NFS Network

History

The National Financial Switch was launched by the IDRBT on 27 August 2004, connecting the ATMs of three banks, Corporation Bank, Bank of Baroda and ICICI Bank.

IDRBT decided to hive off its operational role on ATM switching to refocus on research and development, and was sought to shift the business to a national-level payment system organization. The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) started discussions with IDRBT on the feasibility of taking over. The Board for Regulation and Supervision of Payment and Settlement Systems (BPSS) at its meeting held on 24 September 2009 approved in-principle to issue authorisation to NPCI for operating various retail payment systems in the country. The Reserve Bank of India granted authorisation to NPCI to take over the operations of National Financial Switch (NFS) from the Institute of Development and Research in Banking Technology (IDRBT) on a ‘as is where is basis’ on 15 October 2009. NPCI deputed its officials to IDRBT Hyderabad, and the Institute handed over the National Financial Switch to the NPCI on 14 December 2009.

Any bank that provides core banking services with 24x7 transaction banking capabilities with or without ATMs may join the National Financial Switch through a sponsor bank. This allows non-scheduled Urban Co-operative Banks (UCBs) and Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) to gain access to the national network of over 103,000 ATMs in the country. Before 14 August 2011, access was limited to scheduled banks with RTGS membership. The sponsorship scheme was started to increase the connectivity of ATMs across the country, and to enable customers to use ATMs across India.

The primary headquarters is located at Mumbai.

Services offered in NFS

NFS which is the largest domestic ATM network in the country member banks has been in the fore front in providing inter bank ATM services to maximum customers. Initially, the following basic transactions were available in the NFS network

  • Cash Withdrawal
  • Balance Enquiry
  • PIN Change
  • Mini Statement

To enable the member banks of NFS to offer greater utility to their customers, NPCI has introduced the below mentioned functionalities as value added services to enable customers to use these services at any participating bank ATMs.

Card to Card Fund transfer (ATM/Debit Card to ATM/Debit Card) : Using this service, a Card holder of a participating NFS Member Bank will be able to remit funds to another Card holder of a participating NFS Member Bank. The funds will be transferred basis the Beneficiary’s ‘Card Number’ which the remitter will be required to input at the time of the transaction. The main features of the service are mentioned below:

  • Inter Operable
  • Instant Fund Transfer
  • 24/7 Availability
  • Paper Less
  • Secure
  • Better Fund Management
  • Transaction Limits - The transaction limits are in accordance with the RBI’s circular on ‘Domestic Money Transfer’. Accordingly, for cases where the Issuing and Beneficiary Cards are ‘Debit/ATM Cards’, the per transaction limit will be Rs.5000 and the monthly limit will be Rs.25,000 per remitter.

Cheque Book Request/Statement Request: At present, although statement & cheque book request options are available at ATMs, these are available only for customers of that particular bank. NFS aims to make this option inter operable wherein customers will be able to avail the aforementioned services at NFS member bank ATMs who avail this particular service from NPCI.