The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Wednesday issued a draft circular proposing measures to accelerate crossborder inward remittances. The central bank has suggested banks credit inward payments received during foreign exchange market hours to beneficiaries’ accounts on the same business day.
The draft also proposes banks reconcile and confirm credits in their nostro accounts either on a near real-time basis or at intervals not exceeding half an hour. ET had reported last month that international payments platform SWIFT was in discussions with the finance ministry and the RBI to help banks speed up cross-border settlements. Currently, less than 8–10% of inward remittances in India are credited to beneficiary accounts within an hour, compared with about 75% in the US — even though 90% of all cross-border payments processed via SWIFT reach the beneficiary bank within an hour.
Once finalised, the guidelines would require banks to notify customers immediately upon receipt of crossborder 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 upon end-of-day statements of the nostro account for confirming and reconciling receipts, resulting in delayed credit,” the RBI noted. To expedite the process, banks have been advised to adopt near real-time reconciliation or periodic reconciliation within a maximum interval of 30 minutes.
The RBI has also proposed banks implement straightthrough processing (STP) for crediting inward remittances to resident individual accounts and provide customers with digital interfaces to facilitate foreign exchange transactions — including document submission and transaction monitoring. The directions will take effect six months after the final circular is issued.
The draft also proposes banks reconcile and confirm credits in their nostro accounts either on a near real-time basis or at intervals not exceeding half an hour. ET had reported last month that international payments platform SWIFT was in discussions with the finance ministry and the RBI to help banks speed up cross-border settlements. Currently, less than 8–10% of inward remittances in India are credited to beneficiary accounts within an hour, compared with about 75% in the US — even though 90% of all cross-border payments processed via SWIFT reach the beneficiary bank within an hour.
Once finalised, the guidelines would require banks to notify customers immediately upon receipt of crossborder 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 upon end-of-day statements of the nostro account for confirming and reconciling receipts, resulting in delayed credit,” the RBI noted. To expedite the process, banks have been advised to adopt near real-time reconciliation or periodic reconciliation within a maximum interval of 30 minutes.
The RBI has also proposed banks implement straightthrough processing (STP) for crediting inward remittances to resident individual accounts and provide customers with digital interfaces to facilitate foreign exchange transactions — including document submission and transaction monitoring. The directions will take effect six months after the final circular is issued.
( Originally published on Oct 29, 2025 )
