UTR Number: Everything you need to know

UTR number stands for Unique Transaction Reference number. It is used for identifying a particular transaction in India. It is a unique number that is generated for recognizing any fund transfer and is created by the bank that facilitates the transfer.

You will find the UTR number in your bank statement listed as Ref no under the transaction details. It may look something like XXXXR520190109599036XX. The starting characters will vary depending on your bank. The format of the UTR and its components have been explained further in this article.

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Do not confuse UTR number in India with that in the UK. UTR code in the UK stands for Unique Taxpayer Reference number, which is not similar in any way to the UTR number in India.

Why do I need a UTR number and what is its purpose?

The main purposes of a UTR number is to identify and monitor financial transactions. UTR number can be used to track your fund transfers if they are stuck, taking more time than usual, or if you just want to refer an earlier transaction.

In India, UTR is generated when transferring money between two bank accounts. There are two methods of transferring funds between accounts held in different banks in India. They are NEFT and RTGS. UTR is generated both in NEFT and RTGS transactions.

NEFT stands for National Electronic Funds Transfer. NEFT transactions are processed in batches and therefore the fund transfer is not immediate. Presently, NEFT operates in half hourly batches from 8 am to 7 pm on weekdays and working Saturdays.

RTGS stands for Real Time Gross Settlement and under RTGS the fund transfers are immediately processed. Once you transfer funds using RTGS, it is deposited within 2 hours in the beneficiary account. It is the fastest method of inter-bank fund transfer. However, RTGS can be used only if the fund transfer value is more than Rs. 2,00,000.

UTR number is 22 characters long for RTGS, and 16 characters long for NEFT. The format of the UTR number for RTGS transactions is “XXXXRCYYYYMMDD########” where:

• XXXX is IFSC (first 4 characters) - bank code of a sender,
• R represents RTGS system,
• C represents channel of the transaction,
• YYYYMMDD represents year, month and date of the transaction,
• ######## denotes the sequence number¹.

How to get the UTR number for a NEFT transaction

To find the UTR number on any transaction, you can visit the detailed account statement in the online banking section. To know the UTR for any transaction, click on the transaction details or narration.  A detailed description of that transaction will be displayed. You can identify the UTR by its format. The UTR will be displayed in the statements of all banks like SBI, ICICI, HDFC, AXIS etc.

For example, AXIS bank displays the transactions as shown below:

Clicking on the transaction details would display a pop up with the UTR reference for the specific transaction. You can use this UTR to follow-up the status of the transaction.

How to track the status of a transaction with a UTR number

There are two ways you can check the status of a transaction with UTR:

1. Visit your internet banking account or the mobile app of your bank. In the past transfers section, search for the required transfer with your UTR number and the status of the transaction should be displayed.
2. Call the bank customer care. Provide them the 16 digit UTR and they will give you an update about the status of transactions.

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Sources

1. https://rbidocs.rbi.org.in/rdocs/RTGS/PDFs/RTGSB111013_2013.pdf