RBI mandates payment of inward remittances on same business day

Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Thursday issued a final circular outlining measures to accelerate cross-border inward remittances, mandating banks to credit payments received during foreign exchange market hours to beneficiary accounts on the same business day.

Currently, less than 8-10% of inward remittances in India are credited to beneficiary accounts within an hour, compared with around 75% in the United States.

Banks have been given six months to implement this requirement, while all other provisions will come into effect immediately.

RBI has also directed banks to reconcile and confirm credits in their nostro accounts on a near real-time basis or at intervals not exceeding 30 minutes.

Additionally, banks are required to notify customers immediately upon receipt of cross-border inward payment messages. Messages received after business hours must be communicated at the start of the next working day.

“It is observed that several banks rely on end-of-day statements of the nostro account for confirming and reconciling receipts, resulting in delays in crediting funds to beneficiaries’ accounts,” RBI said.
To address this, banks have been advised to carry out reconciliation and confirmation of credits in nostro accounts more frequently – either on a near real-time basis or at periodic intervals, which should generally not exceed one hour.

At more than $135 billion in 2025, India remained the world’s biggest receiver of remittances, which play a critical role in both managing external sector risks at the macro level and supporting individual consumption demand in several states. Remittances have steadily topped foreign direct investments (FDI) over the years, with four advanced economies – the US, the UK, Canada and Australia – together helping remittances double over the past decade, data by San Francisco-based nonprofit Indiaspora showed.