RBI tightens timelines for inward remittances, mandates faster credit

Apr 9, 2026

Central bank asks banks to immediately inform customers and reconcile nostro accounts frequently to ensure quicker credit of cross-border inward payments

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has laid down tighter timelines for banks to process inward cross-border remittances, mandating immediate customer intimation and faster reconciliation of nostro accounts to reduce delays in credit.

The central bank on Thursday flagged delays at the beneficiary leg — the time taken by banks to credit funds after receiving payment messages — as a key bottleneck in cross-border remittances.

“The speed of cross-border payments is affected by several factors. One of the challenges with speed of payments is experienced at the beneficiary leg, that is, the time taken from receipt of the payment at the beneficiary bank till credit to the beneficiary account,” the central bank said. It added that a review of the extant process for inward cross-border payments indicated the need to streamline processes at the beneficiary bank to ensure timely intimation of payment information and credit to the beneficiary’s account.

Accordingly, the RBI has mandated that banks inform customers immediately upon receipt of inward payment messages. Messages received after the close of operating hours must be conveyed at the start of the next business day.

The central bank also observed that several banks rely on end-of-day nostro account statements to confirm and reconcile receipts, resulting in delays in crediting beneficiary accounts. To address this, it has advised banks to undertake reconciliation and confirmation of credits in the nostro account more frequently — either on a near real-time basis or at periodic intervals, with the gap not exceeding one hour.

“Banks shall endeavour to credit the inward payments received during foreign exchange market hours within the same business day to the beneficiary’s account, and credit the inward payments received after market hours on the next business day, subject to compliance with the extant FEMA and other regulatory requirements,” the RBI said.

Additionally, the RBI has allowed banks, based on their risk assessment and subject to compliance with extant FEMA guidelines, to put in place straight-through processing for crediting inward payments to the accounts of resident individuals.

Further, banks may, within a reasonable timeframe, endeavour to provide digital interfaces to customers to facilitate foreign exchange transactions, including submission of documents or information, and monitoring of transactions.

[The Business Standard]