank may set one	No limit set by the Reserve Bank; your bank may set one online	₹5 lakh a transaction	₹1 lakh for ordinary payments; more for some kinds
Needs IFSC?	Yes	Yes	Yes, with the account number	Not for a UPI ID or mobile number
Run by	Reserve Bank of India	Reserve Bank of India	NPCI	NPCI

NEFT: for any amount, not in a hurry

National Electronic Funds Transfer settles payments in batches every half hour, 48 batches a day. It has run round the clock, every day, since 16 December 2019. There is no minimum and the Reserve Bank sets no maximum, though your bank may cap what you can send online in a day. Since January 2020 banks may not charge savings account holders for NEFT done online.

RTGS: for large amounts, at once

Real Time Gross Settlement moves each payment by itself, immediately. The minimum is ₹2 lakh. It has been open round the clock since 14 December 2020. Use it for property payments, business payments and other large transfers where the receiver must see the money right away.

IMPS: instant, up to ₹5 lakh

Immediate Payment Service, run by NPCI, credits the receiver within seconds at any hour. The limit for one transaction is ₹5 lakh (raised from ₹2 lakh in October 2021). Banks may charge a small fee and may set lower limits for new beneficiaries.

UPI: instant, from your phone

Unified Payments Interface is what you use in apps such as BHIM, Google Pay, PhonePe and Paytm. You pay to a UPI ID, a mobile number or a QR code, so no IFSC is needed. The usual limit is ₹1 lakh a transaction. NPCI allows higher limits for certain kinds of payment, such as taxes, hospitals, education fees, insurance and investments. Banks and apps can set their own lower limits, and a daily count of transactions.

Which should I use?

Paying a shop or a friend a small amount: UPI.
Up to ₹5 lakh, needed now: IMPS (or UPI where its limit allows).
₹2 lakh or more, needed now: RTGS.
Any amount, an hour or two is fine: NEFT.

Limits for your own account are set by your bank and can be lower than the figures above, especially for a beneficiary you added in the last 24 hours. The bank's app shows your limits. The figures on this page are the system rules as we last checked them on the date below.

Before you press Pay

Check the account number twice. Banks credit by account number.
Check the IFSC code with our checker: the bank and branch should be what you expect.
Read the account holder's name that the bank shows before you confirm.
For a first payment to someone, send ₹1 first and ask them to confirm.

Last checked: 2026-11-11.