Types of ECS
1. ECS Debit: It is used to raise debit requests to numerous bank accounts for a single credit to the user’s bank account. It helps the user to collect payments from its various customers, which are periodic or recurring and helps to minimise the operational time and cost.
2. ECS Credit: It is used to credit the amount to several bank accounts by a single debit to the user’s bank account. It helps make payments such as interest, salary, dividends, etc. It helps an organisation to transfer funds to several bank accounts at a single time to multiple beneficiaries, which again helps to minimise the operational time and cost.
3. Local ECS: ECS is operational in 81 different locations across the country. At each of these ECS centres, the branch coverage is only restricted to the geographical coverage of the clearing house, generally covering one city and/or satellite towns and suburbs, which are adjoining the city.
4. Regional ECS: This is operating at 9 locations around various parts of the country. RECS facilitates the covering of all core-banking-enabled branches in a particular State or group of States. RECS takes advantage of the core banking system in banks. Accordingly, even though the inter-bank settlement takes place centrally at one location in the particular State, the actual customers under the Scheme may have their accounts at any other bank branches across the geographical dimension of the State/group of States.
5. National ECS: It is the centralised version of ECS Credit which was launched in October 2008. The Scheme is operated at Mumbai, the National Centre and facilitates the coverage of all core-banking-enabled branches which can be located anywhere in the country. This system also takes advantage of the core banking system in banks. Banks are free to add any of their branches which have core-banking-enabled in NECS irrespective of their location.