Salary, EMIs and other payments’ rule to change. Find out

Here’s everything you need to know about a key rule change that will impact salary, EMI and other important payments from August 1.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has introduced new rules, as per which the salaries will also be credited on Sundays and gazetted holidays. The RBI has declared that the bulk payment system National Automated Clearing House (NACH) will be functional all days of the week, starting from August 1, 2021.

RBI governor Shaktikanta Das announced that this measure aims at enhancing consumer convenience. This step will help in bringing the processing duration shorter for salary credits, bill payments, insurance premiums and loan EMIs, which usually get delayed due to holidays.

What is NACH?

NACH facilitates one-to-many credit transfers such as payment of dividends, interest, salary and pension. It is operated by the National Payments Corp. of India. It has become famous and one of the most prominent modes of direct benefit transfer (DBT) to a large number of beneficiaries, the central bank noted.

Currently, it is operational only on bank working days. And hence, auto-debits are not processed during different kinds of holidays. The RBI governor said, "In order to further enhance customer convenience, and to leverage the 24×7 availability of real-time gross settlement (RTGS), NACH, which is currently available on bank working days, is proposed to be made available on all days of the week effective from August 1, 2021."

Bulk payment system NACH from August 1

The RBI said in a statement, "NACH is currently available only on the days when banks are functional. In the interest of customer convenience, and to take advantage of the availability of RTGS on all days of the year, it is proposed to make available NACH on all days of the week throughout the year, effective August 1, 2021."

This auto-transfer facility has helped transfer of government subsidies during the present COVID-19 pandemic in a timely and transparent manner, RBI said.