What is the full form of NACH?

NACH: National Automated Clearing House Payment Solution

NACH stands for National Automated Clearing House Payment Solution. It is a centralised internet-based payment solution or electronic clearing system. It was introduced to help the corporate sectors, and financial institutions like banks to handle bulk payments. It helps in making big transactions like salaries paid by the companies, payment of dividends, subsidies, and pensions by the government. It also helps the financial institutions in receiving big amounts such as electricity bills, telephone bills, loan payments, etc.

It was introduced by National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI) to facilitate the electronic transfers for bulk volume payments. It allows electronic transfer of funds across the nation irrespective of the geographical location. NACH is a part of NPCI (national payment corporation of India) that was set up in 2005 with the recommendation of RBI to encourage Retail Payment System in the nation.

Objectives of NACH:

It was introduced to provide end-to-end processing of mass electronic payments with the following objectives:

• To create a national platform covering all banks across the country to handle and process electronic payment requests
• To provide a technical platform for the banks to route instructions related to transactions by using codes like IIN Code, MICR Code and IFSC Code
• To offer DCA (Direct Corporate Access) to selected Corporates
• To provide a secure system for transaction and to handle rejects, discounts, denials, and disputes
• To set up a strong Mandate Management System (MMS) and related governance mechanism

NACH Credit:

It is an electronic payment service controlled by the Reserve Bank of India to make bulk payment by the corporate sectors and other such organization. Any organization that follows the guidelines of RBI can make bulk payments through NACH Credit such as payment to bank accounts of employees, and pension, dividends, and subsidies are also credited to beneficiaries through NACH Credit system through a single system.

The key features of NACH Credit are as follows:

• It can handle up to 10 million transactions in a single day.
• It is a safe and secure mode of money transfer and to upload documents.
• It comes with an online dispute management system.
• It allows multiple file processing in a single settlement.
• Direct Corporate Access allows corporates to check the status of their payments by providing direct access to the NACH

NACH Debit:

This service of NACH enables banks and other financial institutions to accept a large amount of payment without the involvement of the third party. It is used to collect bulk payments like electricity bills, EMI, loans, tax, and more.

The Key Features of NACH Debit are as follows:

• Online Dispute Management System
• Allows customers to track multiple payments through unique mandate reference number
• Keeps the transactions and confidential information safe and secure

Benefits of NACH for a consumer:

• Manual process is not required
• Fast and secure processing of payments as compared to previous processes
• Automatic payment of electricity bills, credit card bills, interest payments, etc.

Benefits of NACH for an Organization:

• Does not depend on cheques and their clearance
• Fast processing of payments like subsidies, allowances, scholarships, etc.
• On-time payment of salaries, pension, dividends, allowances, etc.
• Improved customer service and satisfaction

Benefits of NACH for a bank:

• Fast and smooth processing of payments, better relationships with affiliated organizations
• Dependency on cheques and paperwork reduces
• Smooth and easy process of registration, payment and collection of loans, emi, and advances
• Human errors are less as less manual work is required
• Customer satisfaction