If you’re hopeful that your loan EMIs will see at least some drop in the near future owing to the Reserve Bank of India’s decision to cut the repo rates for the fourth consecutive time, there’s something else you need to know that will make you happy.

In consonance with its Payment Settlement Vision 2019 to 2021, the central bank decided on Wednesday to make National Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT) available 24×7 from December. Currently, the popular digital payment facility between different bank accounts is only available between 8 am to 7 pm on working days except second and fourth Saturdays. As such, the latest decision is expected to make NEFT transactions way more convenient for users. In fact, RBI governor Shaktikanta Das remarked on Wednesday that “this is going to revolutionise the retail payment system of the country”.

The latest central bank decision should also be seen in continuation with its move to waive off RBI fees on both NEFT and Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) transactions in its Monetary Policy Committee meeting in June – something that has prompted most of the banks to transmit the benefits to its customers. Previously, banks used to charge anywhere between Rs 2.5 and Rs 25 (plus 18% GST) for every NEFT payment.

Another important development to note here would be the apex bank’s decision to set up a Central Payment Fraud Registry that would monitor fraud data and publish it to raise awareness and make digital transactions safer by red-flagging emerging risks.

As many of you might be aware, NEFT transactions are processed quickly (although not as quick as RTGS or real-time Unified Payments Interface payments, though both have restrictions in terms of transfer amount unlike NEFT). However, NEFT transactions are also processed in batches, resulting in people being forced to wait until the next working day if they initiate an NEFT transaction after the last batch of the current working day. But from December, this concern will get addressed as NEFT transactions will be made available round the clock throughout the year.

And people are increasingly gravitating towards digital payments. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her maiden Union Budget 2019 speech noted that digital payment transaction volume has witnessed a growth rate of 58.8% in 2018-19, while proposing to levy a 2% tax deducted at source on cash withdrawal exceeding Rs 1 crore in a year from a bank account. She also announced that large business establishments (with annual turnover of more than Rs. 50 crore) will have to introduce low-cost digital payment modes like BHIM UPI, NEFT, RTGS, etc. for their customers.

As such, in a series of moves, the RBI and the government are in the process of allaying common fears surrounding digital transactions by making them cheaper, safer and faster. As more people in the country are realising the benefits of ditching unsafe cash and time-consuming cheque transactions, the slew of measures taken by the RBI and the government to boost digital transactions is something that must be hailed.

(The author is CEO, BankBazaar.com)